Main menu	Larger image	Next Swindelle photo Swindelle menu
09/30/2008. The D.H.2 prototype first flew on June 1, 1915, and after flight trials were successfully completed in July, an order for 452 aircraft was placed the following month. The first aircraft went into operational service with No. 24 Squadron on January 10, 1916, and that unit became the first single-seat fighter squadron to enter the hostilities the following month from St. Omer, France. Eventually 400 aircraft were produced, most of them powered by the 100 hp Gnome Monosoupape rotary engine, while the 110 hp Le Rhône was used as well. The type remained in operational service in France till March 1917, where after it served in Palestine till the end of 1917. Its last duties were training in the UK before final retirement in 1918.