Classic British Aircraft - De Havilland Dragon Rapide
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ส.ค. 2023
- The prototype first flew in 1934. Designed to carry 6 - 8 passengers, it became one of the most successful British built short-haul aircraft of the era. During WW2 it entered service with the RAF where it was referred to as the Dominie and was used for radio and navigation training, passenger transport and communications missions.
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DeHavilland had this knack for beauty. The planes are always faultlessly elegant, a pleasure to look at.
That was the phylosophy of the Jaguar Car boss Jack Lyons, He said, if it looks right ,it is right. He'd draw a sketch on a Fag Packet, hand it to his chief engineer and say--make that.
Aircraft designers in those days were not only gifted engineers, they were artists.
Classically Art Deco.
I used to own a large number of aeroplane magazines from the 1930s through the war. The Dragon Rapide was one of my favourite aircraft - it looked so elegant and beautiful.
because it was
Cool, DAD , had some from Canada, maybe same spotter type , MacBook,, def spotter , all after his deceased. , ,
Magbook this is third time spelling magbook, , phone ,
My Uncle was the first RAF pilot to fly over the Andes, in a Dominie. (RAF version of Rapide)
He flew north along the coastline from Lima (Peru) to Chiclayo, then ENE to Moyobamba where he landed.
Then back again. The Dominie doesn't have a very high ceiling, so that's probably why they chose the northern section of the Andes for the route.
Bugger that, some Planes have crashed on the Andes, or just never seen again.
@@MrDaiseymayI made my comment with respect to the Dominie, should anyone be interested.
You obviously weren't. The mountain range was secondary. It just happened to be the Andes in this case.
Why are you telling me that some planes crashed in the Andes? Are you also going to tell me that some ships sunk in the sea? Irrelevance is irrelevance.
I've flown in a Dragon Rapide - it was a wonderful experience. It is a beautiful and elegant aircraft :)
Hawker de Havilland Australia had one at Bankstown airport, I fell in love with the old girl and the DH86 they also had there.
One of the nicest videos I have seen. Enthousastic people who love what they do. My dear old dad begun his career at Hatfield as an apprentice, moved down to Portsmouth and after that to Hamble , and retired with what was then British Aerospace. His whole working life with one company. Miss him..
Many thanks. So glad you enjoyed it. I bet your dad had some stories to tell.
As a young kid they used one for joy rides at Bankstown airport NSW Australia
My first flight in a Rapide was in the mid-1960s at South Cerney airfield, Gloucestershire, between Cricklade and Cirencester. I was a young teenager in the Air Training Corps and we all got to fly in one on a week-end camp ... I imagine it was the official RAF aircraft which had ferried in the senior officer who was to revue us on parade. The next time I flew in one was the early 1970's, when I was a member of the British Parachute Team. We used two Rapides stripped of seats that flew in formation, but I can't remember where we took off from, although it must have been close to Cheltenham Race Course, as that was our drop zone. Each Rapide would take eight parachutists to around 10,000 feet, which would give us about 30 seconds of free fall in which to hook up into formations as we fell. I do recall one jump when the wind changed and we landed on and around the nearby M5 motorway, to the surprise and alarm of motorists ... fortunately, there was a wide central reservation at that particular point (we were still using the old-style round parachutes that had very limited manoeuvrability) ... there was a subsequent police enquiry. The fabric skin and wood frame of the Rapides actually saved the life of one of our number ... The sixteen jumpers, eight in each Rapide, had to exit as fast as possible at the same time in single file through the two fairly narrow doorways as the planes flew side by side, so that the last ones out could catch up to the first. On one occasion, the two Rapides became separated vertically during the jump and the higher one drifted over the lower one just as the last jumper exited it. He fell about 200 feet and hit the lower aircraft, which knocked him unconscious. If it had been any other plane, he would have bounced off the metal hull and continued to the ground, unable to deploy his reserve chute ... but because the Rapide had a fabric hull, he passed straight through and landed on the more forgiving plywood deck, which saved his life. R (Australia)
My father's first flight was in a Rapide (actually a Dominie) flying to take up his first posting to His Majesty's Submarine 'Venturer'(P.68) in 1945, just prior to the end of the war in Europe. He flew from R.N.A.S., Donibristle, to Sumbah Head in the Shetlands.
