Hunting the Prototype De Havilland Heron

Once a pioneering and popular regional airliner, the de Havilland Heron saw service with airlines from the 1950s onwards, but has now disappeared from our skies.

However, remarkably the prototype aircraft survives at a museum in Australia almost 80 years after its first flew.

Introducing the de Havilland Heron: Britain’s Forgotten Regional Airliner

Before regional jets and even turboprops became the norm, short-haul air travel was dominated by piston-engined aircraft designed to link smaller cities and remote communities. One of Britain’s key contributions to this era was the de Havilland DH.114 Heron, a compact four-engined airliner that built on the success of the famous de Havilland Dove.

First flown on 10 May 1950, the Heron was developed to offer airlines greater passenger capacity while retaining the Dove’s reputation for reliability and relatively simple operation. The aircraft typically carried 14–17 passengers, making it ideal for regional routes, island services and emerging post-war airline networks.

Ken Fielding/https://www.flickr.com/photos/kenfielding, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

In total, 149 Herons were built between 1950 and 1963. They served with airlines across the world, including British European Airways, Jersey Airlines, Qantas, Union of Burma Airways, and numerous smaller regional carriers. The type was particularly well suited to short runways and developing aviation markets, and it became a familiar sight in Europe, Australia, Africa and parts of Asia during the 1950s and 60s.

However, the aircraft’s four piston engines — initially underpowered in early versions — soon proved less economical compared with newer turboprop designs like the Fokker F27 Friendship and Hawker Siddeley HS.748. By the late 1960s many Herons were being retired from frontline airline service, although some found second lives as corporate transports, freighters and survey aircraft.

A number of upgraded examples, most notably the Riley Turbo Skyliner conversions with turboprop engines and redesigned noses, extended the type’s operational life into the 1980s and beyond. Today only a handful survive in museums and private collections, representing an often overlooked chapter in the development of regional air transport.

The Prototype Heron

Prototype Heron G-ALZL in flight

The first de Havilland Heron aircraft was rolled out of the factory in early 1950, and took flight for the first time on 10^th May that year.

It had the registration G-ALZL and was used in the early testing of the aircraft type before it was released to service and full scale production began.

Used by the de Havilland Company for four years, G-ALZL was then sold to Braathens SAFE in Norway as LN-BDH in April 1954. It flew on the airline’s domestic services for only one month, making use of its ability to operate into smaller airports, before being sold to Jersey Airlines, once again as G-ALZL.

Over the subsequent years the aircraft was leased to various operators, including Emerald Airways and Executive Air Transport.

In 1966 the aircraft was sold on to Dna-Fly in Denmark as OY-DGS, and then Cimber Air in 1968.

Then, in 1973, the aircraft found itself being transported to Australia where it took up the registration VH-CJS. It flew for ALTAIR out of the old Perth Jandakot airport.

The prototype Heron when in service with Emerald Airways. Photo (c) Gordon Riley

Over the next few years it flew for a number of private operators, before it was finally retired at Perth in 1976.

After lying in storage for many years, the aircraft was eventually acquired and put on display at the Western Australia Museum of Aviation at Perth in 1986.

In 2013 this historic Heron was moved on again, this time across the country to the Moorabbin Airport Museum in Melbourne.

Today, it has been restored and preserved in the colours of both Jersey Airlines and ALTAIR, to mark its significant history.

These pictures were provided by reader Merv Crowe who recently visited the aircraft in Melbourne, and who remembers seeing it in service at Belfast in 1966!

Other Preserved Herons

Former Rolls-Royce Heron G-AOTI at the de Havilland Museum

If you want to see a de Havilland Heron today, a number survive in various places. Here are some notable examples:

• G-ANXB (cn 14048) at the Newark Air Museum, UK
• G-AOTI (cn  ) at the de Havilland Museum, London Colney, UK
• G-AORG (cn  ) at Jersey Airport, Channel Islands, UK
• ZK-BBM (cn  ) at Ardmore Aiport, New Zealand
• N415SA (cn ) , a Riley conversion still airworthy in Sweden.

Do you know of any other preserved de Havilland Heron aircraft? Leave a comment below!