DE HAVILLAND TIGER MOTH

The 'de Havilland DH 82 Tiger Moth' was a 1930s biplane designed by de Havilland and operated by the Royal Air Force and others as a primary trainer. The Tiger Moth remained in service with the RAF until 1952 when many of the surplus aircraft entered civil operation. Many other nations used the Tiger Moth both in military and civil applications and the ubiquitous little trainer still is in great demand worldwide as a recreational aircraft.

Contents

Design and development

Operational history

Postwar

Survivors

Variants

Operators

Military operators

Specifications (DH 82)

References

External links

Related content

Design and development

The Tiger Moth trainer prototype was derived from the de Havilland Gipsy Moth (DH 60). The main change to the DH Moth series was necessitated by an effort to improve access to the front cockpit since the training requirement specified that the front seat occupant had to be able to escape easily, even wearing a parachute.Bain 1992, p. 43. Access to the front cockpit of the Moth predecessors was restricted by the proximity of the aircraft's fuel tank directly above the front cockpit and the rear support struts for the upper wing. The solution adopted was to shift the upper wing forward but sweep the wings back to maintain the centre of lift.^[2] Other changes included a strengthened structure, fold-down doors on both sides of the cockpit and a revised exhaust.Bain 1992, p. 43. It was powered by a de Havilland Gipsy III 120 hp engine and first flew on 26 October 1931 with de Havilland Chief Test Pilot Hubert Broad at the controls.^[3] One distinctive characteristic of the Tiger Moth design is its differential aileron control setup. The ailerons (on the lower wing only) on a Tiger Moth barely travel down at all on the wing on the outside of the turn, while the aileron on the inside travels a large amount upwards... this is one of the ways the problem of adverse yaw can be counteracted in an aircraft's control design.
From the outset, the Tiger Moth proved to be an ideal trainer, simple and cheap to own and maintain, although control movements required a positive and sure hand as there was a slowness to control inputs. Some instructors preferred these flight characteristics because of the effect of "weeding" out the inept student pilot.^[4]

Operational history

The RAF ordered 35 dual-control 'Tiger Moth I's which were designated the 'DH 60T'. A subsequent order was placed for 50 aircraft powered by the de Havilland Gipsy Major I engine (130hp) which was designated the 'DH 82A Tiger Moth II'. The Tiger Moth entered service at the RAF Central Flying School in February 1932. By the start of the Second World War, the RAF had 500 of the aircraft and large numbers of civilian Tiger Moths were impressed to meet the demand for trainers.
During a British production run of over 7,000 Tiger Moths, a total of 4,005 Tiger Moth IIs were built during the war specifically for the RAF, nearly half being built by the Morris Motor Company.
The Tiger Moth became the foremost primary trainer throughout the Commonwealth and elsewhere. It was the principal type used in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan where thousands of military pilots got their first taste of flight in this robust but forgiving little machine.
Canada manufactured 1,523 of the DH 82C, which had a 145 hp D.H. Gypsy Major 1C engine and other modifications including a tail wheel replacing the original tail skid, a stronger undercarriage with wheels set farther forward and enclosed cockpit with a sliding canopy necessitated by the northern climate.^[5]The de Havilland Canada operation also supplied 200 Tiger Moths to the USAAF, which designated them the 'PT-24'. A further 151 were built in Norway, Sweden and Portugal while 2,949 Tiger Moths were built by other countries of the British Commonwealth.
A number of modified Tiger Moths were developed for special roles. A radio-controlled target tug version of the Tiger Moth II called the 'Queen Bee' was built with nearly 300 in service at the start of the Second World War. The Fleet Air Arm operated small numbers of the Tiger Moth II, and the Queen Bee. In the aftermath of Britain's disastrous campaign in France, in August 1940, three proposals involved beach defence systems; 350 Tiger Moths were fitted with bomb racks to serve as light bombers. A more radical conversion involved the "paraslasher," a scythe-like blade fitted to a Tiger Moth and intended to cut parachutist's canopies as they descended to earth. Flight tests proved the idea, but it was not officially adopted. The Tiger Moth was also tested as a "human crop sprayer" intended to dispense "Paris Green" poisonous insecticide from powder dispensers located under the wings.^[6]

