The History of Our Aircraft

The Tiger Moth was the mature military trainer produced from de Havilland’s highly successful Moth family. The line began with the DH.60 Cirrus Moth in 1925. When de Havilland adopted its own Gipsy engine, the DH.60 became widely known as the Gipsy Moth. The type helped popularise private and club flying and established the light, forgiving biplane formula from which the later trainer evolved.

In 1931 de Havilland redesigned the Gipsy Moth concept to meet an Air Ministry requirement for an RAF trainer. A key change concerned access to the front cockpit, which was the instructor’s position: the upper mainplane was moved forward to give the instructor sufficient room to board and, if necessary, abandon the aeroplane more easily while wearing a parachute. Moving the upper mainplane forward altered the aircraft’s balance, so the mainplanes were swept back to restore the correct centre of gravity. These characteristic swept wings became one of the Tiger Moth’s most recognisable features. The resulting DH.82 Tiger Moth first flew on 26 October 1931 and soon entered RAF service. The later DH.82A/Tiger Moth II incorporated the Gipsy Major engine and refinements that became standard for wartime training.