De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver

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The correct title of this article is de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver. The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions.

Image:C-FGYN Adlair Aviation de Havilland Beaver (DHC2) 01.jpg.JPG

The de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver is one of the most famous bush planes in the world. After World War II, de Havilland Canada was looking to produce a plane suited to operations in the extremes of the Canadian north.

The Beaver has become a symbol of the Canadian north, and has since found use as a bush plane all over the world; the international ICAO designation for flight plans is DHC2. The type is used for aerial application; (crop dusting and aerial topdressing), and has been widely used by armed forces as a utility aircraft; the U.S. Army Air Corps purchased several hundred. Nine DHC-2s are still in service with the US Air Force Auxiliary (Civil Air Patrol) for search and rescue. A Royal New Zealand Air Force Beaver supported Sir Edmund Hillary's expedition to the South Pole. Over 1,600 Beavers were produced.

1 Design and development
2 Operational service
3 Recent developments
4 Specifications (DHC-2)
5 Military Operators
6 References
7 Related content

[edit] Design and development

After extensive consultation with bush pilots, they began production of the Beaver —a reliable, single-engine monoplane that could be easily fitted with wheels, skis, or floats. The Beaver was designed for flight in rugged and remote areas of the world. Because it often flies to remote locations (that often are in cold climates) its oil reservoir filling spout is located in the cockpit itself and the oil can be refilled while the aircraft is in flight. The first flight of the DHC Beaver was 16 August 1947, with the first production aircraft being delivered in April 1948. The plane was an immediate success within the Canadian aviation community. de Havilland hired veteran bush pilot Punch Dickins as their Director of Sales and when production finally ceased in 1967, 1,657 DHC-2 Beavers had been built.

[edit] Operational service

Despite the fact that production ceased nearly forty years ago, hundreds of Beavers are still flying—many of them heavily modified to adapt to changes in technology and needs. Kenmore Air of Kenmore, Washington zero-hours Beaver and Otter airframes and owns dozens of supplemental type certificates (STCs) for aircraft modifications. These modifications are so well-known and desirable in the aviation community that the rebuilt Beavers are often called "Kenmore Beavers" or listed as having "Kenmore mods" installed. A 1950s Beaver that originally sold for under US $50,000 can now be seen for sale at prices reaching US $500,000.

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Harrison Ford owns a DHC-2 Beaver (N28S), and has commented that it is his favourite among his entire fleet of private aircraft. The United States Military continues to operate two DHC-2s at the United States Naval Test Pilot School, where they are used to instruct students in the evaluation of lateral-directional flying qualities and to tow gliders.

The DHC-2 Beaver is sometimes used by skydiving operators due to its very high rate of climb. When fitted with a roller door that can be opened in flight, it can ferry eight skydivers to 13,000ft AMSL very quickly.

[edit] Recent developments

At one point in its production, plans to license build the type in New Zealand were proposed. Although there have been rumours of Canadian companies manufacturing new Beavers, it remains an out-of-production aircraft. The remaining tooling was purchased by Viking Air of Victoria which manfactures replacement parts for most of the early de Havilland line. On February 24, 2006, Viking purchased the type certificates from Bombardier Aerospace for all the original De Havilland designs<ref>Viking aquires DeHavilland type certificates Press Release 24 February 2006</ref>. The ownership of the certificates gives Viking the exclusive right to manufacture new Beavers.