De Havilland Australia DHA-3 Drover

what is it?

The de Havilland Australia DHA-3 Drover is a small transport aircraft that was built by de Havilland Australia (DHA) in the 1940s and 1950s. The aircraft had some similarities with the two-engine British-built de Havilland Dove but used a trimotor configuration.

🔎How to recognise it: 3 piston engines with propellers · 17.4 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 309 km/htop speed
• seats 8passengers
• size 2,948 kgmax take-off weight
• built 20made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 78 years ago, in 1948.
• 🏎️Top speed is 2.4× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 17.4 m: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1948

introduced

1949

number built

20

role

short-haul airliner

origin

🇦🇺 Australia

engines

3× Lycoming O-360-A1A

crew

1

passengers

8

length

11 m

wingspan

17.4 m

height

3 m

max take-off weight

2,948 kg

top speed

309 km/h

cruise speed

232 km/h

range

—

ceiling

4,633 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.