This Day in History: 1948-01-23

First flight of the de Havilland Australia DHA-3 Drover prototype VH-DHA at Bankstown, NSW, by Chief Test Pilot Brian “Black Jack” Walker. Design work on the DHA-3 began in 1946 after DHA identified a need to replace the de Havilland Dragon biplane then in widespread use in Australia. Using the de Havilland Dove as a starting point, DHA designed an aircraft with three four-cylinder Gipsy Major engines instead of the Dove’s two Gipsy Queen six-cylinder engines and a fixed tailwheel undercarriage instead of the Dove’s retractable tricycle undercarriage. Like the Dove the DHA-3 was sized to carry 8 to 9 passengers with a single pilot. The result was an aircraft with the same wingspan as the Dove and a slightly shorter fuselage. The name ‘Drover’ was selected by Sir Geoffrey de Havilland after suggestions for a name were invited from DHA employees. Source: Geoff Goodall, de Havilland Drover: Australia’s Outback Workhorse, Air Britain, 2016