In Australian Service – DHA Drover

In England, the parent company had produced the DH-104 Dove which first flew on 25 September 1945. Certainly an attractive aircraft, but not entirely suitable for outback Australia. Using the Dove as the basis of design, de Havilland Australia introduced various changes to make their aircraft more attuned to the local conditions. The most obvious alteration was the changing of the two larger 330 hp Gipsy Queens to the three 145 hp Gipsy Major 10 Mk2 engines with variable pitch propellors. Another significant change was the installation of a fixed undercarriage with tailwheel to better cope with rough unsealed landing strips. The employees of DHA were invited to submit names for the aircraft and Sir Geoffrey de Havilland selected the name “Drover” as being the most suitable.

On 23 January 1948, with Brian Walker at the controls, the prototype appropriately registered VH-DHA made its first flight. Although there were some similarities with the Dove, the Drover was a slower, lighter aircraft. Both aircraft had identical wing spans at 57′ each the Drover was 2′ 4″ shorter and all up weight was 2,000 lb less at 6,500 lb. The Drover 1 had a height of 9′ 9″, empty weight of 4,000 lb, cruising speed of 130-140 mph, passenger capacity of 6-8 and was flown by one pilot.

Despite the hopes held for the success of the Drover a series of unfortunate accidents were to occur which were to severely restrict its acceptance amongst the airlines. Qantas was an early purchaser having acquired five aircraft to replace their Dragons. The first Drover for Qantas, VH-EBQ was delivered in September 1950. Buoyed by the apparently good specification, Qantas were looking forward to a useful association with the Drover. However it soon became evident that the rate of climb was poor and worse still it developed serious propellor problems.

Qantas suffered their worst aircraft accident in New Guinea, when VH-EBQ was lost in the Huon Gulf while coming in to land at Lae on 16 July, 1951. Flown by Captain J. W. Speire, the centre engine propellor had a structural failure and the aircraft crashed into the sea approximately 4½ miles south of the mouth of the Markham River about 1 mile offshore. The pilot and all six passengers were killed. Another mishap occurred on 11 September 1952 when VH-EBS flown by Captain R. S. Cuthbertson had a centre propellor failure taken off from Mackay, Old. The centre engine cowling and installation were seriously damaged as the result of blade failure. No one was injured in this incident.

The prototype Drover VH-DHA was lost in the Bismarck Sea on 16 April 1952, in similar circumstances. Owned and operated by the Department of Civil Aviation it was en route from Wewak to Momote, Manus Island, carrying two passengers and one pilot. At 1644 hours an explosion occurred in the region of the port engine resulting in the loss of the port propellor. Damage sustained to the fuselage at the time of the explosion rendered the centre and starboard engines inoperative, and shortly afterwards the aircraft was successfully ditched in the sea approximately 110 miles from Momote. Some hours later, all three occupants of the aircraft were rescued from a dinghy by an RAAF crash launch. The pilot suffered serious injuries to his left leg as a result of the crash.

Following these accidents, the Department of Civil Aviation were obliged to place restrictions on Drover operations. Qantas found these restrictions made the Drover uneconomic to operate in New Guinea. They decided to replace them with de Havilland Canada Beavers which although single-engined were quite suitable for their needs. Qantas sold their last Drover in September 1960.

The series of accidents coupled with their relatively high cost were to severely restrict sales. Only 20 Drovers had been built by the time the production terminated in September 1953. Only one of these was sold initially to a private buyer. All the others went to airlines, were used by the Flying Doctor or were part of the DCA fleet.

A series of modifications were incorporated in the Drovers over the years which were to improve their performance. The most important change came in the Mk3 which was re-engined with three 180 hp Lycoming 0-360-A1 A powerplants and Hartzell constant speed and feathering propellors. The first aircraft so modified was VH-FDA which first flew as a Mk3 in May 1960. It was handed back to the Royal Flying Doctor Service on 4 June 1960. The modified Drover carried a pilot, two medical staff and two stretcher cases. A total of seven Drovers were modified to Mk3 standard and gave valuable service operating the Flying Doctor network.

Apart from the Drovers which saw airline or medical use one interesting modification was carried out to VH-PAB. It was used for a time as an aerial dusting aircraft based at Toowoomba in Queensland. This is the aircraft that was flown to Bankstown in September 1981 by Hawker de Havilland who will preserve it as a flying museum exhibit. This Drover was the last one built and originally registered as VH-AHZ.

Although the Drover did not attain the success expected of it, after its initial troubles were sorted out it subsequently gave many years of useful service.

Specifications of the Drover were as follows:
These figures refer to the Mk.3 version –
Span 57′ 0″.
Length 36′ 6″.
Height 10′ 9″
Wing area 325 sq.ft.
Power plant. Three 180 hp Lycoming 0-360-A1A four-cylinder engines.
Max speed 158 mph.
Normal cruising 140 mph.
Initial climb 1,040 ft./min.
Absolute ceiling 20,000 ft.
Max range 900 miles.
Weight empty 4,600 lb.
Max loaded 6,500 lb.

Note: VH-EAY and VH-EAX were not delivered to Qantas but were delivered new to Fiji Airways as VO-FAR and VQ-FAS respectively