DH.34

The de Havilland DH.34 was a single‑engine, single‑bay biplane airliner built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company in the early 1920s. First flown on 11 March 1922, it was designed to replace the company’s earlier DH.18 and to meet the post‑war demand for reliable commercial transport on short‑haul routes across Britain and Europe. Powered by a 450 hp (336 kW) Napier Lion inline engine, the aircraft could carry up to twelve passengers in an enclosed cabin, a significant improvement over the open‑cockpit layouts of its predecessors. Its wooden frame, fabric‑covered wings and a sturdy steel tube fuselage gave it a good strength‑to‑weight ratio, while the split‑axle undercarriage provided stable ground handling on the primitive airfields of the era. The DH.34 entered service with Imperial Airways and several private operators, demonstrating that relatively large passenger loads could be achieved with a single engine. Although only a few were built before the type was superseded by more powerful multi‑engine designs, the DH.34 proved a vital stepping stone, showing that commercial aviation could be both safe and economically viable, and it laid the groundwork for the successful twin‑engine airliners that dominated the 1930s.

de Havilland Aircraft Company

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Design & Classification