The Devon was a development of the de Havilland Dove for military operation, the prototype of the Dove (G-AGPJ) having first flown at Hatfield on 25 September 1945 in civil guise.

The Dash-8 is one of a long-line of highly successful STOL military and commercial transports produced by the Canadian company at Downsview, Ontario.

The Kansan was initially known as the AT-11 and was developed in 1941 from the Beech 18 series for the military navigational training role, a late variant of the Model 18 series being used for this model.