British designers always had an edge for designing beautifull good looking airplanes , no matter is it a Tiger Moth , a Mosquito , a Lancaster , a Vulcan , just mouthdroppingly beautifull machines ! ❤
COMET__CONCORDE, VICTOR
Exactly my sentiments. The curves they put on their aircraft was just so elegant, whether the Vulcan or the Concorde or the Hunter or the Gnat.
They also designed some eye popping ugly aircraft. Not many thank goodness. I love the spitfire, DH comet, Dragon Rapide, Tigermoth and Vulcan.
Notice the attitude of the takeoff, the pitch doesn't change the aircraft just rises. What a smooth ride.
Let's not forget the Spitfire.
Apart from most of Blackburn's designs. I don't know what their designers were on, LSD?
I'm an American, but in my mind, NOTHING evokes this golden age of flight like the DeHavilland Dragon Rapide.
Flying art Deco.... Im lucky to know someone that has flown one...
@@clivestainlesssteelwomble7665for me the Spartan Executive is Art Deco in aircraft form.
@@paulqueripel3493
I cannot remember that one off the top of my head but my main interest was always Airships and Flyingboats.
I have a poster of a painting with a DH and the Fourth rail bridge in the background a steam train going across and a paddle wheel steam ferry and tug below the bridge 🌉. Called the Golden age of travel.
@@paulqueripel3493
Looked It up ... Very shiney but i will stick with my dragonflies 👍🏼😉
Very beautiful aircraft! It has a distinct art deco look about it.
Yes it SCREAMS ART DECO ELEGANCE...... duxford sells flights over cambridge/ london
I enjoyed this documentary. Very nicely put together, good images, interesting people, lovely music and.. a good narrator! Thank you 👍
The DH Rapide is the first type of aircraft I ever flew in during the late 40’s early 50’s at London Airport as it was then known (now Heathrow) where they did pleasure flights. Those were the days.
To my eye one of the prettiest little aircraft ever designed I had the pleasure of a short flight in one a few years ago 👍🏻🇬🇧
How wonderful. It's such a pretty aircraft and it looks like nothing else. Thanks for the video.
As a boy I had a burning ambition to fly and saved up my pocket money until I could afford to pay 12/6d for a 20 minute flight. I wanted to become a pilot but they found that I was short sighted and colour blind so that was the end of my dreams. But I trained as an aircraft engineer and then spent more than 30 years in the Royal Air Force.
I feel your pain. My dad was a U.S. Air Force pilot and he would take me out the field to let me sit in the cockpit of every plane he ever flew. All I ever wanted to do was to fly. But alas, like as you, I was short sighted. I did eventually become a Naval Aircrew Backseater and did get a private pilot license, but it was not quite the same as going six hundred knots with your hair on fire at the stick of a fighter.
My first flight was in a Rapide from an air show in Leicestershire.
It must have been about 1964.
Five bob well spent.
In 1974 I had the pleasure to be one of the first ATC cadets to take part on parachute course with RAF sports parachute club, jumping from a Rapide. Magic
I did three jumps from the RAF Sports Parachute Association Rapide (G-AGSH) while a Halton apprentice in 1973 - never managed a landing in it! That aircraft is still about and was in one of the Shuttleworth Collection's hangars a few years ago.
One of these was still serving on a regular schedule along the West Coast of the South Island, New Zealand in the early 1960’s. As a boy, I remember always running outside to watch it fly overhead.
Finally, in 2021, I had the opportunity to take a ride in the very same aircraft at a local air show. I was amazed how quiet and comfortable it was to fly in. While the seats were rather small and limited in legroom, they were more comfortable than many modern airliner seats. The visibility out of the aircraft was superb.
I had a flight in a Rapide in the mid 1960s as a child, and very possibly in the plane you refer to. My father was an flying enthusiast, and took my brother and me to a local air show in Akaroa. There was a Rapide there, taking folks on joyrides. My father paid for us all to go on a whizz around Akaroa Bay. I remember feeling scared, and that it seemed noisy and SO far down to the sea we were flying over. There are photos (in colour, no less!) of us with the plane, probably in my brother's possession now.
