DH6 - Never Seen this Before

[mhaselden]

Apropos of nothing in particular,  I was looking for images of the DH6 and came across this odd bird which has roundels on the upper surfaces of both the upper and lower wings:

 

 

Just sharing in case it's of interest to anyone else.  

[AWFK10]

Nice photo, I've not seen it before. This wasn't uncommon on DH6s, as every port and starboard mainplane was manufactured so that it could be fitted as either an upper or lower wing. As the type was an elementary trainer, Airco may have reasoned that there was a higher than average chance of damaged wings needing to be replaced and making them interchangeable was consistent with the utilitarian approach they took to designing the "chummy hearse". The DH6 may be the only aeroplane in history to have had its wing aerofoil modified by simply sawing the leading edge off.

[melvyn hiscock]

There was also a story that the wings were made in long sections and chopped off to length!

[mhaselden]

Looking at it a bit closer, it seems like the port upper wing is lacking a roundel.  Looks like  they just grabbed any old wing that was available and bolted it where it was needed.  Agricultural to say the least!

Edited May 22, 2020 by mhaselden

[Bear Paw]

Talking of agriculture it looks like it has been parked in a soft fruit field. Some of those bushes look substantial.  

[alancmlaird]

The intechangeability got even worse than that! There are pictures of wings with a roundel on one aileron but no roundel on the wing itself , and vice versa. Insert any comibnation of that that you like!. I've also seen a photo of an aircraft with the roundel on the aileron mis-aligned with the roundel on the wing by one rib bay. Its use as a trainer meant that frequent damage could be repaired quickly - to be fair, the DH6's flying characterists might have had something to do with that.

Great shot though....thanks for sharing.

Edited May 26, 2020 by alancmlaird