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In 1928 the DE Havilland Company of England incorporated a subsidiary company in Canada. The small company, called DE Havilland Canada, built planes that the original DE Havilland (UK) had designed. This included the Tiger Moth, a biplane used for basic training during World War two. A Canadian made Tiger Moth

They also built the famous Mosquito, an all wood heavy fighter, that was one of the fastest planes in the war. It was infamous among the Germans because of its speed.

After the war was over DHC (DE Havilland Canada) deigned a basic trainer to replace the Tiger Moth. It was called the DHC-1 Chipmunk and was the first plane that DE Havilland Canada had designed on its own.

After the war a new type of bush plane was needed. The planes that were currently in use were more than 20 years old. Most of them were not designed for Bush Flying and they were starting to fall apart. In response, DE Havilland Canada began work on what would become the DHC-2 Beaver, one of the most famous and most loved, planes ever.

The Beaver soon became a great successes. DE Havilland quickly earned recognition for designing some of the world’s best STOL (Short Take Off and Landing) aircraft.

The Beaver soon caught the eye of the U.S. Army. After a competition with U.S. aircraft manufactures (like Cesena) the Canadian plane came out on top, and was used by the U.S. Army in Korea and Vietnam. Until DE Havilland Canada, the United States Army had never purchased aircraft from a foreign company.

DE Havilland eventually built over 1,700 beavers in 20 years, before production ceased. They also made a larger version of the Beaver that they called the Otter. It wasn’t much bigger, but could carry twice the payload and could fly much farther. Once again, the U.S. army was the largest operator of the Otter, but it was still a Bush Plane and it had many other operators. Beavers size compared to the Otter Beaver Otter

The next plane that DE Havilland Canada designed was the DHC-4 Caribou in response a US Army request for a tactical airlifter. After seeing the capabilities of the Caribou, the US Army again became the largest Caribou operator, taking delivery of 159. The Caribou was not as successful in the civilian market as the Otter and Beaver, but larger companies did buy the Caribou for hefty payloads. Today only a handful of Caribou are in civilian use. A civilian Caribou

The DHC-5 Buffalo was developed to meet the requirements of the US Army for a more powerful version of the Caribou. Hopes for large orders by the U.S. Army were dashed when the U.S. government decided that all of the U.S. Armed Forces aircraft should be flown by the U.S. Air Force. This meant that the Army had to hand over all of its airplanes to the Air Force. The U.S. Air Force did not want the Canadian Buffalo, since they already had the Fairchild C- 123, even though the Buffalo was a better aircraft Fairchild C- 123

122 Buffalo’s were built. The Canadian Armed Forces acquired 15 Buffalos and many armed forces also used the Buffalo. Following delivery of 24 to the Brazilian Air Force and 16 to the Peruvian Air Force, the production line was closed down in A Buffalo

After a let-down in the Buffalo, DE Havilland designed one of Canada's most successful commercial aircraft designs, the Twin Otter. Development of the Twin Otter dates back to 1964, when DE Havilland started work on a twin turboprop variant of the DHC-3 Otter as a STOL twin turboprop commuter airliner and utility transport. Beaver and Otter compared to the Twin Otter Beaver Otter Twin Otter

Twin Otters were used with many airlines and were the start of DE Havilland's commercial airliner designs. With more than 800 built, in use in over 50 countries, the Twin Otter remains one of the most popular airplanes in the world because of its rugged construction and useful STOL performance.

After the success of the Twin Otter, DE Havilland started designing a larger plane, that was still STOL but could carry more people than the Twin Otter. The plane that came out was the DHC-7, known as the Dash 7. It was very different from the Twin Otter. It had four turboprop engines and was equipped with retractable landing gear. 113 were made.

The Dash 7 never was extremely popular, but it was popular enough for DE Havilland to consider a two engine version. What they made turned out to be their last airplane, the DHC-8 or Dash 8. The Dash 8 emphasized operational economics over STOL performance, which proved much more successful. To date over 1000 Dash 8's have been made.

By the 1980s, the original DE Havilland in England, had folded, and DE Havilland Canada was now owned by the Government of Canada. In 1986, the Government of Canada sold DE Havilland to Boeing, the makers of the 787 Dreamliner. The government claimed to have guarantees from Boeing, not to discontinue any product lines, but shortly thereafter, Boeing discontinued both the successful Twin Otter, and the Dash 7. Canad a

Boeing was in heavy competition with Airbus (Boeing’s archrival) for a series of new airliners for Air Canada, which, at that time owned by the Canadian Government. Boeing used the DHC purchase to further strengthen their bid for the contract. When Air Canada announced that Airbus had won the contract in 1988, Boeing immediately put DHC up for sale, placing the company in jeopardy. DE Havilland was eventually acquired by Bombardier (a Canadian company known for inventing the snowmobile). The Dash-8 remains in production with a particular emphasis being placed on its quiet operation in comparison to other aircraft of a similar size.

On 24 February 2006, Viking Air of Victoria B.C., purchased the type certificates from Bombardier for all the original DE Havilland designs including: DHC-1 Chipmunk DHC-2 Beaver DHC-3 Otter DHC-4 Caribou DHC-5 Buffalo DHC-6 Twin Otter DHC-7 Dash 7 The ownership of the certificates gives Viking the exclusive right to manufacture the aircraft again. Viking is currently remaking the Twin Otter, with better engines and a new cockpit. Bombardier retained the Dash 8 certificate, since it is still in production as the Dash-8- Q400. A New Viking Twin Otter

Even though the original DE Havilland is no more, its Canadian legacy lives on every time a Beaver takes off.

DE Havilland Canada Logo: LinkLink DE Havilland Tiger Moth: LinkLink DE Havilland Mosquito: LinkLink German Airplane: LinkLink DE Havilland Chipmunk: LinkLink Fist flight of the Beaver: LinkLink DHC-2 Beaver: LinkLink U.S. Army Beaver: LinkLink DE Havilland Otter: LinkLink DE Havilland Beaver vs. Otter vs. Twin Otter: LinkLink DE Havilland Caribou: LinkLink Fairchild C-123: LinkLink DE Havilland Buffalo: LinkLink DE Havilland Twin Otter: LinkLink Twin Otter in Caribbean: LinkLink DE Havilland Dash 7: LinkLink DE Havilland/Bombardier Dash 8: LinkLink Boeing Logo: LinkLink Bombardier Logo: LinkLink Viking Aircraft Logo: LinkLink Viking Twin Otter 400: LinkLink Final Picture: LinkLink