Template:Infobox Aircraft The de Havilland DH.66 Hercules was a 1920s British seven-passenger three-engined airliner built by De Havilland Aircraft Company at Stag Lane Aerodrome.
History
The Hercules was designed for Imperial Airways when they took over the air-mail service from Cairo to Baghdad from the Royal Air Force. The design was a three-engined biplane with room for seven passengers and the ability to carry mail. The prototype first flew on 30 September 1926 in aviation, and an order for five aircraft was received from Imperial Airways. An inaugural flight between Croydon and India left the United Kingdom on 27 December 1926 in aviation, and arrived in Delhi on the 8 January 1927. West Australia Airlines ordered four aircraft to replace the DH.50. On the 2 June 1927 the first service on the Perth-Adelaide route was carried out. Imperial Airways ordered two more aircraft but it lost three aircraft in accidents between September 1929 and April 1930. To replace the lost aircraft two were purchased from West Australia Airways.
The Imperial Airways aircraft was withdrawn from service in December 1935 following another crash in Southern Rhodesia in November 1935. Three aircraft were sold to South African Air Force. One of the australian aircraft survived until 1942 when it was destroyed by enemy action.
Hercules
The type name Hercules was chosen in a competition in the Meccano Magazine in June 1926.
Operators
Specifications (DH.65A)
General characteristics
- Crew: 3
Performance
Reference
- The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985). Orbis Publishing.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Jackson, A.J. (1974). British Civil Aircraft since 1919 Volume 2. London: Putnam. ISBN 0 370 10010 7.
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External links
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