Building on commercial experience obtained
with the D.H.18 and structural experience
with the D.H.29, de Haviliand
began work on a new type, the de
Haviliand D.H.32, in 1921. Considerable
progress had been made, and plans
for construction of the first aircraft (with
the 268kW Rolls-Royce Eagle
engine as its powerplant) had been
announced. The new design showed
great promise, but since the main
customers would be Instone and Daimler
Hire, who were already using Napier
Lion-powered D.H.18s, de Haviliand
bowed to their wishes and redesigned
the aircraft to use that engine. The result
was the de Haviliand D.H.34, the
company's most successful aircraft of
the early post-war period.
The first of 11 aircraft flew in March
1922, and made an inaugural Croydon-
Paris flight on 2 April. Daimler Hire
eventually used six D.H.34s and Instone
four, while one was sold to Dobrolet, the
Russian airline. When Imperial Airways
was formed in 1924 it took over seven
D.H.34s and used them over the next
two years before deciding to re-equip
with larger aircraft.
There can be no doubt that the
D.H.34s made an impressive mark on
the air transport scene during the four
years or so in which they served. Some
8,000 hours were recorded by December
1922, less than nine months after the
prototype's appearance, and over
160,000km flown without
overhaul by the second Daimler aircraft.
However, no fewer than six
D.H.34s were lost in accidents, several
of them fatal. An early stalling crash led
to extensions being added to the top
wing to increase its area, giving rise to
the designation D.H.34B. The last four
D.H.34s in UK service were scrapped in
1926.
