Summary

1:16 scale model of the prototype DH 53 Humming Bird. The De Havilland company built two prototype DH 53 aircraft to compete in the Daily Mail Light Aeroplane Competition in 1923. One aircraft was named Humming Bird and the other Sylvia. Each was powered by a Douglas 750 cc motorcycle engine. The DH 53s did not win the competition but they performed impressively. Ultimately De Havilland produced 13 DH 53s, named Humming Bird after the first prototype. Each was powered by a 26 hp Blackburne Tomtit two-cylinder engine. Eight DH53s served with the RAF. At least two DH53s came to Australia and were operated by the Aero Club of NSW in the late1920s. This model was commissioned by the Museum from the model maker Mr Harold P. Wood in 1926. It appears to represent a DH 53 fitted with a Blackburne Tomtit engine.

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