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The Airco DH.9 E8894 G-CDLI ( Photo © Ashley Stephenson )

The Airco DH.9 E8894 registered G-CDLI of the Historic Aircraft Collection made its first post-restoration flight in Duxford on May 13. The flight lasted 30 minutes and was made with Dodge Bailey at the controls.The aircraft’s restoration was carried out by Retrotech and Aero Vintage Ltd and took over ten years. E8894 is the sole airworthy DH.9 in the world, and is powered by an original Siddeley Puma engine.

One of the DH.9 wrecks seen at Aero Vintage in July 2014 before restoration work began ( Photo © Benjamin Gilbert)

Its wreck was recuperated in the 1990s in India, along with another example which was restored to static condition for the Imperial War Museum in Duxford.

The other Airco DH.9, D5649, at the imperial War Museum Duxford ( Photo Alan Wilson (CC BY-SA 2.0))

The Airco DH.9 was a daytime twin-seat bomber derived from the DH.4, which it was meant to replace. The underpowered DH.9 proved to be a disappointment and was modified with Liberty 12 engine to become the DH.9A. The DH.9A became an essential tool of British colonial policy in the 1920s.

For more information:

• http://www.historicaircraftcollection.ltd.uk/dh9.html
• https://www.facebook.com/HACDH9/

Original article by Benjamin Gilbert / L’Echarpe Blanche, translated for WWN. Thank you to Ashley Stephenson, Benjamin Gilbert and Alan Wilson for sharing their pictures for this article.