I can only describe it as being like flying inside a vintage 1930s caravan. Absolutely fabulous 👌 😊
Later in this excellent video, I noted that the fuselage they're restoring was built by the company that built the classic Blackpool trams. You can certainly see a lot of similarities between these beautiful trams and the Dragon Rapide.
Rowing up in the 50s near Blackpool airport in Lancashire, I saw these beautiful, graceful aircraft pootling around the skies, particularly in summer. Lovely memories.
What a nice video about an iconic machine. The fellow hit it on the head when he said "First loves always remain first loves." I know how that feels, whether with machinery, or women!
A wonderful era in aviation. I never got the chance to work with the Dragon Rapide, sadly.
I am from Uruguay, 84. There was a DH Rapide here in the fifties, based at the Ángel Adami GA airport near Montevideo.
She was used for publicity, with loudspeakers set at high vol. I saw her many times, painted blue, her two engines softly buzzing.
great
My first flight experience. 11 shilling pleasure trip Heathrow 1954.
One spring in the early 60's I was sitting on scope watching ice burgs floating down from Greenland when I got a radio call from a Dragon being ferried down to South America.
Watched him slowly crawl across my scope toward Goose Bay 😀
We used to free fall parachute from the De Havilland Rapide but in order to do so one had to reach out through the door for a wing strut then step out on to the wing then holding on to the wing strut and the edge of the door then jump backwards to clear. It was always a scary moment for the beginner's! Happy days!
What a cool plane. I hadn't seen one before.
My first flight was a jolly from Squires Gate Airport around Blackpool Tower. This was back in the 1950s when I was a very little lad. Nowadays, in old age, I fly mostly in A380s and 777s. These modern planes are wonderfully comfortable and convenient, but will never come close to the joy of that first flight in a Dragon Rapide.
I don’t think De Havilland ever made an ugly airplane.
My favourite marque, with the Mosquito as the outstanding warbird of its era.
Had a flight in one at Duxford in the 1980s!sitting on wicker chairs and the pilots every move visible,great experience!
What a unique and beautiful aircraft, but it's De Havilland, to be expected! I hear nothing but good about their designs, and their planes always look like they will fly well, even one of my favorites, the post war Vampire. It's a real shame they're gone along with the rest of the British aviation industry. Oldest plane I got a chance to fly in was a 1929 Ford Tri motor that was performing demonstration flights. That was one of the most amazing things I've done, even if the flight was fairly short. That Dragon looks like it would be similar of an experience.
I've taken off 3 time in one of these but never been in one when it landed! Parachute training, 1970 😁
The tapered wings give this aeroplane a graceful countenance.
Just a lovely looking aircraft. A classic really.
It is the history of the golden age of aviation. brought it back to us. De Havilland is one of the most beautiful aircraft. I hope that there will be videos of the stages of restoration of this beautiful bird. It is a very wonderful video.thank you.
Saw one of these a week or so ago at a De Havilland fly-in at Shuttleworth, lovely.
All of Sir Geoffrey DeHavillands' aircraft designs were iconic. They had a unique style,much like Jaguar cars had.
A friend of mine became multi engine rated in the 70s and flew DC3s and a rapide for The Scillly Isles. In those days it was war surplus junk. Nowadays it's iconic antique history.
I remember a writeup in our local newspaper about these planes. Normally they were not stationed here. But it was a long cold winter in 1953 and the ferries could not reach the northern islands in the Netherlands anymore as the sea was totally frozen up. Due to this emergency the Dragonflies were called in and helped transporting the sick and food to those islands.
Like almost all de Havilland aircraft, a very elegant end beautiful aeroplane. There are still several flying today. Those modest de Havilland Gypsy engines also have a special place in British aviation history.
Lovely aircraft, although I never got to fly in one, but I can remember seeing them at airports because they were still in regular use at least into the late 50s. My first flight was in a DC-3, which dates from the same era.
