The de Havilland DH.53 Humming Bird is a British single-seat, single-engine, low-wing monoplane
light aircraft first flown in the 1920s.
Design and development
In response to the Daily MailLight Aeroplane Competition of 1923de Havilland built two DH.53s which were named Humming Bird and Sylvia II. The DH.53 was a low-wing single-seat
monoplane powered by a
Douglas 750 cc (46 cu in) motorcycle
engine. At
Lympne, in October 1923, the DH.53s did not win any prizes but gave an impressive performance.[2] After the trial, Humming Bird was reengined with a 26 hp (19 kW)
Blackburne Tomtit two-cylinder engine, and the aircraft was fitted with a revised undercarriage.[2] The
Air Ministry became interested in the design and ordered eight Tomtit-powered aircraft in 1924 as communications and
training aircraft for the
Royal Air Force.[3]
Early in 1924 twelve aircraft were built at
Stag Lane Aerodrome and were named Humming Bird after the first prototype. Eight aircraft were for the Air Ministry order, three were for export to
Australia, and one was exported to
Avia in
Prague. One further aircraft was later built for an order from
Russia.[4]
Operational service
The first six aircraft for the Royal Air Force all made their public debut at the 1925 display at
RAF Hendon, where they were raced against each other. The last two aircraft would later be used for "
parasite aircraft" trials being launched from below an
airship – the
R.33. The aircraft were retired in 1927 and all eight were sold as civil aircraft.[5]
G-EBHX, the prototype, was airworthy and on display at the
Shuttleworth Collection, but crashed on 1 July 2012, killing the pilot.[6][7][8] The airframe has since been rebuilt to airworthy condition and was returned to the Shuttleworth Collection in 2020 for completion.[9]