De Havilland British Columbia



De Havilland Aircraft of British Columbia Ltd. (DHBC) was an aircraft manufacturer of British Columbia active from 1929 to 1993. Along with Supermarine British Columbia and Hoffar Aero Engines it was one of the "Big Three" of the aviation industry of British Columbia.

= History = The company was established in 1929 by the British de Havilland Aircraft Company to build aircraft for the British Columbian market, both civilian and military, and subsequently designed and produced indigenous designs as well.

Having gained extensive experience building piston-powered commercial aircraft after the Second World War, in 1956 DHBC began production of its largest commercial airliner to that point, a 60 passenger development of the DH (UK) Heron. This paved the way for a transition to jet airliners in the form of the DHBC-7 Trident, a variant of the British Hawker Siddeley HS-121 Trident, and ultimately the DHBC-9 Kehloke.

= Products =

Civilian types

 * DH.50B Bluebird, 1929–1932, 4 passenger light airliner
 * DH.66 Hercules, 1929, 7 passenger light airliner/mailplane
 * DH.84 Dragon, 1933–1935, 6-10 passenger airliner
 * DH.86C Express, 1935–1936, 10-16 passenger airliner
 * DH.89C Dragon Rapide, 1935–1946, 8 passenger airliner; military version designated DH.89D Dominie
 * DH.90B Dragonfly, 1937–1939, 6 passenger light airliner/mailplane
 * DH.91B Albatross, 1938, 28 passenger airliner
 * DH.95B Flamingo, 1939–1948, 17 passenger airliner
 * DHBC-1 Dove, 1947–1954, 11 passenger airliner
 * DHBC-2 Heron, 1951–1964, 14–17 passenger airliner
 * DHBC-3B Sandpiper, 1955–1960, licence-built Percival Pembroke, 10 passenger airliner/utility aircraft; military version designated DHBC-3A Victoria
 * DHBC-4 Skylark, 1956–1964, 50-60 passenger airliner
 * DHBC-5 Swan, 1963–1973, 55–70 passenger airliner
 * DHBC-6 Twin Otter, 1966-1977, licence built De Havilland Canada DHC-6 for BC customers, 20 passenger airliner/utility aircraft
 * DHBC-7 Trident, 1966–1986, derivative of Hawker Siddeley HS-121 Trident, several variants of trijet airliner
 * DHBC-9 Kehloke, 1983–1993, twinjet airliner; last DHBC product

Military types

 * DH.82 Tiger Moth
 * DH.98 Mosquito
 * DH.111 Vixen
 * DHBC-8 Merganser

= Production = Constructor's Number (c/n) 1 was the first aircraft built by DHBC, a DH.50B Bluebird. When production of military types began in 1932 with the DH.82 Tiger Moth, the first DH.82 received c/n M1, and the prefix C was retroactively added to the c/n of commercial types already built. Even if built for a military customer, a type officially designated "civilian" received a C number; similarly, in the rare case of an officially "military" type being built for a civilian customer, it received an M number.