10+ years ago we went to Duxford aircraft museum. They had a Rapids giving joy flights. When I got in I regretted looking at the floor, huge crack you could see through and the gap flexed as I lowered my bulk into the steel and canvas chair.....maxe for an interesting flight. Loved the experience despite fearing I might be part if a bombing run!
I've been up in one of these. It was a great flight. Comfortable and gave you the real feeling of what flying was like years ago.
“Elegant” comes to mind.
The DH Rapide was the first plane I ever went up in. 😁👍🏼.....I recall the Wicker seats.
First aircraft I ever flew in as a kid back in the 50's. A 15 minute trip round Blackpool Tower. All a bit hazy now.
I always loved the 'plane. I first flew in one from RAF Hendon in 1957 with my father (who had never flown either (tho' he had served in the RAF). I then flew in G-AGJG from the de Havilland field at Christchurch, near Bournemouth c.1964. They were used for everything. The AA used them for road traffic monitoring.
It's a lovely looking airplane. It reminds me of a dragonfly.
Did several jumps from this fabulous aircraft when it was one of the regular jumpships of the Army Parachute Association based at their Netheravon drop zone in Wiltshire.
My first flight ever was at an RAF Brawdy airshow in 1966, in a DH.84 Dragon (G-ADDI). Lacked the spats of the Rapide, but ,oh, what fun it was!
6:09 is a sad view, Coventry well past it's glory days. Old terminal gone, which was towards the end Atlantic Flight Training premises. Hi, to anyone from those days, Bob K.
That's the most graceful take-off I've ever seen.
I remember as a 10 year old in the 1950`s, DH Rapides used to do pleasure frights from Squires Gate Airport (Blackpool) round the tower and back again. There were usually 2 or so aircraft circling at any one time and the flight took about 15 minutes from take-off to landing.
Me too,same age,same place. Got my first flight in a DH Fox Moth of Southport beach.
The Rapids at Blackpool was my second flight aged 10. My first was at Gt Yarmouth with a guy who was obviously an ex battle of Britain pilot ! 5' tall, ginger handle bar mouchtach. What he did with that plane has stayed with me for 60+ years! First we took off from grass and straight into a loop the loop ! A barrel roll over the pier at Yarmouth then swooped down along the beach 50' above sun bathers ! to allow me as a kid to 'strafe' them ! Believe me ,what this guy didn't know about stunt flying wasn't worth knowing. Could you imagine 'Elf and Safety these days ? I know firsthand why we won the battle of Britain.
Great video about a wonderful airplane.
My first parachute static line exit was out of one of these at Netheravon, Wiltshire. Departure from the aircraft was off the port wing - the drill was to get out of the cabin onto the wing by grabbing an in board strut - left arm, left leg, right arm right leg, holding on and leaning into the prop wash and then on command from the instructor push off backwards in a stable exit position. Exhilarating. I wonder if that aircraft is still flying.
Me too . Did the same course . First jump was the first time I flew in a plane. Summer of 1969
Correction 1970
Such a graceful plane.
I had first seen one - maybe this solid blue one - on an episode of FOYLE’S WAR…
I love the Rapide. I was a deHavilland apprentice. I took my two sons for a pleasure flight from Duxford during the early 80s. They loved it too. I no longer fly in modern passenger jets, but given the opportunity for a ride in a Rapide, anytime, yes indeed!
I wish I could say --'I know what you mean.'
Outstanding !!
My very first flight (I'd have been 7 or 8) in '66 or '67, Yeovilton air day and a flight round the aerodrome. Magic.
I had a short flight from an RAF base near Bath and out to Weston Super Mare and along the coast and back. It was a beautiful smooth flight in very comfortable leather seats (there was a pocket in the seat back with tough paper-bags in it) We were approaching Colerne and I noticed the pilot was calmly working a bit harder and on the landing approach the cabin view was at an angle, the lady pilot had put us down smoothly with unexpected 30mph crosswinds. I love the Dragon Rapide it is one of the most beautiful aeroplanes ever made. I must find a model.
Wow, this brings back a memory. When I was about 8/9 in the late '60s I saw one of these fly over my house. It was bright red. I remember rushing inside when it had gone over to get my "Observers Book of Aircraft" to find out what it was.
You may still be able to fly on one out of Duxford Airdrome in Cambridgeshire.
