De Havilland Dragon Rapide aircraft that flew racegoers to the St Leger in 1960 to go on display at South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum

The museum bid to the RAF Museum for G-AHED, a de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide built in 1946 which spent most of its working life operating civilian charters.

The museum’s researchers discovered that G-HED flew into Doncaster Aerodrome, which subsequently became the museum, in 1960 carrying passengers on a raceday charter for the St Leger meeting. The Dragon Rapides were regular visitors to the airfield in the 1930s, 40s and 50s.

The RAF Museum confirmed in August that the bid had been successful and G-HED’s airframe has now gone on display in Doncaster and been transferred into SYAM’s ownership.

The plane was originally built for the RAF, but never saw military service and was sold soon after to a flight school in Cambridge. By 1952, it was owned by Marshalls Flying Services. In 1961, it was sold to Hunting Surveys and Consultants Ltd and became an aerial survey aircraft. The RAF Museum acquired G-HED after it was withdrawn in 1969, but it has spent most of its time in storage.

South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum’s projects manager James Stables said: “The airframe is in excellent condition and is a great starting point for a full restoration project. The volunteers are looking forward to the opportunity to get their hands on it when our work schedule allows, and for some of them it will be an interesting experience to learn more about restoration of wood and fabric aircraft.”

Curator Naylan Moore added:“We are delighted to receive G-AHED from the RAF Museum and it is a great addition to the museum’s collection. With de Havilland Dragon Rapides and Dominies being operated from Doncaster from the 1930s up to the late 1970s, and knowing that this aircraft flew from our site on at least one occasion makes it a very relevant acquisition and fits within a number of criteria in our collections policy.”

Doncaster Aerodrome operated as an RAF station in both world wars, and in the 1930s there were even civilian flights to Amsterdam. It closed in 1992 when the area was redeveloped as Doncaster Lakeside.