De Havilland DH.18

The de Havilland DH.18 was a single-engined British biplane transport of the 1920s. It was designed and built in 1919 by Airco as their first aircraft made specifically for commercial work, the earlier DH.16 having been a modified military type. It was a single-engined biplane powered by a Napier Lion engine, with two-bay wire-braced wooden wings and a forward fuselage clad in plywood, and it carried eight passengers in an enclosed cabin with the pilot in an open cockpit behind. The first prototype flew early in 1920 and the first aircraft was delivered to Aircraft Transport and Travel for the Croydon to Paris service, but was wrecked in a forced landing on 16 August 1920. Further DH.18A and DH.18B aircraft followed, and the type was retired from commercial service in 1923, one aircraft having flown 90,000 miles without accident.