De Havilland BC DH.95 Flamingo

The De Havilland BC DH.95 Flamingo is a seventeen passenger piston-engined passenger airliner built by De Havilland British Columbia between 1939 and 1948, identical to the DH.95 type of DHBC's parent company, De Havilland Aircraft of the United Kingdom.

Design & development
Unlike previous DHBC aircraft, which made use of engines designed and built in British Columbia by Hoffar Aero Engines, for the BC-built DH.95B Flamingo DHBC opted to obtain a licence to manufacture the Bristol Perseus XVI 9-cylinder radial engines used on the British-made Flamingo, because Hoffar's equivalent, the HLR-9A Algol, produced only 450 hp - less than half of the Perseus' 930 hp. With their attention focussed on the new Petrel and Tern series of V-12s, Hoffar were uninterested in developing the Algol further, so DHBC contracted its licence to build the Perseus out to Ford of BC. These engines were built at Ford's Burnaby plant and were delivered to Sea Island by rail.

Operational history
''See also: DHBC DH.95 Flamingo operators

Operators
Operators who took delivery of aircraft new from the factory are marked with a star (★).

Current

 * British Columbia
 * Private owner: 1


 * New Zealand
 * ★ Private owner: 1

Former

 * British Columbia
 * Air British Columbia: 4
 * Alberni Airways: 2
 * Atlin Airways: 4
 * Awyr Cymru Newydd: 5
 * ★ Blaenau Air Lines: 1
 * ★ Canadian Pacific Air Lines: 5 (+6 registered in Canada)
 * Columbia Air Cargo: 10
 * ★ Dominion Airways: 8
 * ★ Kootenay Air Transport: 1
 * North Peace Airlines: 7
 * Northern Air: 6
 * ★ Northern Air Lines: 1
 * ★ Pacific Coastal Airlines: 5
 * Pacific Western Airlines: 1
 * ★ Peace Airways: 1
 * Stikine Airlines: 3
 * ★ Vancouver Island Air Service: 3


 * Canada
 * Bearskin Airlines: 1
 * ★ Canadian Pacific Air Lines: 6 (+5 registered in BC)
 * ★ Government of Manitoba: 1
 * MAS Matane Air Services: 3
 * ★ Montreal & Dominion Skyways: 2
 * ★ Private owner: 1
 * Quebecair: 3
 * Thunder Bay Airlines: 1
 * ★ Yukon Southern Air Transport: 1


 * United States
 * ★ Private owners: 2

Preserved

 * C165/1939, as VB-DAG in Dominion Airways livery, at Langley Museum of Flight, Langley
 * C193/1940, as VB-BLF in Blaenau Air Lines livery, at Blaenau International Airport, Blaenau
 * C209/1946, as G-AGCC of the King's Flight, at Imperial War Museum Duxford, Duxford, United Kingdom; shipped to the UK for preservation in 1995 from Atlin, BC, as no British-built Flamingos had survived.

Accidents & incidents

 * 29 November 1944: Canadian Pacific Flamingo VB-PAF (c/n C192/1941), operating as Flight 073 from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada to Blaenau, crashed on final approach in a heavy snowstorm, after the white-out conditions caused the pilot to misjudge his approach. The aircraft burned and was written off; four of the fifteen passengers and crew were killed, including the pilot and co-pilot.


 * 22 September 1976: Pacific Coastal Airlines Flamingo VB-PCF (c/n C232/1948), operating a charter flight from Bella Bella to Burns Lake, crashed at Mosher Creek near Stuwic, a satellite of Bella Coola. The Flamingo was carrying out a circling climb procedure within the confines of a narrow valley in order to clear a 6,000 foot ridge. Trying to clear a ridge at 4,500 feet a steep turn was carried out. Sensing an impending stall, the pilot leveled the wings and flew the aircraft into the trees in a nose high attitude. Of the two crew and seventeen passengers, one passenger was killed; the aircraft was destroyed.


 * 21 February 1977: Privately owned Flamingo N23687 (c/n C223/1947) was destroyed in a crash at Truckee, California, having stalled on takeoff due to ice accretion on the wings.