de Havilland Australia
[3] DHA was set up to sell de Havilland products in Australia, to assemble aircraft that had been sold, and to provide repair and spare parts services.
In 1939 DHA delivered 20 DH.82 Tiger Moths assembled from imported fuselages and locally-built wings to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).
Another order for 50 DH.94 Moth Minors was also received - in October that year - from the Australian Department of Supply and Development, at least four of these having been built at Mascot using locally manufactured components.
After the outbreak of war, the RAAF selected the Tiger Moth as its primary trainer and in 1940 DHA commenced licensed manufacture at a new facility at Bankstown;[6] when production ended in February 1945 over one thousand[7] had been built.
On 29 June 1949, following selection of the type by the RAAF in 1946, the first of 190 licence-built DH.100 and DH.115 Vampires had its first flight with DHA's chief test pilot Brian "Black Jack" Walker at the controls.
The end of the Vampire programme marked the beginning of an extended period when no complete aircraft were produced, although there was work for the company in various modification (see DHA-3 Drover) and repair and overhaul programmes, including repairing RAAF DHC-4 Caribous damaged on active service during the Vietnam War and major servicing of the RAAF Caribou fleet.
The project suffered numerous delays and cost increases (due in part to the changing requirements of the RAAF and in part to the inexperience of the consortium members in designing to military requirements) and shortly after the prototype was completed at HdH's Bankstown factory the programme was cancelled at the end of 1985.
[13] Earlier in 1985 HdH purchased CAC, which was initially kept as a separate company but was then renamed Hawker de Havilland Victoria (HdHV) the following year.
HdH at Bankstown was responsible for the landing gear and major hydraulic system components including aileron, rudder and flap actuators and hydraulic fluid reservoirs; while CAC/HdHV was responsible for the wing pylons, engine access panels, aft nozzle fairings, aircraft-mounted accessory drive gearboxes and engines.
Following the cancellation of the Wamira, HdH resumed production of complete aircraft in 1987 after it was selected to build a version of the Pilatus PC-9 under licence for the RAAF.
