Brief History

One of the most famous training aeoroplanes, the Tiger Moth remained in service with the Royal Air Force for over 15 years. First introduced in February 1932, it was still used as a standard elementary trainer as late as 1947 in Flying Training Command and until 1951 with the RAF Volunteer Reserve and at RAF Heanyy in Southern Rhodesia. It was thus the last biplane trainer in the RAF, being replaced by the Prentice and Chipmunk.

The Tiger Moth was originally produced as a development of the well known Gipsy Moth, from which it differed in having staggered and swept-back wings (the latter to aid egress from the cockpit with a parachute), an inverted engine to improve forward view, and many detail improvements. It was fully certified for aerobatics up to 1,750 lb, and suitable for blind-flying (instrument) instruction.

The prototype flew on 26 October 1931 and was ordered by the Air Ministry to Specification 23/31. The initial production batch of Mark I aircraft were powered by 120-hp Gipsy III engines and it was this version which was flown by the Central Flying School in a demonstration of inverted flying at the RAF Display at Hendon in 1932.

The next production version was the Tiger Moth II built to Specification 26/33 and powered by the 130-hp Gipsy Major engine, which afterwards remained standard. The original Tiger Moths did not have the anti-spin strakes on the tail, which were a wartime innovation. By the outbreak of war in 1939, over 1,000 Tiger Moths had been delivered, most of them serving with the Elementary and Reserve Flying Training Schools, where RAF pilots were given ab initio instruction before going on to the Service Flying Training Schools. During the war most RAF pilots were trained on Tiger Moths, and British production totalled 4,668 for the RAF. A further 2,751 were built in Canada, Australia and New Zealand for the Commonwealth Air Training Plan. After the war Tiger Moths continued to soldier with the Royal Air Force Auxiliary and University squadrons until retirement in 1955 after which they were sold to foreign countries or private customers. A number served in Malta as Fleet Air Arm hack aircraft.

Restoring the Aircraft

In Autumn 2000, the Malta Aviation Museum Foundation acquired air-worthy Tiger Moth G-ANFW. The Museum is currently rebuilding a set of wings with the intention of putting the aircraft back in the air again. When complete, the Tiger Moth will wear a typical Royal Air Force colour scheme of the war period (Camouflaged top surfaces and trainer yellow under surfaces) and its original service number DE730. It will be registered locally.

Click here to visit the DH82A Tigermoth Restoration webpage

Technical Specification
 

Dimensions   Performance Span 29 feet 4 inches Max. Speed at 1,000 ft. 109 mph Length 23 feet 11 inches Initial climb rate 673 ft/min Height 8 feet 9 inches Ceiling 13,600 feet Wing Area 239 square feet Range 302 miles Power Plant Weights Type One 130hp Gipsy Major Inverted Inline Piston Engine Empty 1,115 lb Max. take-off 1,770 lb Cylinders 4   Cooling Air These Tigermoth Wings skeletons are currently being restored to airworthy condition