(de Havilland) DH 60 Moth @·AIRCRAFTUBE

  • de Havilland DH 60 de Havilland DH 60
    de Havilland DH 60
  • de Havilland DH 60G Gipsy Moth 1928 de Havilland DH 60G Gipsy Moth 1928
    de Havilland DH 60G Gipsy Moth 1928
  • de Havilland DH 60 Cirrus Moth - Canadian Forces de Havilland DH 60 Cirrus Moth - Canadian Forces
    de Havilland DH 60 Cirrus Moth - Canadian Forces
  • de Havilland DH 60 de Havilland DH 60
    de Havilland DH 60
  • de Havilland DH 60 Gipsy Moth de Havilland DH 60 Gipsy Moth
    de Havilland DH 60 Gipsy Moth
  • de Havilland DH 60 Cirrus Moth de Havilland DH 60 Cirrus Moth
    de Havilland DH 60 Cirrus Moth
  • de Havilland DH 60G Gipsy Moth - Amy Johnson - Jhansi India 1930 de Havilland DH 60G Gipsy Moth - Amy Johnson - Jhansi India 1930
    de Havilland DH 60G Gipsy Moth - Amy Johnson - Jhansi India 1930

de Havilland DH 60 Moth

The DH 60 was developed from the larger DH 51 biplane. The first flight of the Cirrus powered prototype DH.60 Moth (registration G-EBKT) was carried out by Geoffrey de Havilland at the works airfield at Stag Lane on 22 February 1925. The Moth was a two-seat biplane of wooden construction, it had a plywood covered fuselage and fabric covered surfaces, a standard tailplane with a single tailplane and fin. A useful feature of the design was its folding wings which allowed owners to hangar the aircraft in much smaller spaces. The then Secretary of State for Air Sir Samuel Hoare became interested in the aircraft and the Air Ministry subsidised five flying clubs and equipped them with Moths. The prototype was modified with a horn balanced rudder, as used on the production aircraft, and was entered into the 1925 King's Cup Race flown by Alan Cobham. Deliveries commenced to flying schools in England. One of the early aircraft was fitted with an all-metal twin float landing gear to become the first Moth seaplane. The original production Moths were later known Cirrus I Moths.

Three aircraft were modified for the 1927 King's Cup Race with internal modifications and a Cirrus II engine on a lowered engine mounting. Originally designated the DH.60X (for experimental) this was soon changed to Cirrus II Moth, the DH.60X designation was re-used in 1928 for the Cirrus III powered version with a split axle. The production run for the DH.60X Moth was short as it was replaced by later variants but it was still available to special order.

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. Therefore, De Haviland decided to replace the Cirrus with a new engine built by his own factory. In 1928 when the new de Havilland Gipsy I engine was available a company DH.60 Moth G-EBQH was re-engined as the prototype of the DH.60G Gipsy Moth.

Next to the increase 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. 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 still £650, this in spite of its state-of-the-art engine and the effects of inflation.

A metal-fuselage version of the Gipsy Moth was designated the DH.60M Moth and was originally developed for overseas customers particularly Canada. The DH.60M was also licence-built in Australia, Canada, the United States and Norway. Also in 1931 a variant of the DH.60M was marketed for military training as the DH.60T Moth Trainer

In 1931 with the upgrade of the Gipsy engine as the Gipsy II, de Havilland inverted the engine and re-designated it the Gipsy III. The engine was fitted into a Moth aircraft and was re-designated the DH.60GIII Moth Major for the military trainer market and some of the first aircraft were supplied to the Swedish Air Force. The DH.60T was re-engined with the Gipsy III and was re-designated the DH.60T Tiger Moth. The DH.60T Tiger Moth was modified with swept back mainplanes, the cabane struts were also moved forward to improve egress from the front cockpit in case of emergency. The changes were considered great enough that the aircraft was re-designated the de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth.

Design

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 could still be folded alongside the fuselage and still had de Havilland's patented differential 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.

