De Havilland Canada Dash 7: STOL Airliner

Malcolm Ginsberg traces the development and career of the Dash 7 airliner, which was designed to have impressive short take-off and landing capabilities.

Air Greenland (called Grønlandsfly from establishment in 1960 to 2002) operated a total of four Dash 7s with the first example arriving in 1979 and the last leaving the fleet in 2015. Key Collection

The many De attributes, Havilland Canada but one Dash particular 7 has claim to fame is that some airports owe their very existence to it. Indeed, without this aircraft type it is unlikely that London City Airport would even exist! To this day, there is a plaque at the bottom of the steps at Heron Quays station on London’s Docklands Light Railway (DLR), commemorating the first landing of an aircraft in the docklands on June 27, 1982. The arrival of the Brymon Airways Dash 7 on the quay – which is today part of the Canary Wharf commercial complex– proved the concept and subsequently a site was chosen for the new airport, three miles to the east at what was then the derelict King George V Dock.

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