De Havilland Gipsy Moth

Redirect to:

• De Havilland DH.60 Moth

The de Havilland DH 60 Moth series of aircraft was developed from the de Havilland DH.51 two seat biplane.

Design and Development

The DH 60 was developed from the DH 51 biplane.

Although the DH 60M and DH 60T were officially named ‘Metal Moth’ and ‘Moth Trainer’, these names never caught on and eventually all upright installed Gipsy-powered Moths became known as ‘Gipsy Moths’. As de Havilland started producing other light aircraft such as the Puss Moth and Hornet Moth, every other light aircraft in Britain, whether built by de Havilland or not, was called a ‘Moth’. Every DH 60, even the Cirrus, Hermes, Genet or otherwise powered ones, became a ‘Gipsy Moth’.

DH 60 Moth in military service

Although the DH 60T was aggressively marketed as a military trainer, response was rather lukewarm. In particular the RAF only purchased a handful of aircraft for testing and found that many aspects of the Moth did not suit their method of military flight training. When de Havilland finally developed the Moth into the successful D.H.82 Tiger Moth trainer, it gave this aircraft the new designation DH 82, as if to erase all links to its unlucky Gipsy Moth ancestry.

Moth trainers were however ordered by a number of foreign Air Forces including those of Argentina, Australia (as noted above), Austria, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and the flying arm of the Danish Navy. Finland licence-built 22 Moth trainers, but equipped them with the old Cirrus engine. The bulk of military Moths however were civilian sportplanes impressed during WWII and used as trainers and liaison aircraft. These Moths ended up flying, amongst others, for Egypt, New Zealand, China (with several captured ex-Chinese aircraft flying for the Japanese), Ireland, Italy, Iraq, Belgian Congo, Dutch East Indies (later taken over by the Indonesian AF), South Africa, New Zealand, the US Navy and both the Nationalist and Republican side in the Spanish Civil War.

Variants

• DH 60 Cirrus Moth
• DH 60G Gipsy Moth

As the name implies, the difference from the earlier DH 60 was its powerplant, a 100 horsepower (hp) Gipsy I engine (later versions: 120hp Gipsy II) replaced the 60hp ADC Cirrus engine.

Next to the rise in power, the main advantage of this update was that the Gipsy was a completely new engine available in as great a number as the manufacture of Moths necessitated. Although the Cirrus engine was reliable, its manufacture was not. It depended on components salvaged from WWI-era 8-cylinder Renault engines and therefore its numbers were limited by the stockpiles of surplus Renaults. The new Gipsy engines could simply be built in-house on a production line side by side with the production line for Moth airframes. This also enabled the de Havilland Aircraft Company to control the complete process of building a Moth airframe, engine and all, streamline productivity and in the end lower manufacturing costs. While the original DH 60 was offered for a relatively modest £650, by 1930 the price of a new Gipsy-powered Moth was also £650, this in spite of its state-of-the-art engine and the effects of inflation.

Apart from the engine, the new Gipsy Moth was still a standard DH 60. Except for changes to accommodate the engine the fuselage remained the same as before, the exhaust still ran alongside the left side of the cockpits and the logo on the right side still read ‘De Havilland Moth’. The fuel tank was still housed in the bulging airfoil that formed the center section of the upper wing. The wings themselves could still be folded alongside the fuselage and still had de Havilland’s patented limited-traverse ailerons on the bottom mainplanes and no ailerons on the top ones. Colour options still remained as simple as before: wings and tail in ‘Moth silver’, fuselage in the colour the buyer chose.

As there was no real comparison between the original DH 60 and the new DH 60G, the Gipsy Moth quickly became the mainstay of British flying clubs as the only real recreational aircraft in the UK. By 1929 it was estimated that of every 100 aeroplanes in Britain, 85 were Moths of one type or another. This in spite of the fact that with de Havilland switching from the Cirrus to its own Gipsy engine, surplus Cirrus engines were now available for use in other aircraft like the Avro Avian, the Klemm Swallow or the Miles Hawk.

