Development
The DH.91 was designed in 1936 by A. E. Hagg to Air Ministry specification 36/35 for a trans-Atlantic mail plane.
The aircraft was remarkable for the ply-balsa-ply sandwich construction of its fuselage which was later made famous in the de Havilland Mosquito bomber. Another unique feature was a cooling system for the air-cooled engines that allowed for nearly ideal streamlining of the engine mounting. The first Albatross flew on May 20, 1937. The second prototype broke in two during overload tests but was rebuilt and it and the first prototype were used by Imperial Airways.
Although designed as a mailplane, a version to carry 22 passengers was developed; the main differences were extra windows and the replacement of split flaps with slotted flaps. Five of these made up the production order delivered in 1938/1939.
Read more about this topic: De Havilland Albatross
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