Airco (De Havilland) DH9 Ambulance

Roden 1:48

The Airco DH.9 (from de Havilland 9) – also known after 1920 as the de Havilland DH.9 – is a British single-engined biplane bomber that was developed and deployed during the First World War.

The DH.9 was a development of Airco's earlier successful DH.4, with which it shared many components. These were mated to an all-new fuselage and the 230 hp BHP
engine, which promised increased performance. Anticipating its
usefulness, the type was ordered in very large numbers for Britain's Royal Flying Corps (RFC).

Upon entering service, the DH.9's performance was found to be
unsatisfactory. The BHP engine was unreliable and failed to provide the
expected power, which gave the DH.9 poorer performance than the aircraft
it had been meant to replace. The performance deficit was blamed for
the heavy losses they suffered over the Western Front. The redesigned DH.9A was fitted with a more powerful and reliable American Liberty L-12 engine which rectified the shortcomings of the original DH.9 model.