The end of World War I and the subsequent
vast surplus of military aircraft
was not a time for new civil designs to
emerge. Instead, many conversions of
military models were attempted, but the
de Havilland D.H.16 was a redesign
of the D.H.9A with a wider fuselage for
four passengers. Following its first flight
at Hendon in March 1919, the D.H.16
was sold to Aircraft Transport and Travel
Ltd (AT&T), who used it for pleasure flying
before it inaugurated a London-Paris
service on 25 August of that year.
Total D.H.16 production was nine aircraft,
all but one being used by AT&T.
The sole exception was sold to a
customer in Buenos Aires, where it
operated a service to Montevideo. The
first six D.H.16s were powered by the
239kW Rolls-Royce Eagle
engine, while the last three had Napier
Lions.
AT&T closed in December 1920 and
its seven remaining D.H.16s (one had
been lost in a crash) were stored. All
were broken up in 1922 except for two
sold for newspaper delivery flights; one
of these was lost in a fatal crash in 1923,
and the remaining aircraft was subsequently
withdrawn and scrapped.