Operational History

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, most of them Gipsy Moths. This in spite of the fact that with de Havilland switching from the Cirrus to its own Gipsy engine, surplus Cirrus engines were now pouring into the 'free' market and a trove of Cirrus powered aircraft like the Avro Avian, the Klemm Swallow or the Miles Hawk started fighting for their share of the flying club and private market.

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.

DH 60 Moth in Flying Clubs

In retrospect one can say that the first DH.60 arrived at the right spot at the right time: Next to the Moth's maiden flight, 1925 also marked the birth of the first 5 Royal Aero Club flying schools and because of its simplicity and reliable powerplant, the Moth was the aircraft of choice to equip the clubs. Vice versa, the clubs gave De Havilland a secure supply of orders. De Havilland could now use this safety to concentrate on developing the Moth further into a mass-produced mass-market aircraft. So it can be said teat the Moth made the Aero Clubs at least just as much as the Aero Clubs made the Moth. Because of this headstart, the Moth became the mainstay of the Areo Clubs even long after more modern aircraft became available.

With De Havilland's habbit to paint the wings and tailplane of the Moth in silver also came the clubs habit of distinguishing their aircraft by painting their fuselage in one distinctive club color. Aircraft of the London Areo Club had a yellow fuselage (plus yellow struts and wheel caps), those of Newcastle a red one. Green stood for the Midlands and blue for Lancashire. Registration letters were black on the wings and, depending on the club color, either black or white on the fuselage. the stabilo could be club color or white.

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). Although built for flying clubs rather than for individual air cruising, the Australian Moths were the DH.60L 'Luxury' version and were delivered with its fuselage sporting the L's characteristic 2-tone color scheme rather than the fuselage entirely painted in the club color as custom in British flying clubs. Other manufacturers were Morane-Saulnier in France (40) and a company called Moth Aircraft Co. in the US (18).

DH 60 Moth in private use

Most Gipsy Moths belonged to Flying Clubs, but after His Royal Highness 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).

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.

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: Prototype and early production aircraft powered by a 60hp Cirrus Engine. 8 pre-production and 31 production aircraft built.
  • DH 60 Cirrus II Moth. (also known as the Hermes Moth): Introduced in 1927 this variant had a slightly larger wingspan and decreased distance between the upper and lower wings. Powered by an uprated (105hp) Cirrus Hermes engine, 32 built.
  • DH 60 Genet Moth: A small number of DH 60 Moths were fitted with the Armstrong Siddeley Genet radial engine. The type was used by the Royal Air Force Central Flying School for display purposes, six built.
  • DH 60G Gipsy Moth: First major overhaul of the design: Cirrus engine replaced by a 100 hp de Havilland Gipsy I engine.
  • DH 60GII (Gipsy II Moth): Powered by a 120 hp Gipsy II. Commonly referred to as a 'Gipsy Moth' just like the 100 hp version.
  • DH 60X: optional 'X' braced undercarriage version of the early Gipsy Moth. (X-style undercarriage became standard for the DH 60M and all subsequent models).
  • DH 60M Moth (Metal Moth): Metal tubing replaced the wooden formers in the original fabric-over-wooden-frame fuselage, four pre-production aircraft, 536 built by de Havilland at Stag Lane, 40 built by de Havilland Canada, 161 built by the Moth Corporation in the United States, 10 built by the Norwegian Army Aircraft Factory in Norway.
  • DH 60T (Moth Trainer) Trainer variant of the Metal-Gipsy Moth. 2 prototypes and 47 production aircraft.
  • DH 60L (Luxury): 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-color paint scheme for the fuselage. Production for all Gipsy I and -II variants: 595 built by de Havilland at Stag Lane Aerodrome, 40 built by Morane-Saulnier in France, 18 built by the Moth Corporation in the United States, and 32 built by Larkin Aircraft Supply in Australia.
  • DH 60GIII Moth: In 1931 the company took a de Havilland Gipsy II engine and turned it upside down and re-designated it the Gipsy III, this engine was then fitted to the Moth to create the DG 60GIII Moth, 57 built including ten as fuselages for the Royal Air Force as Queen Bee target drones.
  • DH 60GIII Moth Major: In 1934 from the 58th DH 60GIII onwards, the engine name was changed to Gipsy Major and the resulting variant was renamed the DH 60G III Moth Major. 96 were built including ten as fuselages for the Royal Air Force as Queen Bee target drones, production ending in May 1935. A final Moth Major was built by the de Havilland Technical School, giving total production of the DH 60GIII of 154.
  • DH 60T (Tiger Moth) Eight aircraft built as prototypes for the DH 82 Tiger Moth.

