The Magnificant DH-4B

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dh-4b The extraordinary DH-4B and M model has, among many titles and distinction, being the first American developed fighter to achieve full squadron certification. In essence, the backbone of the nascence United States Army Air Service at a time when America lacked a true dedicated ‘pursuit’ plane. From late 1917 to 1918, this venerable biplane was the best observation-bombing platform in the Army’s inventory and one of the cornerstones in the growth of the US air power over the next century. Unfortunately, few surviving records of individual planes from 1919 to 1926 exists, thus the full story of this remarkable plane has never been completed.

Designed and built in the United Kingdom during the early part of 1916 as the de Havilland D.H.4, the type was selected by the Air Service as the most complete combat aircraft which the US, without a proven and available fighter of their own, that they could take over and mass produce in a relatively short time. The first ‘Americanized’ version of the DH-4 came out of the production lines by the winter of 1917. It had a different silloete from the original British-built sample. For instance, it possessed a new and more powerful engine, as the recently developed Liberty 12A engine was capable of producing up to 435 hp compared to 250 of the original motors.

Although the Liberty gave the plane a new dimension in combat, it did not solve the longstanding problem associated with the aircraft: its reputation of catching fire while in the air. The main culprit was the 67 gallon main fuel tank located between the pilot and the spotter. Before the end of World War One, this was rectified in one new airplane modification, the DH-4B, by moving the tank forward and the pilot aft, where he was behind it and just in front of his observer. In addition, the main landing gear was moved forward slightly in order to overcome the natural tendency of the aircraft to nose over. Plans were crafted to modify all DH-4 to the B version, but the end of the war put a clamp to the idea.

By November 1918, a total of 3,431 DH-4s had been built, with 2,089 of these shipped overseas. Production was estimated at a 260 units per week. One thousand, four hundred and fifteen more units were develop after the war. Total production of this venerable flying platform reached 4,846. Nearly 75 percent of them were constructed by the Dayton-Wright Company, 1,600 by Fisher Body and 140 by the Standard Aircraft Corporation. All units were utilized by the Army Air Service with serial numbers raging between 22000 and 33000.

The US Navy also employed the DH-4, albeit, in limited numbers. Between January 1917 and June 1918, the Army transferred the Navy 150 units. Around 50 of them went overseas to serve with the Navy-Marine Northern Bombing Group stationed in Belgium. Of the 2,297 shipped to the European Theater, 1,101 of them saw full combat action with the Air Corps. On November 11th 1918, the day the Armistice went into effect, 213 were deployed by the seven observation and five bombing Air Service squadrons.

Overall, 286 DH-4s were lost during almost a year of combat, only 37 of them over the enemy lines. The Air Service deployed 203 at their supply depots, 129 were allocated to the Zone of Advance and 270 were used as trainers. Of the remaining units (1,147), some were lost in training service, with the vast majority never receiving an assignment.

In the early months of 1919, the Service shipped back to the States 612 decommissioned units. The remaining, which were certified as ‘not salvageable”, were burned in a massive fire dubbed “The Billion Dollar Bonfire”. The cost of their destruction was less than shipping them back home where there was no need for additional planes.

Beyond this point, the DH-4′s story is clouded in misinformation. From fragmented evidence it appears that most of the surviving planes constructed left the factories in shipping crates. Several hundreds of these were assembled and served in the US Army inventory during 1918-19. After the Armistice, the machinery and those planes shipped back from Europe were stored. From 1919 onward, the fledgling Air Service received almost no funds for the purchasing of newer models. Any money invested was use for acquiring DH-4s. Crated types were shipped to a manufacturer for refitting and conversion to the B configuration. Such work has an indirect effect of keeping American manufacturing base running at a time where the industry was stalling for lack of new orders.

The first batch of refitted aircrafts was for 75 samples, all coming out of four companies’ assembly lines (Thomas-Morse, Gallaudet, Aeromarine and LWF). The orders were filled between the bottom half of 1919 and the beginning of 1920. All delivered DH-4B were given new Air Service serial numbers raging from 62900 to 63400. Subsequently, there were a number of other orders for 4B conversions. Boeing Airplane Company made eleven in the early part of March 1920 to serial in the 63000 range. Dayton-Wright also joined the effort and by early 1921 had converted 20 samples, all tagged withy serials in the 64000 range. In the spring of that year, some further conversions were ordered with the 68000 serial tags.

On July 1st, the Air Service implemented a new serial number system where the first two digits represented the fiscal year of the order and the other numbers were then assigned to the individual aircraft. The first batch of DH-4s modified under this new mechanism was given serials in the 22 to 350 range. In 1923 Boeing was ordered to build fifty more units, serials 22-1000 to 1049. At the same time, other companies filled similar orders. Witteman completed 50 units (22-1050 to 1099), the same as Aeromarine produced 50 (22-1100 to 1149) and Thomas-Mores did 49 (22-1150 to 1198). These planes were delivered in late 1922 and early 1923. Additional, small batches, around 25 each, were made in fiscal 1923 and 1924 by two relative unknown companies. Gallaudet (23-600) and Cox-Klemin (23-700).

Finally, some single DH-4s were further altered to 4 standards by various Air Depots. Ninety seven former Air Service DH-4s which has been converted to the 4B configuration were transferred to the Navy (BuNos A-5809/5814, 5834/5839, 5870/5884, 5982/6001 and 6352/6401). In addition, the Navy converted six (A-3384, 3393, 3394, 3398, 3402 and 3445) of its original planes to the new standard.

An article by Raul Colon: rcolonfrias@yahoo.com