DH 50A
The prototype DH 50 flew in August 1923 and later models were used by Alan Cobham in a series of successful flights to Rangoon, Cape Town and Australia.
In 1924, a DH 50, G-AUAB (which later became A10-1 in the second A series), was used by the Controller of Civil Aviation for the first landplane flight around Australia. Suitably impressed, the RAAF ordered a DH 50A in 1925 as a survey and communications aircraft.
The DH 50A was officially tested at Point Cook on 11 September 1926, and contemporary publications stated that it had been purchased for conveyance of the Governor-General, Lord Stonehaven. In the event, A8-1 became famous for a number of long-distance survey flights.
On 25 September 1926, the aircraft left Point Cook with the then Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Group Captain R. Williams, to carry out a seaplane survey of the south-west Pacific. When the DH 50A returned on 7 December 1926, it had flown 10,000 miles through New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.
The following year, A8-1 was used as a landplane by the CAS on a reconnaissance flight around Australia. Two DH 9s accompanied the DH 50A, and between July and September, the three de Havilland aircraft covered almost 13,000 miles.
The DH 50A was the first RAAF aircraft to fly beyond Australian territory, and it carried the legend "Royal Australian Air Force" in small letters beneath the number A8-1.
TECHNICAL DATA: de Havilland DH 50A
DESCRIPTION:
Four seat communications aircraft, with pilot in open cockpit behind a small cabin.
POWER PLANT:
One 240 hp Siddeley Puma
DIMENSIONS:
Span 13.03 m (42ft 9in); Length 8.76 m (29ft 9in); Height 3.35 m (11ft).
WEIGHTS:
Empty, 1095 kg; loaded 1905 kg.
PERFORMANCE:
Landplane - Max speed 175 km/h (95 kt); Ceiling 14,600ft (4450 m); Range 603 km (326 nm). Seaplane - Max speed 173 km/h; Ceiling 10,500ft (3200 m); Range 579 km (312 nm).
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