Historic Dragon flies again
Although not very recent news, but nevertheless worth spreading: De Havilland DH84 Dragon G-ACET (c/n 6021) has made a successful post restoration flight on 25 April 2023.
The 1934 built airliner is owned by George Cormack, owner/director of Cormack Aircraft Services Ltd. based at Easter Polder Farm, Thornhill, Stirling (UK).
In the years between 1989 and 1995 the plane was part of the Russavia Collection in Bishop’s Stortford but then sold to Mr. Mike Souch of Durley. He initiated the restoration of the Dragon but sold it to the present owner in 2001. It is finished in the beautiful blue and silver colours of SMT (Scottish Motor Traction Co., Edinburgh).
G-ACET is one of only two airworthy examples of the type in the United Kingdom, the second being G-ECAN (c/n 2048).
A third airworthy example in Europe can be found in Ireland. In 1967 Irish national airline Aer Lingus acquired an old DH84. This plane EI-AFK (which had already been stored in 1959) was bought with the intention to save it for future generations. It was intially restored for static display but in later years it was restored to airworthy condition. First occasion was the 50th Anniversary of the airline, when the Dragon painted as Aer Lingus' first EI-ABI 'Iolar' made its first post restoration flight on 10 April 1986. It was intermittently flown in the years that followed but the restoration was taken up again almost 25 years later. The company decided to fully restore it to airworthy condition again to celebrate its 75th Anniversary. EI-ABI then made its first postrestoration flight on 24 February 2011.
In total 202 examples of the DH84 Dragon were built that were flown across the globe in both civil and military use. As an answer to the Australian request for a larger and more powerful version, De Havilland built the DH86 (Dragon) Express. These were powered by four 6-cylinder Gipsy Six engines.
Powering a scaled down version of the DH86 led to an even more successful design: the DH89 Dragon Rapide, or Dominie as it was called in RAF service. In total 727 examples of the DH89 were built of which even nowadays a limited number remains airworthy.
Photos: Dave Hall and Mike Souch