Historical:

De Havilland Aircraft Company Limited /dåĪèöhævåĬlåĪnd/ was a British aviation manufacturer established in late 1920 by Geoffrey de Havilland at Stag Lane AerodromeEdgware on the outskirts of London. Operations were later moved to Hatfield in Hertfordshire.

De Havilland Aircraft Company was responsible for the Moth biplane which revolutionized general aviation in the 1920s, the 1930s Fox Moth which was the first commercial transport aircraft able to operate without government subsidy, and the Comet which was the first passenger jet to enter service, along with other innovative and important aircraft.

In 1960 de Havilland became a member of the Hawker Siddeley group but lost its separate identity in 1963. Today it is part of BAE Systems plc, the British aerospace and defence business. In September 2003, this former British aerospace site became the de Havilland campus of University of Hertfordshire.

The de Havilland company was even successful enough to donate a site to Hertfordshire County Council for educational use: the site was then developed as Hatfield Technical College, which is now the College Lane Campus. de Havilland was purchased by Hawker Siddeley in 1960 and merged into British Aerospace in 1978. The BAE site then closed in 1993, and the University of Hertfordshire purchased part of the site for the de Havilland Campus. Hatfield’s aerospace history is recorded today in the names of local streets, such as Comet Way.

Info: de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide – Classic Air Force, G-AIDL (Royal Air Force livery)