Delta Victor

Dove or Devon?

De Havilland developed the Dove as a short haul airliner to replace the Dragon Rapide, a role it fulfilled well enough to come to the attention of the RAF.  Their version was named the Devon - the story that they changed the name because the Ministry of Defence preferred not to name an aircraft after the bird of peace can't be confirmed!

So is Delta Victor a Devon or a Dove? It's largely your choice.  As our aircraft was the first to be supplied to the RAF, it's probably more accurate to choose the former.  That said, there's so little difference between the two, and as the Dove is a more widely known model, we tend to regard the terms as interchangeable.

Delta Victor was built in 1946 at Hawarden.  She moved to Fontainebleu to join Air Forces Western Europe Communications Flight in 1949, returning to the UK in the sixties, where she was converted to a Devon C Mk2.  After working for 21 Squadron at Andover and 207 Squadron at Northolt, she joined the Air Atlantique fleet in 1998.

Delta Victor helped Gulf Air celebrate their Golden Anniversary in 2000.  She was re-liveried to represent the first Dove that the airline operated. Temporarily marked -AMJZ (the initial G was omitted to comply with legal requirements for flying outside the UK), she flew to Bahrain to take part in a series of commemorative flights.

The Dove/Devon was an outstanding success story.  Five hundred were built, and they flew throughout the world, remaining in regular commercial service until 1984.