MALTA AVIATION MUSEUM
de Havilland Tiger Moth DH 82A
 de Havilland Tiger Moth |
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Technical Specifications
The aircraft after restoration
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A number of Tiger Moths served with the Fleet Air Arm in Malta.
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The museum acquired this air-worthy aircraft - G-ANFW- without wings in Autumn 2000
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The intention was to rebuild a set of wings and put the aircraft back into the air.
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3 wings and a set of wing struts were kindly donated to the Museum.
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Unfortunately the wings were in poor condition but good enough to build templates for the fabrication of a completely new set of wings incorporating new spars obtained from Canada.
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Restoration to airworthy condition was completed on the steel and wood structure of the fuselage and wings as well as all the cockpit instrumentation.
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Vintage Fabrics completed the fabric covering of the fuselage.
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The four wings were shipped to Vintage Fabrics workshops in the UK for fabric covering.
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In the meantime, the remainder of the fuselage was painted to restore the aircraft to the original RAF trainer colours.
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The newly covered wings were returned to Malta in December 2009.
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In 2010 the aircraft was completed and ready for its first flight.
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The aircraft was dismantled, transported to Luqa airport where it was re-assembled.
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Its successful maiden flight took place, at Luqa, 23rd September 2010.
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The first public appearance of the aircraft in flight was at the Malta International Airshow that year. The aircraft was piloted by Clive Denney.
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Arrangements were made for the Tiger Moth to fly out of Ta' Qali from what remains of the runway. This occurred in October 2014 for the Mdina Grand Prix where the Tiger Moth gave 2 flying displays before returning to Ta' Qali.
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The aircraft can be seen in the Air Battle of Malta Memorial Hangar.
Chronology
Brief History
One of the most famous training aeroplanes, 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.