Most Gipsy Moths belonged to Flying Clubs, but after His Royal Highness the Edward VIII of the United Kingdom purchased a Gipsy Moth (G-AALG) for his own private flying, the aircraft became the latest fad for high society. It did help that the redesigned DH 60L had larger cabin panels that enabled passengers to 'step' into the cockpit instead of sliding into it. The new enlarged luggage locker was also now big enough to store a set of golf clubs. In fact, fairways made great landing fields for those rich enough to belong to both a Flying Club and a Golf Club, and golf resorts in the more scenic parts of the UK were great weekend getaways for upper-class sporty young flying lads (and increasingly also sporty young flying ladies).

In addition the Moth was used for many a record flight. The ‘Lonely flyer’ Sir Francis Chichester flew his Gipsy Moth from England to Australia, further to New Zealand and then across the Pacific to Japan. Although he originally planned to fly around the earth, a crash in Japan convinced him to switch to sailing. (Out of respect for his trusty little airplane, he named his yachts ‘Gipsy Moth II’ and ‘Gipsy Moth III’.) Of the aviatrixes, London secretary Amy Johnson flew her Gipsy Moth (G-AAAH "Jason") 11,000 miles to Australia and Jean Batten used a Gipsy Moth for her flights from England to India and England to Australia (the aircraft used to fly to India was G-AALG borrowed from the Prince of Wales).

As the Royal Aero Club marketed the idea of flying clubs to other members of the Commonwealth, the de Havilland Aircraft Company followed suit and soon established subsidiaries in Australia and Canada to stock the local Flying Clubs there with Gipsy Moths. Canadian Moths were offered a detachable canopy for winter flying. Other factories to licence-build the Gipsy Moth were the Larkin Aircraft Supply Company in Australia (which built 32 for the RAAF), Morane-Saulnier in France (40) and a company called Moth Aircraft Co. in the US (18).

Although replaced in production by the DH 60G-III Moth Major and later by the D.H.82 Tiger Moth, the Gipsy Moth remained the mainstay of the British flying scene up to the start of WWII. The war however marked the end of the Gipsy Moth and post-war it was quickly replaced by ex-RAF Tiger Moths pouring into the civilian market.

File:De Havilland DH 60 Cirrus Moth img 0504.jpg

Swiss registered DH 60G III Moth Major

• DH 60G III Moth Major

The Gipsy Moth was replaced in 1930 by the DH 60G III Moth Major, powered by a Gipsy III (or 'Gipsy Major') inverted 4 cylinder in-line engine of 135 HP but otherwise unchanged. In 1932, the Moth Major was itself replaced by the D.H.82 Tiger Moth.

• DH 60L (Luxury version)

Offered with wider let-down cockpit doors and an enlarged luggage locker now big enough to carry a set of golf clubs. The luxury version also featured a modern (art-deco, after all this was 1930) two-colour paint scheme for the fuselage.

• DH 60M (Metal Moth)

Metal tubing replaced the wooden formers in the original fabric-over-wooden-frame fuselage.

• DH 60T (Moth Trainer)
• DH 60T (Tiger Moth) Eight aircraft built as prototypes for the DH 82 Tiger Moth.
• DH 60X ('X' braced undercarriage)

Note: Variant information taken from Bransom.

Survivors

• DH 60G Gipsy Moth, G-AAAH, Jason used by Amy Johnson is on static display at the Science Museum , London.
• DH 60X Gipsy Moth, G-EBLV, flies regularly during displays at the Shuttleworth Collection near Old Warden , Bedfordshire , England.

Specifications (DH 60G)

General characteristics

• Crew: Two, One pilot and passenger or student

Performance

References

Bibliography

• Bransom, Alan. The Tiger Moth Story, Fourth Edition. Shrewsbury, UK: Airlife Publishing Ltd., 1991. ISBN 0-906393-19-1.
• James Gilbert, the Great Planes, Ridge Press, 1970
• Elke Weal, John Weal and Richard Barker: Combat Aircraft of world War Two, Arms and Armour Press / RAF Museum Hendon, 1977
• Dirty Plastics: Arizona Historical Modellers society quarterly magazine Issue 98/100, summer 1980

External links

• Science Museum exhibit on Amy Johnson
• DH60 Gipsy Moth on Display at the Royal Air Force Museum
• DH60X Cirrus Moth, G-EBWD, at the Shuttleworth Collection
• The de Havilland Moth Club

See also

Related development

• de Havilland Tiger Moth

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

• Avro Avian
• Boeing-Stearman Kaydet
• PZL.5
• Albatros L.82
• Aero A.34