During 1933, talks between the governments of United Kingdom, India, Malaya, the Straits Settlements and Australia resulted in an agreement to establish an Empire Air Mail Service.

The D.H.86 was conceptually a four-engined enlargement of the successful de Havilland Dragon, but of more streamlined appearance with tapered wings and extensive use of metal fairings around struts and undercarriage.

The prototype D.H.86 first flew on 14 January 1934, but the Qantas representative Lester Brain immediately rejected the single-pilot layout because he anticipated pilot fatigue over long stretches, and the fuselage was promptly redesigned with a dual-pilot nose.

[1] The third aircraft built, G-ACVY Mercury, started flying between Croydon Airport, Castle Bromwich, Barton, Belfast and Renfrew on 20 August 1934.

It was theorised that the centre of gravity was so far aft that it resulted in loss of control at an altitude too low for the pilot to recover (the aircraft was at an estimated height of 1,000 ft (300 m) prior to the crash).

On 13 December 1935, another Holyman DH86, Lepina, forced-landed on Hunter Island off northern Tasmania with the lower port interplane strut having "vibrated loose".

The D.H.86 had been rushed from design concept to test flight in a record four months to meet the deadlines set by the Australian airmail contracts, and a lot of attention to detail had been ignored.

There was poor response to control movements in certain speed ranges, the wings were inclined to twist badly if the ailerons were used coarsely and, most seriously, the vertical tail surface was of inadequate area.

The mid-air break-up of Qantas' VH-USE Sydney in a thunderstorm near Brisbane on 20 February 1942 with the loss of nine lives, was possibly unavoidable; however, the fin was found almost a mile away from the main wreckage which had been burnt.

The accident involving MacRobertson Miller Airlines’ ex-Qantas aircraft VH-USF at Geraldton on 24 June 1945 most likely was entirely avoidable had the AaAEE report been communicated to Australia.

[5] On its first commercial flight for its new owners after military service, the pilot and a passenger were killed in a classic loss-of-control accident while taking off with a heavy load in gusty conditions.

MMA sold the eleven-year-old aircraft to an English company late in 1946; it was abandoned in India in an "unsafe state" while on its delivery flight.

[citation needed] ♠ Original operators Australia Bahrain Egypt India Ireland New Zealand Nigeria Singapore Turkey United Kingdom Uruguay Australia Finland New Zealand United Kingdom Data from De Havilland Aircraft since 1909,[15] Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1938[16]General characteristics Performance