Prinair de Havilland D.H.114 Riley
Heron
N569PR
(c/n 14083)

Prinair was by far the largest single user, worldwide, of
the D.H. Heron, having operated no less
than 35 of them at one time
or another. As each aircraft was acquired, they were
converted to
Riley Heron standard by
replacing the original Gipsy Queen 30 engines with 290 h.p. Lycoming
IO-540s. These
conversions were done in the airline's own workshops by a subsidiary
know as
Caribbean Aircraft
Development Industries (CADI). Prinair also liked to
paint its aircraft in
different colored
liveries (a la Braniff), and so it was not unusual to see a blue, red
or orange
Heron parked at the
gate. The nice shot above is from the William W.
Sierra collection.
N569PR was
originally one of West African Airways Herons (VR-NCB), although was
with
Cimber Air as OY-BAM
when purchased by Prinair. It was sold to Riley's in Opa-Locka for
spare parts in 1983,
the year before Prinair went out of business.