The de Havilland DH.95 Flamingo was a British twin-engined high-wing monoplane airliner first flown on 22 December 1938. During the Second World War some were used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a transport and general communications duties. The Flamingo was a twin-engined civil airliner developed by de Havilland, led by their newly appointed chief designer R. E. Bishop, and was the first all-metal stressed-skin aircraft built by the company; only the control surfaces were fabric covered. It was powered by two 890 hp Bristol Perseus air-cooled sleeve-valve radial engines driving three-bladed de Havilland Propellers 'Hydromatic' variable-pitch propellers. Two pilots were seated side by side with a radio operator behind them in the cockpit, with the cabin accommodating 12–17 passengers depending on the flight distance. It had a retractable undercarriage, slotted flaps, and was considered a highly promising sales prospect for the company, capable of competing with the American Douglas DC-3 and Lockheed Model 10 Electra. The first prototype flew on 22 December 1938. It had a third central fin fitted as a temporary measure; this was removed when larger fins with larger rudder area were fitted to the twin tail. Powered by 890 hp (660 kW) Bristol Perseus XIIIC engines, it had a maximum weight takeoff in 750 ft (230 m) and the ability to maintain height or climb at 120 mph (190 km/h) on a single engine. Testing was successful, with the Flamingo being granted a certificate of airworthiness on 30 June 1939, with an initial production run of twenty aircraft being laid down. The Air Ministry were interested in the Flamingo as a military transport and issued a serial T5357 for official evaluation. A single military transport variant was built to Specification 19/39 as the DH.95 Hertfordshire. It had small circular cabin windows instead of the rectangular ones, and seating for 22 soldiers. A proposed order for 30 was cancelled to leave de Havilland free to produce Tiger Moth trainers. The sole Hertfordshire (R2510) crashed on 23 October 1940 at Mill Hill killing five crew and six passengers, including Air Vice-marshal Charles Blount, the Air Officer Commanding No. 22 Group RAF travelling from Hendon to Northern Ireland, apparently due to jamming of the elevator. Following the success of the first test flights Jersey Airways ordered three 17-seat aircraft, and this was followed by orders from the Egyptian government and the Air Ministry. The Air Ministry aircraft were to be used by the Air Council and the King's Flight. The prototype, fitted with 12 passenger seats, was delivered to Jersey Airways in May 1939 for two months evaluation and became the first revenue-earning Flamingo. The first services carried mail only but in July a regular weekend passenger service was operated. In October 1939 the prototype was bought by the Air Council, being delivered to No. 24 Squadron RAF where it operated until it was lost in an accident in October 1940. The second aircraft was to be the first for Guernsey and Jersey Airlines but it was impressed into military service and delivered to 24 Squadron, the other two on order were never built due to the outbreak of the Second World War. The Flamingo was Winston Churchill's favourite short/medium range transport and he flew it to visit Reynaud and the French leadership as the Western front collapsed on May 16, 1940. The BOAC Flamingoes were not popular, and following three accidents[ – one of which was fatal – and with a lack of spares, the airline decided to withdraw the type. In 1943 the four airworthy aircraft were shipped back to the United Kingdom and stored at Croydon. They did not return to service and were scrapped at Redhill in the early 1950s.
