This book was first published in 1983. Since then deHavilland Aircraft of Canada (DHC) has undergone several major changes in ownership and very successfully introduced new products to the mark, so an up-dated edition is very welcome.

    DHC started life in the 1930s assembling British-designed Moths. It expanded when WW2 began to produce large numbers of Tiger Moths and Avro Ansons for use in the British Commonwealth Air Training program and, as the war progressed, became a major producer of the famous Mosquito light fighter/bomber. 

    After the war, the company designed and produced the Chipmunk trainer followed by the Beaver bush plane. This led to its larger brother, the Otter followed by the Caribou and Buffalo, making DHC the STOL experts. This market niche was generally aimed at US Army requirements and resulted in quantity sales to many air forces around the world. The US Army were also closely associated with the Buffalo  development,  but  the  American involvement was cut short when the USAF took over the operations of all large Army transport aircraft in 1965.

     The success of the Otter with the US Army and many bush operators led to the design of the Twin Otter. Many of the operators had asked for twin engine reliability and a slightly larger payload. As it happened, the timing for this design was perfect as it coincided with the boom in airline commuter  perations and created a whole new market for DHC. This led to the successful DHC-7 four engined STOL airliner and the even more popular DHC-8 twin turbined 50-seat commuter, which has now evolved into a 70-seat airliner, still with excellent field performance.

     Having been bought from Boeing by Bombardier, the Downsview plant has also entered the jet age by building the Bombardier Global Express long range executive aircraft. 

     This new edition, totally revised and updated by Fred Hotson, a former DHC test pilot and salesman, brings the history of this famous Canadian aircraft manufacturer up to date.  The author's close relationship with many of the key events and people involved gives an interesting insight into what made this company survive some very critical periods in its long life. The earlier material has been re-edited, 128 pages added and a profusion of new photographs included to complement a very readable history.