Great video . Thank you so much for sharing 🙏🏻👌👌👌
Had the pleasure of a flight in the one at Duxford
My first ever flight in a rapide was at Squires Gate [Blackpool] in 1951.
What a beauty!
The design is quite beautiful….
From above, because of the wing design, it looks like a Dragonfly.
Great video
I see the Duxford ones fly overhead regularly. A fine looking aircraft with an easy to recognise sound.
Flew in a DH Tiger Moth from Duxford always fancied a ride in a Dragon Rapide since .....
Until now.
Now I just realised you'll be sitting in the cabin unable to see the pilot & the controls working ☹
Oh, you can buy rides with the Duxford classic guys too if you still fancy it.
I rate the Moth higher ............... they let *you* take the controls on that 👍
The Spanish Civil War was planned at Simpsons on the Strand and started with a journey in a Dragon Rapide, which is now on display in a museum in Madrid.
This type of plane flies regularly over our area... Very majestic indeed.
Will always have fond memories of this beautiful aeroplane, a classic design. Was fortunate to fly in Golf Sierra Hotel many times in the 60s eventually doing some static jumps in 1970. That aeroplane is in better condition now at Old Warden than it ever was when in the ownership of the Royal Air Force Sport Parachute Association at RAF Abingdon!
Whoa really?! You rode in and even jumped out of those? That's the coolest thing I've heard in a long while.
elegantly simple and handsome.
My wife's family were frequent flyers in Rapides (and Dakotas) around 1959 from Kirkwall to Aberdeen. They were often the only passengers in a Rapide.
Jealous!!!
Simply a beauty. ❤
Great that you showed G-AGTM. I have flown on that beautiful aircraft
Flown on a dragon rapide out of duxford wonderful experience
Nice to see John Dodd in this episode. Still looks the same age when he was flying BN-2T’s at RAPA!😊
Well, the video was made a long time ago.... I'd guess 20 or more years ago.
That blue one is a beauty!
Beautiful…
The beautiful Rapide, so ART DECO, and of it's age. I queued at Duxford to take a trip in one , years ago. Then suddenly it got cancelled, as storms were brewing. Living 150 miles away, I never got back for another try.
Flew in one last week from Duxford to London and along the Thames.Amazing but very noisy
What a splendid channel! Subscribed! Please keep up the good work! 🙂
Many thanks. Very much appreciated
Beautiful vid.
Flew twice on one of these in the 1950s. Many years later a pilot told me if one engine cut out, the other wouldn't keep you airborne for long.
Thanks!
Many thanks. Very much appreciated
Greetings from Alabama, USA. I'm hooked on your channel. This is a beautiful presentation, and totally appropriate for a classic aircraft of that era. It was also gratifying to see the youth of the maintainers; hopefully they will carry the torch of restoration as they get older!
Many thanks Pete, very much appreciated. Glad you have enjoyed it.
Bangers and Cash for _very_ rich people.
Aviation enthusiasts really will inherit the earth!
If a plane was sexy, this would be it, such classic beautiful lines and so stylish....
The pilots’ view is very cool.
Would be a dream job to work on such rebulids/restorations!
It is a beautiful aircraft. Rotation and the lift looks smooth and effortless.
Rotation? Looks like the pitch didn't change but flew up in the same angle it sat on the ground. Where all three wheels come off the ground at the same time.
@@DarrellCook-vl6lm sorry looked as though nose lifted first.
Wow what a beautiful plane
I saw one in Zanzibar in 1956. It later caught fire and was destroyed. 😢😢😢
beautiful.
My first flight was in a Rapide when I was about 12 yrs old in the very early '50s, when they were used for flights round Heathrow. Sadly, I remember little of it, though I think the interior was a bit more spartan than the one shown in your lovely film.
Also as I remember a woman pilot.
I know the Rapid did not have feathering props, so I always wanted to know how well they would do on one engine
WHAT A BEAUTIFUL SHIP.
The most beautiful aircraft ever built .... 🇬🇧🇬🇧 IT SCREAMS ART DECO ELEGANCE .
breathe taking bird.... if it was a woman i,d marry it.
❤❤❤