|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 18, 2021 10:28:31 GMT 12
I never realised that. It's hard to fathom why they took such a successful design as the Dove/Devon and added a third engine with increased weight and drag and fuel etc. The natural development of the Dove was the Heron, imho.
|
|
|
|
Post by harrysone on Jul 18, 2021 14:41:12 GMT 12
The Drover was based on a Dove, re designed to suit ‘rugged Aussie conditions’...it’s fairly obvious that it was the result of a committee ‘think tank’ incorporating some of the worst possible aspects that you could consider for the lovely dove airframe! They used low powered gypsy majors because Holden were still building these under license. They obviously needed 3 as 2 weren’t enough to substitute for gypsy queens! Fixed tail dragger landing gear, more easy to maintain in the Aussie outback. The aircraft actually wound up having more in common with the DH Dragon (which it replaced) than the Dove. The 2 aircraft have identical wingspan, similar fuselage cross section (although Drover narrower in the nose as only 1 pilot seat), the Drover fuselage was 3ft shorter though. They had identical engine firewall positions, similar tail plane dimensions & apparently very similar main gear.
The early Gypsy major aircraft with variable pitch props had a nasty habit of shedding props in flight! The remaining engines not being able to maintain height with resulting loss of power! Qantas was particularly scathing of the Drover's lack of reserve power & quickly sold off its fleet that it was using in PNG (I think). The variable pitch props were dropped in favour of fixed pitch metal props in the remainder of aircraft, however the reto-fitting of Lycomings and constant speed props eliminated most of these problems later in the piece, but by that stage production was already complete.
|
|
|
|
Post by Mustang51 on Jul 18, 2021 19:13:42 GMT 12
Best part of the Trilander is the cafe in the hangar on the opposite side of the airfield to the manufacturing facility....
|
|
|
|
Post by steveh on Apr 9, 2023 11:27:41 GMT 12
A bit late to this party but come via a 1/48 Drover build on Britmodeller. I recall seeing the GBA one in AKl sometime in the 80s, you've caught it well Harry, for a fugly that is.  What happened to the GBA one eventually? Steve. |
|
|
|
Post by Antonio on Apr 9, 2023 11:35:46 GMT 12
|
|
|
|
Post by Peter Lewis on Apr 12, 2023 22:18:23 GMT 12
A bit late to this party but come via a 1/48 Drover build on Britmodeller. I recall seeing the GBA one in AKl sometime in the 80s, you've caught it well Harry, for a fugly that is. What happened to the GBA one eventually? Steve. Went back to Australia in 1988 as VH-FBC, to Australian Aviation Museum at Sydney. |
|
What happened to the GBA one eventually?
