Various specialised models were produced for other roles, such as aerial survey, air ambulance, and flying classroom. Features such as a single aircraft lavatory and an aft luggage compartment could be removed to provide increased seating. While standard passenger versions of the Dove would carry between eight and eleven passengers, the cabin was designed to allow operators to convert between higher and lower density seating configurations. The extensive use of special Redux metal-bonding adhesives reduced the need for riveting during the manufacturing process, reducing overall weight and air-skin friction. Considerable attention was paid to aspects of maintainability, many of the components being designed to be interchangeable and easy to remove or replace, such as the rudder, elevator, and power units other areas include the mounting of the engines upon four quick-release pickup points, the routing of cables and piping, and the detachable wings and tail cone. In 1946, aviation magazine Flight praised the qualities of the newly developed Dove, noting its "modernity" as well as the aircraft's load-carrying capacity, safe engine-failure performance, and positive maintenance features.
It featured innovations including constant-speed propellers, flaps, and a retractable tricycle undercarriage. Unlike the Dragon Rapide, the Dove's structure was entirely metal. It was also required to be competitive with the large numbers of surplus military transports in the aftermath of the Second World War, such as the Douglas DC-3. In concept, the Dove was developed to be the replacement of the pre-war Dragon Rapide. It had been developed to meet the Type VB requirement issued by the Brabazon Committee. The development team for the Dove was headed by Ronald Bishop, the creator of the de Havilland Mosquito, a wartime fighter-bomber, and the de Havilland Comet, the first commercial jet aircraft in the world. A considerably re-designed three-engined variant of the Dove was built in Australia as the de Havilland Australia DHA-3 Drover. Several military variants were operated, such as the Devon by the Royal Air Force and the Sea Devon by the Royal Navy, and the type also saw service with a number of overseas military forces.Ī longer four-engined development of the Dove, intended for use in the less developed areas of the world, was the Heron.
The Dove was a popular aircraft and is considered to be one of Britain's most successful postwar civil designs, in excess of 500 aircraft being manufactured between 19. The design, which was a monoplane successor to the pre-war Dragon Rapide biplane, came about from the Brabazon Committee report which, amongst other aircraft types, called for a British-designed short-haul feeder for airlines. The de Havilland DH.104 Dove is a British short-haul airliner developed and manufactured by de Havilland.
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