The de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver is a single-engined, high-wing, propeller-driven,
STOL aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada, primarily known as a bush plane. It is used
for cargo and passenger hauling, aerial application, and has been widely adopted by armed forces
as a utility aircraft. The United States Army purchased several hundred; nine DHC-2s are
still in service with the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary for search and rescue. A Royal New Zealand
Air Force Beaver supported Sir Edmund Hillary's expedition to the South Pole. Over 1,600 Beavers
were produced until 1967 when the original line shut down.
Due to its success, the Royal Canadian Mint commemorated the Beaver on a special edition
Canadian quarter in November 1999.
Design and development
After the war, de Havilland Canada management turned to the civilian market for work, aware
that military contracts were unlikely to guarantee business. The company had recently hired Punch
Dickins, a famous bush pilot, as Director of Sales who began an extensive program of
collecting requests from other pilots, to understand what they needed in a new aircraft.
Almost without variation, the pilots asked for tremendous extra power and STOL performance,
in a design that could be easily fitted with wheels, skis or floats. When de Havilland
engineers noted that this would result in poor cruise performance, one pilot replied
"You only have to be faster than a dog sled". Other suggestions were seemingly mundane but
important in the bush plane world; full-sized doors were installed on both sides of the
aircraft so it could be easily loaded no matter which side of a dock it tied up on. The doors
were also made wide enough to allow for a 45 Imperial gallon drum to be rolled up into
the aircraft. On September 17, 1946, de Havilland officially
put together a design team consisting of Fred Buller, Dick Hiscocks, Jim Houston and W.
Jakimiuk, led by Phil Garratt. The new aircraft was designed to be all-metal, using "steel
from the engine to the firewall, heavy aluminum truss frames with panels and doors throughout
the front seat area, lighter trusses toward the rear and all monocoque construction aft".
At the time de Havilland Canada was still a British-owned company and there were plans
to fit the evolving design with a British engine. This limited power, so the wing area
was greatly increased in order to maintain STOL performance. When Pratt & Whitney Canada
offered to supply war-surplus 450 hp Wasp Jr engines at a low price, the aircraft ended
up with extra power as well as the original long wing. The result was unbeatable STOL
performance for an aircraft of its size. After much testing and with adjustments and
improvements, the innovative airplane was ready for the sales circuit. Since de Havilland
Canada aircraft were all named after animals, it was decided that the new bush plane was
much like the hard-working beaver. The first flight of the DHC-2 Beaver was in Downsview,
Ontario by Second World War flying ace Russell Bannock on August 16, 1947. The first production
aircraft was delivered to the Ontario Department of Lands and Forests, a design partner, in
April 1948. Initial sales were slow, perhaps two or three
a month but as the plane was demonstrated sales started to improve. A key event in the
Beaver's history occurred the next year, when the US Army started looking for a new utility
aircraft to replace their Cessnas. The competition quickly boiled down to the Beaver and the
Cessna 195 but the Beaver outperformed the 195 and with the outbreak of the Korean War,
led to orders for hundreds of aircraft. Soon orders increased from around the world. When
production finally ceased in 1967, 1,657 DHC-2 Beavers had been built.
The Beaver was designed for flight in rugged and remote areas of the world. Its short takeoff
and landing capability made it ideal for areas normally only accessible by canoe or foot.
Because it often flies to remote locations, often in cold climates, its oil reservoir
filler is located in the cockpit and oil can be filled in flight. A series of upgrades
to the basic design were incorporated. One major customer introduced the use of flat
steps replacing the earlier tubes, a feature that is now almost universal. In 1987, the
Canadian Engineering Centennial Board named the DHC-2 one of the top ten Canadian engineering
achievements of the 20th century. Recent developments
At one point in its production, plans to license and build the type in New Zealand were proposed.
The remaining tooling was purchased by Viking Air of Victoria, Canada, which manufactures
replacement parts for most of the early de Havilland line. On 24 February 2006, Viking
purchased the type certificates from Bombardier Aerospace for all the original de Havilland
designs. The ownership of the certificates gives Viking the exclusive right to manufacture
new Beavers. Viking now sells an improved Beaver called the DHC-2T Turbo Beaver, with
a maximum gross takeoff weight increased to 6,000 lb. The Turbo Beaver can carry 2,450 lb
of freight. Operational history
Despite the fact that production ceased in 1967, hundreds of Beavers are still flying—many
of them heavily modified to adapt to changes in technology and needs. Kenmore Air of Kenmore,
Washington provides Beaver and Otter airframes with zero-hour fatigue-life ratings, and owns
dozens of supplemental type certificates for aircraft modifications. These modifications
are so well known and desirable in the aviation community, rebuilt Beavers are often called
"Kenmore Beavers" or listed as having "Kenmore mods" installed.
The original Wasp Jr radial engine of the Beaver is long out of production, so repair
parts are getting harder to find. Some aircraft conversion stations have addressed this problem
by replacing the piston engine with a turboprop engine such as the PT6. The added power and
lighter installed weight, together with greater availability of kerosene fuel instead of high-octane
aviation gasoline, make this a desirable modification, but at a high financial cost.
The Beaver was deployed by the British Army Air Corps during the Troubles at least until
1979 for photo-reconnaissance missions. One of them was hit seven times by machine gun
fire in South County Armagh, near the border with the Republic of Ireland in November 1979,
while taking valuable photos of an IRA checkpoint. The border crossing where the action took
place was known by the British Army as "Beaver Junction" since then.
Operators of significant numbers of piston-Beavers in early 2008 include Air Saguenay and Harbour
Air in Canada and Kenmore Air in the USA. Harrison Ford owns a DHC-2 Beaver and has
called it his favourite among his entire fleet of private aircraft.
