De Havilland Dragon Rapide

what is it?

The de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide is a 1930s short-haul biplane airliner developed and produced by British aircraft company de Havilland. Capable of accommodating 6–8 passengers, it proved an economical and durable craft with its strong lightweight plywood construction. Developed during the early 1930s, the Dragon Rapide was essentially a smaller, twin-engined version of the four-engined DH.86 Express, and shared a number of common features, such as its tapered wings, streamlined fairings and Gipsy Six engines.

🔎How to recognise it: 2 piston engines with propellers · 14.6 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 253 km/htop speed
• range 837 kmwithout refuelling
• seats 8passengers
• size 2,495 kgmax take-off weight
• built 731made 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 92 years ago, in 1934.
• 🏎️Top speed is 1.9× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 14.6 m: about 3 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

1934-04-17

introduced

1934

number built

731

role

short-haul airliner

origin

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

makers

de Havilland Aircraft Company

engines

2× de Havilland Gipsy Six / Gipsy Six

crew

1

passengers

8

length

10.5 m

wingspan

14.6 m

height

3.1 m

max take-off weight

2,495 kg

top speed

253 km/h

cruise speed

212 km/h

range

837 km

ceiling

5,090 m

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