DH.11 Oxford
General information
Type	Bomber
Manufacturer	Airco
Designer	Geoffrey de Havilland
Status	Abandoned
Number built	One
History
First flight	January 1919
Developed from	Airco DH.10 Amiens

TheAirco DH.11 Oxford (later de Havilland) was a British twin-enginedbiplane bomber which was designed to replace the earlierAirco DH.10 Amiens. It was designed to use the unsuccessfulABCDragonfly engine and was abandoned after the first prototype was built.

TheDH.11 Oxford was designed byGeoffrey de Havilland for theAircraft Manufacturing Company as a twin-engined day bomber to replace the Airco DH.10 Amiens. It was designed (as required by the Specification) to use theABCDragonflyradial engine which promised to give excellent performance and had been ordered in large numbers to be the powerplant for most of the new types on order for theRoyal Air Force. The DH.11 was a twin-engined biplane, with all-wood construction and three-bay wings. It had an aerodynamically clean, deep fuselage occupying the whole wing gap, giving a good field of fire for the gunners in the nose and mid-upper positions.^[1]

The first prototype flew in January 1919,^[2] powered by two 320 hp (239 kW) Dragonfly engines. The prototype encountered handling problems, and was handicapped by the Dragonfly engines, which were extremely unreliable, being prone to overheating and excessive vibration, while not delivering the expected power. Two further prototypes were cancelled in 1919, with no aircraft in the end being purchased to replace the DH.10.^[2]

• Oxford Mk I – Prototype – powered by two 320 hp (240 kW) ABC Dragonfly engines – one built.^[2]
• Oxford Mk II – Proposed version with two 300 hp (220 kW)Siddeley Puma engines – not built.^[2]
• DH.12 – Proposed version with Dragonfly engines and modified gunner's position – not built.^[3]

Data from The British Bomber since 1914^[2]

General characteristics

• Crew: 3
• Length: 45 ft2+3⁄4 in (13.786 m)
• Wingspan: 60 ft 2 in (18.34 m)
• Height: 13 ft 6 in (4.11 m)
• Wing area: 719 sq ft (66.8 m²)
• Empty weight: 4,105 lb (1,862 kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 7,027 lb (3,187 kg)
• Powerplant: 2 ×ABC Dragonfly air-cooled 9-cylinderradial engines, 320 hp (240 kW) each
• Propellers: 2-bladed wood fixed pitch propellers

Performance

• Maximum speed: 123 mph (198 km/h, 107 kn) at sea level, 116 mph (187 km/h) at 10,000 ft (3,000 m)
• Endurance: 3 hr
• Service ceiling: 14,500 ft (4,400 m)
• Time to altitude: 13 min 45 s to 10,000 ft (3,000 m)

Armament

• Guns: 1 × .303 in (7.7 mm)Lewis gun atScarff rings at both nose and midships gunners cockpits
• Bombs: 4 × 230 lb (100 kg) bombs internally

• 1919 in aviation

Related development

• Airco DH.10 Amiens

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

• Avro 533 Manchester
• Nieuport London
• Vickers Vimy

Related lists

• List of bomber aircraft
• List of aircraft of the Royal Air Force

Wikimedia Commons has media related toAirco DH.11 Oxford.

• Lewis, Peter (1980).The British Bomber since 1914 (Third ed.). London: Putnam.ISBN 0-370-30265-6.
• Mason, Francis K. (1994).The British Bomber since 1914. Putnam Aeronautical Books.ISBN 0-85177-861-5.

• 1910s British bomber aircraft
• De Havilland aircraft
• Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United Kingdom
• Airco aircraft
• Biplanes
• Aircraft first flown in 1919
• Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft
• Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear

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