When WW2 ended de Havilland Canada needed to utilise it's now spare production capacity so they decided to build a plane suitable for North Canada, they consulted pilots who who already flew in the area and designed a plane to meet their requirements, the result was the Beaver, a single engine high wing monoplane design which could be fitted with either wheels, skis, or floats as required. The Beaver first flew on the 16th August 1947 and deliveries started the following April, it was an immediate success, when production finally ended ten years later in 1957 a total of 1,657 de Havilland Beavers had been built, hundreds remain in use today. |