De Havilland Hound

DH.65 Hound

Manufacturer: de Havilland
First flight: 17 November 1926
Introduced: 1928
Primaryuser: Royal Air Force
Number built: 1

The de Havilland DH.65 Hound was a 1920s British two-seat day bomber built by de Havilland at Stag Lane Aerodrome.

History

The Hound was designed as a two-seat general purpose biplane; as a private venture to meet Air Ministry Specification 12/26. The prototype G-EBNJ first flew on 17 November 1926. It was of all-wooden construction and powered by a Napier Lion engine. In 1927, the nose and rudder were modified, it was fitted with a geared engine and received the modified designation DH.65A. It was delivered to the Royal Air Force in January 1928 receiving serial number J9127 for evaluation. While it showed superior performance to the other competitors for the specification, it was rejected because of its wooden construction and the order was placed with the Hawker Hart.

Despite its rejection by the RAF, on 26 April 1928 the aircraft set a world record for carrying a load of 2,205lb (1,000kg) over 62mi (100km) at 160mph (257km/h) piloted by H.S. Broad.

A project to further develop the Hound as a four-seat passenger transport under the designation DH.74 was left unrealised.

The design being otherwise unsuccessful, the second aircraft G-EBNK was not completed.

Operators

United Kingdom

Royal Air Force

Specifications (DH.65A)

Data from British Civil Aircraft since 1919 Volume 2

General characteristics

Crew: 3
Length: 31 ft 0 in (9.45 m)
Wingspan: 45 ft 0 in (13.72m)
Height: 11 ft 6 in (3.51 m)
Wing area: 462 ft² (42.9 m²)
Empty weight: 2,981 lb (1,355 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 4,934 lb (2,243 kg)
Powerplant: 1x— Napier Lion XI 12-cylinder W-block inline engine, 550 hp (410 kW)

Performance

Maximum speed: 133 kn (153 mph, 246 km/h)
Range: 870 nmi (1,000 mi, 1,610 km)
Service ceiling: 25,500 ft (7,770 m)
Rate of climb: 1,490 ft/min (7.57 m/s)

Armament

Provision for:

1 x— forward firing .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers machine gun and 1 x— .303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis gun on Scarff ring in rear cockpit
Up to 2 x— 230 lb (104 kg) bombs carried under wings

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Source: WikiPedia