De Havilland DH.114 Heron

The de Havilland DH.114 Heron was a small propeller-driven British airliner, a four-engined development of the twin-engined Dove with a stretched fuselage. De Havilland designed it as a rugged, conventional low-wing monoplane with a tricycle undercarriage for regional and commuter routes, and especially for less developed parts of the world where a simple aircraft with spare engine power was an advantage. The prototype, registered G-ALZL, made its first flight on 10 May 1950 with Geoffrey Pike at the controls. A total of 149 were built and the type was exported to about 30 countries. Later operators converted Herons to new standards, and two of the conversions, the Riley Turbo Skyliner and the Saunders ST-27 and ST-28, were based on the airframe.