Manufacturer: De Havilland Canada

Model: DHC-X

Name: CariTwin

Type: Transport

Date: 1969

Status: Experimental

Country: Canada

Service: Royal Canadian Air Force (evaluation only)

Designation: none

In an effort to offer an alternative to the purchase of the Lockheed Hercules by the Royal Canadian Air Force, De Havilland of Canada submitted this proposal for a twin fuselage Caribou in 1969 as the DHC-X CariTwin. The aircraft did not interest the RCAF as it was not only too wide, but also its loading capacity was not even to a par with the C-130. The prototype was scrapped for parts in 1974.

If the De Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou transport had been reworked by assembling two fuselages into one single four-engine aircraft, its payload would have been doubled. This is what I attempted to do in this image...

It was simply done by mating two Caribou fuselages together. The wing was enlarged to accomodate more engines. A central elevator was created to link the two tail fins together.

Though technically viable, this CariTwin would not offer much of an advantage when compared to heavy lifters such as the Hercules that have as many engines but can carry more payload.

• Oh, I love this Cari-Twin...  I like its shape, and customers would have been pleased too: Double payload but not only: faster loading/unloading than a twice bigger cargo! Beautiful, useful, all is perfect, I'd buy a thousand copies of this airplane if I were billionnaire... (Tophe)
• Stargazer, the 'Twin Cari' like all of your work is marvelous, but alas it is not my favorite of your work. It seems a bit too bizarre where most of your work has tremendous believability. Personal taste I imagine. (Yasotay)
• how 'bout a cargo pad slung between the fuselages? (Tony Harris)
• Or, perhaps the designation should be the DHC-4-2. (David R. Townend)

Or the DHC-8... or the DHC-4+... or the "TwinBoo"... LOL

As to the idea of a cargo pad suggested by Tony, it certainly seems like a valid proposition! I'd love to have a go at a three-view plan of the whole shebang...