Postwar

In postwar use, surplus Tiger Moths were available for flying clubs and individuals. They proved to be inexpensive to operate and found enthusiastic reception in the civil market, taking on a variety of new roles including aerial advertiser, aerial ambulance, aerobatic performer, crop duster and glider tug.
After the invention of aerial topdressing in New Zealand, large numbers of ex-Royal New Zealand Air Force Tiger Moths made in that country were converted into agricultural aircraft. The front seat was replaced with a hopper to hold superphosphate for aerial topdressing. From the mid 1950s, these topdressers were replaced by more modern types such as the PAC Fletcher, and a large number of New Zealand Tiger Moths in good flying condition then passed to enthusiasts.
Royal Navy Tiger Moths utilized as target tugs and "air experience" machines became the last military aircraft when the service purchased a batch of refurbished examples in 1956.^[7]

Survivors

Although numerous examples of the Tiger Moth are still flying today (an estimated 250^[8]), a number of aircraft have been preserved as museum displays (amongst others) at the:

★ Mosquito Aircraft Museum in England;

★ Polish Aviation Museum at the former Kraków-Rakowice-Czyżyny Airport in Poland;

★ Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa;

★ Alberta Aviation Museum

★ Western Canada Aviation Museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Variants

;DH.60T Moth Trainer
:Military training version of the De Havilland DH.60 Moth.
;DH.82 Tiger Moth (Tiger Moth I)
:Two-seat primary trainer aircraft. Powered by a 120-hp (89-kW) De Havilland Gipsy III piston engine; renamed ''Tiger Moth I'' in RAF.
;DH.82A Tiger Moth (Tiger Moth II)
:Two-seat primary trainer aircraft. Powered by a 130-hp (97-kW) De Havilland Gipsy Major piston engine. Renamed ''Tiger Moth II'' in RAF.
;DH.82C Tiger Moth
:Winterized or cold weather version for the RCAF. Fitted with sliding glass canopies and cockpit heating. Powered by a 108-kW (145-hp) de Havilland Gipsy Major piston engine; 1,523 built.
;PT-24 Moth
:United States military designation for the DH.82C primary training version for Lend-Lease to the Royal Canadian Air Force; 200 built by de Havilland Canada.
;DH.82B Queen Bee
:Unmanned radio-controlled target drone; 380 built.
;Thruxton Jackaroo
:Four-seat cabin biplane

Operators

Military operators

★ : RAAF

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★ (Persia)

★

★ : RNZAF

★ : RNoAF

★ : PAF in Great Britain

★ : Army Aviation, Naval Aviation, Air Force

★ Rhodesia

★ Spain

★ South Africa: SAAF

★

★

★

★ : RAF, Fleet Air Arm

★

Specifications (DH 82)

References

1. De Havilland Tiger Moth (D.H.82)
2. de Havilland Tiger Moth 82A
3. McKay 1988, p. 6
4. de Havilland D.H. 82 Tiger Moth
5. Hotson 1983, p. 51.
6. de Havilland Tiger II
7. McKay 1998, p. 57.
8. deHavilland D.H. 82 Tiger Moth


★ Bain, Gordon. ''De Havilland: A Pictorial Tribute''. London: AirLife, 1992. ISBN 1-85648-243-X.

★ Bransom, Alan. ''The Tiger Moth Story, Fifth Edition''. Manchester, UK: Crécy Publishing Ltd., 2005. ISBN 0-859791-03-3.

★ Hotson, Fred. ''The De Havilland Canada Story''. Toronto: CANAV Books, 1983. ISBN 0-9690703-2-2.

★ McKay, Stuart. ''Tiger Moth''. New York: Orion Books, 1998. ISBN 0-517-56864-0.

External links

★ British Aircraft Directory: De Havilland Tiger Moth (D.H.82)

★ Western Canada Aviation Museum: De Havilland Tiger Moth (D.H.82c)

★ Delta Aviation Tiger Moth Trial Lessons: De Havilland Tiger Moth (D.H.82)

★ A photograph of a de Havilland DH.82B Queen Bee

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