De Havilland Tiger Moth

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The correct title of this article is de Havilland Tiger Moth. The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions.

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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. It remained in service with the RAF until 1950 when many of the surplus aircraft entered civil operation that continues to this day.

The Tiger Moth prototype was derived from the de Havilland Gipsy Moth (DH.60). It was powered by a de Havilland Gipsy III 120 hp engine and first flew on October 26, 1931. The RAF ordered 35 Tiger Moth Is 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 WWII the RAF had 500 of the aircraft and large numbers of civilian Tiger Moths were requisitioned to meet the demand for trainers.

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By the end of World War II, over 7,000 Tiger Moths had been built; 4,005 Tiger Moth IIs were built during the war specifically for the RAF, nearly half being built by the Morris Motor Company. A further 151 were built in Norway, Sweden and Portugal, and 2,949 were built by other countries of the British Commonwealth. Canada supplied 200 Tiger Moths to the USAAF which designated them as the PT-24.

A radio-controlled target tug version of the Tiger Moth II called the Queen Bee was also built with nearly 300 in service at the start of WWII. The Fleet Air Arm operated small numbers of the Tiger Moth II and the Queen Bee.

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 good flying condition New Zealand Tiger Moths passed to enthusiasts.

Examples are on display at the Mosquito Aircraft Museum in England and in Polish Aviation Museumat the former Kraków-Rakowice-Czyżyny Airport in Poland.

One famous 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 of the turn 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.

1 Variants
2 Specifications
- 2.1 General characteristics
- 2.2 Performance
3 Military Operators
4 Related content
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Variants

DH.60T Moth Trainer : Military training version of the De Havilland DH.60 Moth.
DH.82 Tiger Moth : Two-seat primary trainer aircraft. Powered by a 120-hp (89-kW) De Havilland Gipsy III piston engine.
- Tiger Moth Mk I : Two-seat primary training version for the RAF.
DH.82A Tiger Moth : Two-seat primary trainer aircraft. Powered by a 130-hp (97-kW) De Havilland Gipsy Major piston engine.
- Tiger Moth Mk II : Two-seat primary training version for the RAF.
DH.82C Tiger Moth : Winterized or cold weather version for the RCAF.
PT-24 : Two-seat primary training version for the USAAF.
DH.82B Queen Bee : Unmanned radio-controlled target drone.
Thruxton Jackaroo : Four-seat cabin biplane

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De Havilland Tiger Moth

[edit] Specifications

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[edit] General characteristics

Crew: 2, student & instructor
Length: 23 ft 11 in (7.34 m)
Wingspan: 29 ft 4 in (8.94 m)
Height: 8 ft 9 in (2.68 m)
Wing area: ft² ( m²)
Empty: lb ( kg)
Loaded: 1,825 lb (828 kg)
Powerplant: 1 x de Havilland Gipsy Major I inverted 4-cylinder inline, 130 hp (100 kW)