The United States military continues to operate two DHC-2s at the United States Naval Test
Pilot School, where they are used to instruct students in the evaluation of lateral-directional
flying qualities and to tow gliders. The DHC-2 Beaver is sometimes used by skydiving
operators due to its good climb rate. When fitted with a roller door that can be opened
in flight, it can quickly ferry eight skydivers to 13,000 ft.
Stolairus Aviation of Kelowna, British Columbia has developed several modifications for the
DHC-2 including a STOL Kit which modifies the wing with a contoured leading edge, flap-gap
seals, wing fences and drooped wingtips for increased performance. Stolairus has also
developed a Wing Angle Kit which changes the incidence of the wing.
Advanced Wing Technologies of Vancouver, British Columbia has developed and certified a new
wing for the DHC-2. The FAA Supplemental Type Certificate also raises the aircraft's gross
weight to 6000 lbs. So far, at least two Beavers have been so modified.
Variants Beaver I
Single-engined STOL utility transport aircraft. Beaver AL Mk 1
STOL utility transport aircraft for the British Army.
C-127 original designation for DHC-2 aircraft used
by the U.S. military, redesignated L-20. YL-20
Test and evaluation aircraft for the US military. L-20A Beaver
STOL utility transport aircraft for the U.S. Army, later redesignated U-6A in 1962, 968
built. L-20B Beaver
Basically similar to the L-20A, but with minor equipment changes. Six were sold to the US
Army. Later redesignated U-6B in 1962. U-6A
US Army L-20A aircraft re-designated U-6B
US Army L-20B aircraft re-designated Beaver II
One aircraft was fitted with an Alvis Leonides radial piston engine.
Wipaire Super Beaver Conversion of surplus US Army and USAF L-20
Beavers. Wipaire Boss Turbo-Beaver
Turbo conversion fitted with PT-6 but retaining the original lower curved fin shape
Turbo-Beaver III Powered by a 431 kW Pratt & Whitney PT6A-6
or -20 turboprop engine. Airtech Canada DHC-2/PZL-3S
After-market conversion by Airtech Canada in the 1980s, using current-production PZL-3S
radial engines of 600 hp Volpar Model 4000
Was a 1970s conversion by Volpar, first flown in April 1972 with a modified nose fitted
with an AiResearch TPE331-2U-203 turboprop with a three-bladed propeller. Other changes
included a new fin and rudder. Viking DHC-2T Turbo Beaver
Remanufactured Beavers by Viking Air, upgraded with a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-34 680 hp
turboprop engine. Operators
Civil The DHC-2 is popular with air charter companies,
police forces and small air taxi operators as well as private individuals and companies.
Both the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Finnish Border Guard operate the aircraft.
Military operators
Argentina Argentine Air Force
Australia Royal Australian Air Force - Five in service
1955-1964. Antarctic Flight RAAF
No. 1 Air Trials Unit
Austria Austrian Air Force
Burma Burma Air Force
Cambodia Royal Cambodian Air Force received three L-20s
from the United States in the late 1950s. Chile
Chilean Air Force Colombia
Colombian Air Force Cuba
Cuban Air Force Dominican Republic
Dominican Air Force Finland
Finnish Air Force Finnish Border Guard
France French Air Force
Ghana Ghana Air Force
Greece Greek Air Force
Greek Army Haiti
Armed Forces of Haiti Indonesia
Iran Imperial Iranian Air Force
Kenya Kenya Air Force
Laos Royal Lao Air Force
Netherlands Royal Netherlands Air Force
New Zealand Royal New Zealand Air Force
Oman Royal Air Force of Oman
Panama Panamanian Public Forces
Paraguay Paraguayan Air Force 4 U-6A donated by MAP
in 1975 Peru
Peruvian Air Force Philippines
Philippine Air Force Federation of South Arabia
Federation of South Arabian Air Force South Vietnam
Vietnam Air Force South Yemen
South Yemen Air Force Thailand
Royal Thai Army Turkey
Turkish Army Uganda
United Kingdom Army Air Corps acquired 46 Beavers.Aden Protectorate,
15 Flight A.A.C
United States Civil Air Patrol
United States Army United States Air Force
United States Navy Yugoslavia
SFR Yugoslav Air Force Zambia
Zambian Air Force Accidents and incidents
There have been 183 incidents involving the DHC-2 and 404 deaths.
Aircraft on display Canada Aviation and Space Museum - DHC-2
National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, Wright-Patterson AFB, U-6A, USAF S/N 51-16501
There is a U-6A on display at the New England Air Museum, Windsor Locks, CT
DHC-2 at Bass Pro Shops at Vaughan Mills, Vaughan, Ontario
Specifications
Data from Donald 1997, p. 328. General characteristics
Crew: 1 Capacity: 6 passengers, 2,100 lb useful load
Length: 30 ft 3 in Wingspan: 48 ft 0 in
Height: 9 ft 0 in Wing area: 250 ft2
Empty weight: 3,000 lb Gross weight: 5,100 lb
Powerplant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Jr. radial engine, 450 hp each
Performance Maximum speed: 158 mph
Cruise speed: 143 mph Range: 455 miles
Service ceiling: 18,000 ft Rate of climb: 1,020 ft/min
See also
Related development de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era
Fairchild F-11 Husky Gippsland GA8
Helio Courier Max Holste M.H. 1521 Broussard
Murphy Moose Noorduyn Norseman
PAC Cresco Pilatus PC-6 Porter
References Notes
Bibliography
External links de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver website by Neil
Aird de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver at the Canada
Aviation and Space Museum "Plush Job For The Bush" , November 1949,
Popular Science