Aviation of World War II

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DH.91 Albatross

Passenger Airliner

De Havilland

DH.91 Albatross

The DH Albatross was designed by Arthur Hagg as a long range mail plane and passenger airliner. Aerodynamic refinement was the driving consideration in the design of this elegant design and the result was a fantastically clean fuselage, which was combined with a retractable undercarriage and enormous attention to detail in achieving an engine installation with minimum frontal area. The Albatross also pioneered the monocoque fuselage plywood / balsa sandwich shell construction later to be used on the De Havilland Mosquito and Hornet.

The prototype (E2, later G-AEVV) flew for the first time on 20th May 1937 with power being provided by four air-cooled 525 hp Gipsy Twelve inverted-V engines installed in close-fitting nacelles.


                                                                                                                                                                                                              
DH. 91 Albatross
Crew 4
Dimensions
Wing span 105 ft 0 in (32.01 m)
Wing area 1,078 ft² (100,15m²)
Length 71 ft 6 in (21.80 m)
Height 22 ft 3 in (6.78 m)
Powerplant
Engine 4 × PE De Havilland Gipsy Twelve
Power, hp 4 × 525
Weight, kg:
Empty weight 9630
Loaded weight 13381
Performance
Maximum speed 225 mph (362km/h)
Cruising speed 210 mph (338 km/h)
Service ceilling 17,900 ft (5455 m)
Service range 1,040 mi, (1675 km)
Passengers 22
Photo Description

Drawing DH. 91 Albatross.

DH.91 and HP.52

Second prototipe E-3/G-AEVW, August 27 1938 after test flight.

Bibliography

  • British Warplanes of World War II /Daniel J March/
  • De Havilland Aircraft Since 1909 /Putnam. A.J. Jackson./