¹⁄1

Beaver AL 1

history

The de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver is a single-engined, high-wing, propeller-driven, STOL aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada, primarily known as a bush plane. It is used for cargo and passenger hauling, aerial application (crop dusting and aerial topdressing), and has been widely adopted by armed forces as a utility aircraft. The United States Army purchased several hundred; nine DHC-2s are still in service with the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary (Civil Air Patrol) for search and rescue. A Royal New Zealand Air Force Beaver supported Sir Edmund Hillary's expedition to the South Pole. Over 1,600 Beavers were produced until 1967 when the original line shut down.

xp821

The aircraft pictured here is XP 821. It served in Malaysia and Singapore with 4 Wing AAC and 130 Flight Royal Corps of Transport until 1970 when it was loaned, with an Army pilot, to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for use by the British Embassy in Laos. It was given its distinctive paint scheme to demonstrate its neutrality in the war then raging in that country, but this did not save it from coming under fire while flying up the Mekong river. A Russian made RPG-7 missile passed through the port wing, narrowly missing a fuel line. XP821 left Vientiane in 1975 and was withdrawn from service shortly afterwards.

This example of the Beaver shown in these photographs is on display at the Middle Wallop Army Air Corps museum; this museum tells the story of flight in the British Army.