The de Havilland DH 89 Dragon Rapide was a successful British short-haul passenger airliner of the 1930s. Designed as a successor to the DH 84 Dragon, it featured the tapered wings and streamlined undercarriage fairings of the four-engined DH 86 Express.
In 1936 General Franco was carried in a DH 89 on his escape from Canarias to the Spanish Morocco, at the start of the Civil War.
At the start of World War II many Dragon Rapides were impressed by the British armed forces and, together with fresh RAF orders, served under the designation de Havilland Dominie. They were used for passengers duties and radio navigation training.
731 Rapides were built. They have proved astonishingly durable with many still flying into the 21st century. At the IWM Duxford air museum in Cambridgeshire, UK, a pair of Rapides is used daily for short pleasure flights around the airfield. A pair of Rapides are also airworthy in New Zealand.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Dragon_Rapide
deHavilland Dragon Rapide
G-AKIF
Duxford, Cambs, UKJuly 2004
deHavilland Dragon Rapide
Duxford, Cambs, UKJuly 2004
deHavilland Dragon Rapide
Duxford, Cambs, UKJuly 2004
deHavilland Dragon Rapide
G-AKIF
Duxford, Cambs, UKJuly 2004
deHavilland Dragon Rapide
G-AGTM
Duxford, Cambs, UKJuly 2004
deHavilland Dragon Rapide
G-AGTM
Duxford, Cambs, UKJuly 2004