DE HAVILLAND DH.95 FLAMINGO (KING'S FLIGHT)

The De Havilland Flamingo is a British airliner from the 1930s. Until the outbreak of WWII. Only a dozen or so copies were produced. During the war, the structure was transformed into a transport plane and incorporated into the RAF. The plane was famous for the fact that the machines belonging to No. The 24 Squadron was designed for VIP services, including the travels of King George VI, but also in Churchill or during the evacuation of General De Gaulle from France. An interesting fact is that the plane was used by the Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces in the West, General Sikorski. At the time of its debut, it was believed that this plane could even compete with the absolute hits of that period, i.e. the Douglas DC-3 and Lockheed Electra L-10, which dominated among the world's airlines. The plane reached a very high speed of 385 km / h for those times. The plane is an example of a classic all-metal high-wing aircraft (the first metal plane manufactured by De Havilland), powered by two engines of the native Bristol Perseus design with 890 HP each. In the passenger version, the plane could take up to 20 passengers, while in the military version, 22 soldiers with weapons. The career of the aircraft flourished at the turn of 1940 and 1941, when 9 copies were handed over to BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) to operate overseas routes in Africa and the Middle East. It was this intense exploitation that revealed the shortcomings that caused the Flaming to be grounded. During long flights and under certain weather conditions, the structure showed a tendency to deform. It was the cause of several disasters. Therefore, the plane was withdrawn and only after the war was it returned to further operation. Ultimately, the plane was withdrawn from service in 1954. Technical data of DH-95 "Flamingo": Span - 21.33 m, length - 15.42 m, height - 3.66 m, bearing area - 60.48 m2. Curb weight - 5452 kg, total weight - 7983 kg. Max speed - 385 km / h, cruise speed - 300 km / h, landing speed - 136 km / h, climb - 5.69 m / s, ceiling - 5913 m.