This aircraft was built at Hawarden Cheshire UK in 1948 for the De Havilland company.
Initially it was delivered to the Air Ministry and then the Royal Air Force. It spent some
time with the Air Attach with the British Embassy in Jakarta Indonesia. It was taken into
the Queens Flight shortly after her accession to the throne. 1n 1952 was designated the
personal aircraft of His Royal Highness Prince Philip who learned to fly in this aircraft at
RAF White Waltham and flew it subsequently on 67 occasions.
Whilst with the RAF it was placed with 207 Squadron at RAF Northolt and RAF Wildenrath.
It was acquired by Roger Byron-Collins of Welbeck Estate Group in 1996 whose father as
a Master Navigator served with 207 squadron in the early 1950s at RAF Waddington on
Avro Lincolns and RAF Marham on B29 Washington. He rejoined 207 squadron at RAF
Northolt in the 1960s and flew VP961 with 207 Met Comm squadron.
After it was decommissioned in 1986 it was bought by a group of 3 enthusiasts registered
as G-ALFM and based at North Weald. After it’s sale in 1996 it was reregistered as G-HBBC
to be operated by the Welbeck company BBC Air. It underwent a GBP 300,000 overhaul
resulting in it being acknowledged by the aviation community at that time as being the best
presented Dove in the world. It was initially based for 6 years at Bristol Filton and from 2003
to 2011 at Compton Abbas It won many trophies since it was discharged from the RAF and
civilianised in 1986. It travelled on a multitude of occasions to Fornebu Norway and the south
of France. HRH Prince Philip revisited his former aircraft at RAF Northolt in 1999 and was
delighted as it’s restoration and condition.
In 2011 it was sold to a Norfolk busiman Roger Gawn the owner of the former technical and
domestic site at RAF Sculthorpe. The aircraft was removed by road from Compton Abbas
to RAF Sculthorpe where it is undergoing checks so hopefully it will be airborne once again.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]230067[/ATTACH]
By: rogcoll - 3rd August 2014 at 17:54
A few photos of G-HBBC First October 1998 at Filton Second and third Inflight and landing Compton Abbas Dorset 2006
[ATTACH=CONFIG]230765[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]230766[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]230764[/ATTACH]
By: Orion - 15th July 2014 at 09:06
I don’t know whether or not the Dove has an offset to the fin, but it was once quite a common design feature. It helps eliminate the torque affect of the propellers at low speeds. There are other ways of doing this too, for example the Spitfire has a twist in the wings.
Regards
By: HP111 - 15th July 2014 at 08:38
I don’t see a fillet offset. Perhaps it is an optical illusion caused by the double curvature on the rear fuselage.
By: eye4wings - 14th July 2014 at 20:11
Also the fin strake appears to be slightly offset to port judging both by the centre line of the fuselage taken from the rear of the cockpit dome and the fact that the shading on the starboard side of the fin where the strake joins shows a sudden change by a couple of shades.
Does your book mantion that HP111? – or maybe I need an eye test?!
Having modelled the Dove some years back I was aware of the elevator mod but the strake offset (if it is indeed offset) I was not aware of – though I can imagine why it might be so.
Robin
By: HP111 - 14th July 2014 at 17:13
An interesting question. “De Havilland Aircraft since 1909” gives the answer. The asymmetric elevators were a mod to eliminate buffeting. Possibility not all aircraft received the mod. Apparently it was the only significant airframe change during the whole production run.
By: Arabella-Cox - 14th July 2014 at 16:40
Guestion.
Why does G-HBBC have odd Elevators. One square tiped the other has a round tip. Both have different aerodynamic mass balance ends. I noticed this at Compton Abbas some years ago when close inspecting it.
You can clearly see the differeance in the Pic above.
On some research, some others do and some do not. Interestingly they are always mached the same as G-HBBC.
Regards
Mark
Sign In
July 14, 2014 at 9:36 am