De Havilland Dragon Rapide Floatplane.

[Glenn Gilbertson]

Beautiful model, Fred, well done.

I've never had a smoother landing than in a Rapide (lady pilot) on the old Christchurch grass strip.

[Wardukw]

Kit thats was some time ago mate ..a few yrs before i was kicking and my sis 
She still has fond memories of the flight but a sad one to as a 4 engined one of those crashed..no deaths but she likes the 4 engined one what ever its called 
Today my Spad turned up so before long my very first 48th scale bi plane will make an appearance here ..this will be fun but a challenge to as its very small and theres no way i couldn't rig it.

[PR19_Kit]

Kit thats was some time ago mate ..a few yrs before i was kicking and my sis 
She still has fond memories of the flight but a sad one to as a 4 engined one of those crashed..no deaths but she likes the 4 engined one what ever its called 

That's 'cos I'm older than anyone else on here. 

That 4-engined Rapide was the DH86 Express, quite a rare beast in the UK. I never saw one, ever, and AFAIK there's none left anywhere in the world now, sadly.

[Wardukw]

Not saying a damn thing about age..im 53 but my bod is somewhere in its late 70s 

One thing which always got me about the Rapide was the wings..pretty much everything else had the same sort of design..wide rounded wing tips then the Rapide turns up with these narrow ..sharp knife like wings and they kinda look to small for the fuselage..but also the fuselage looks to boxie for the wings..its weird but really neat at the same time .

[The Rat]

Lovely job on that! First aircraft my mum ever had a ride in. 

[rickshaw]

Kit thats was some time ago mate ..a few yrs before i was kicking and my sis 
She still has fond memories of the flight but a sad one to as a 4 engined one of those crashed..no deaths but she likes the 4 engined one what ever its called 

That's 'cos I'm older than anyone else on here. 

That 4-engined Rapide was the DH86 Express, quite a rare beast in the UK. I never saw one, ever, and AFAIK there's none left anywhere in the world now, sadly.

That was 'cause it was found to be a danger to fly.  We had a crash and an investigation which showed there was an inherent fault in the design... 

[Wardukw]

Ahhhhh well there ya got Rick..what i said about things looking weird seems to be right ..im going to tell my sis that..might make her feel different about the gravity sucking problem with that plane.

[zenrat]

De Havilland produced some very graceful aircraft.  I wonder what would have happened if they had gone into partnership with Blackburn?

Thanks folks.  I was convinced I had posted the older pics before but apparently not.

[PR19_Kit]

De Havilland produced some very graceful aircraft.  I wonder what would have happened if they had gone into partnership with Blackburn?

They did, eventually.

It was called BAe. 

[NARSES2]

De Havilland produced some very graceful aircraft.  I wonder what would have happened if they had gone into partnership with Blackburn?

Beauty and the Beast Aircraft Manufacturers Ltd ?

Can you imagine the rows between the two factions in the design office ? 

[Scotaidh]

Missionary Aviation Fellowship started off with a Rapide, in the mid-50s, in Sudan at a place called Malakal (now part of South Sudan, and perched betwixt the southern edge of the desert and the northern edge of the Sudd - biggest swamp in the world).

The then Powers That Were didn't want civilians swanning about in single-engined aircraft - "twin-engine safety" was the watchword, particularly in that hazardous area of the world.  From the navigator's perspective, "The River" and endless miles of daily-changing featureless brown nothing or daily-changing featureless green nothing; never mind that the Rapide was only just barely able to fly (empty) on one engine.  My dad flew and maintained it - he always said that the second engine only delayed a forced landing.  Fortunately, he never had to test that theory! 

He particularly disliked changing the oil - every 25 flying hours.  Because the engines were inverted, some oil always collected in the cylinder heads, which meant that he had to unbolt each of them (3 per engine as they were twinned) and where the retaining bolts were located meant that as soon as the bolt came loose, oil would begin dripping down his arm, with a lot more bolt to go.  He always wrapped a disposable rag around his arm, but the wretched thing had a nasty habit of loading up with oil and then coming loose all over his shirt, causing my Mum extra distress over the (hand-washed) laundry. 

He also had to re-rig the entire aircraft every time the seasons (Wet / Dry) changed - re-doing all those flying and static wires, when a change in one affects all the others ...

Sorry - drifted a bit from topic, there.   <oops>  Sorry! 

Very nice work on that model - always glad to see a Rapide. 

[The Rat]

Missionary Aviation Fellowship started off with a Rapide, in the mid-50s, in Sudan at a place called Malakal (now part of South Sudan, and perched betwixt the southern edge of the desert and the northern edge of the Sudd - biggest swamp in the world).

The then Powers That Were didn't want civilians swanning about in single-engined aircraft - "twin-engine safety" was the watchword, particularly in that hazardous area of the world.  From the navigator's perspective, "The River" and endless miles of daily-changing featureless brown nothing or daily-changing featureless green nothing; never mind that the Rapide was only just barely able to fly (empty) on one engine.  My dad flew and maintained it - he always said that the second engine only delayed a forced landing.  Fortunately, he never had to test that theory! 

He particularly disliked changing the oil - every 25 flying hours.  Because the engines were inverted, some oil always collected in the cylinder heads, which meant that he had to unbolt each of them (3 per engine as they were twinned) and where the retaining bolts were located meant that as soon as the bolt came loose, oil would begin dripping down his arm, with a lot more bolt to go.  He always wrapped a disposable rag around his arm, but the wretched thing had a nasty habit of loading up with oil and then coming loose all over his shirt, causing my Mum extra distress over the (hand-washed) laundry. 

He also had to re-rig the entire aircraft every time the seasons (Wet / Dry) changed - re-doing all those flying and static wires, when a change in one affects all the others ...

Sorry - drifted a bit from topic, there.   <oops>  Sorry! 

Very nice work on that model - always glad to see a Rapide. 

Some fascinating insights, thanks.

[NARSES2]

Missionary Aviation Fellowship started off with a Rapide, in the mid-50s, in Sudan at a place called Malakal (now part of South Sudan, and perched betwixt the southern edge of the desert and the northern edge of the Sudd - biggest swamp in the world).

The then Powers That Were didn't want civilians swanning about in single-engined aircraft - "twin-engine safety" was the watchword, particularly in that hazardous area of the world.  From the navigator's perspective, "The River" and endless miles of daily-changing featureless brown nothing or daily-changing featureless green nothing; never mind that the Rapide was only just barely able to fly (empty) on one engine.  My dad flew and maintained it - he always said that the second engine only delayed a forced landing.  Fortunately, he never had to test that theory! 

He particularly disliked changing the oil - every 25 flying hours.  Because the engines were inverted, some oil always collected in the cylinder heads, which meant that he had to unbolt each of them (3 per engine as they were twinned) and where the retaining bolts were located meant that as soon as the bolt came loose, oil would begin dripping down his arm, with a lot more bolt to go.  He always wrapped a disposable rag around his arm, but the wretched thing had a nasty habit of loading up with oil and then coming loose all over his shirt, causing my Mum extra distress over the (hand-washed) laundry. 

He also had to re-rig the entire aircraft every time the seasons (Wet / Dry) changed - re-doing all those flying and static wires, when a change in one affects all the others ...

Sorry - drifted a bit from topic, there.   <oops>  Sorry! 

Very nice work on that model - always glad to see a Rapide. 

Some fascinating insights, thanks.

Absolutely 

[zenrat]

I've worked on enough machinery to realise that designers should have to have a go at maintaining what they design.

[Dizzyfugu]

Sweet build. And with the Norseman floats as reference the Dragon Rapide is apparently smaller than I expected.