Military operators

Australia, Brazil, Canada (Royal Canadian Air Force), Denmark, Egypt, Finnish Air Force, Irish Air Corps, Iraq, Norway, New Zealand (Royal New Zealand Air Force), Polish Air Force, Spanish Republican Air Force, Spanish Air Force, Sweden (Royal Swedish Air Force), United Kingdom (Royal Air Force), United States Navy.

— — — = = — — —

This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Source : Article de Havilland DH 60 Moth of Wikipedia ( authors )

Specifications (DH 60G Gipsy Moth)

  • Crew : Two, One pilot and passenger or student.
  • Length : 23 ft 11 in (or 7.29 m).
  • Height : 8 ft 9 in (or 2.68 m).
  • Wingspan : 30ft (or 9.14 m).
  • Wing area : 243 sq ft (or 22.6 m²).
  • Empty weight : 920 lb (or 417 kg).
  • Loaded weight : 1,750 lb (or 794 kg).
  • Cruise speed : 85 mph (or 137 km/h).
  • Powerplant : One de Havilland Gipsy I, 4 cylinder, upright, in-line piston engine.
  • Power : 100hp (or 75 kW).

— — — = = — — —

This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Source : Article de Havilland DH 60 Moth of Wikipedia ( authors )
de Havilland DH 60 Moth - Gipsy Moth - Cirrus Moth : Your comments on this subject
Powered by Disqus
Top
Legal Credits FAQ Help Site Map

Terms of use for the services available on this site

By using this Website, Users agree to the following terms of use and rules :

Definitions

  • Webmaster : Head Administrator with all authority over the management and development of the Website.
  • Administrator : Anyone that was given by the Webmaster full or partial access to the Website's structure or with moderation rights on messages posted by Users.
  • User or Visitor : Any person visiting the Website pages.
  • Website : The following provisions apply to a single Website accessible via the www.aircraftube.com, www.aircraftube.org, www.aircraftube.net and www.all-aircraft.com. URL's
  • Service : All free informations and tools contained on the Website.
  • Comments : All text written by users on Blogs and comment pages available on the Website.
  • Media : All media available on or through the Website. One must distinguish the local media (photos, curves, drawings) and the external media (videos) which the Website refers.

    • Purpose of this site

    The purpose of this non-commercial site is purely educational. Reflecting a passion, it is also there to preserve the memory of all those who gave their lives, their health or energy in the name of freedom, aviation safety or simply our passenger comfort.

    Copyright

    Some media may have escaped the vigilance of Administrators with regard to copyrights. If a user reports copyright infringement, he will be asked to prove that he is indeed the rights's owner for the concerned media. If so, his decision on the Administrator's next action will be respected: A total suppression of the Media on the Website, or the addition of some owner's reference. The publication of a media on the internet normally having as a goal to make it visible to many people, the Administrators expect in any case that the second option will be most often chosen.

    Pursuant to the Law on copyright and related rights, the user has the right to download and reproduce information on the Website for personal use and provided that the source is mentionned. They cannot however be used for commercial or advertising purposes.

    Using Blogs and filing comments

  • Moderator : The Administrator reserves the right to prevent the publication of comments that are not directly related to the Service without providing any explanation. Similarly, all insults, out of scope or unethical material will be banned.
  • Identification : Persons wishing to post a comment or use any form of contact are required to provide identification by the means of a valid e-mail address.
  • Responsibilities : Comments are posted on the Website under the unique responsability of their authors and the Administrators may in no case be liable for any statements or claims that the users might have issued.

    • As the comment system is hosted and maintained on servers external to the Website, the Administrators may in no circumstances be held responsible for the use that administrators of these servers or other third parties may have with those comments or filed data.

    Content Liability

    The Administrators carefully check the reliability of the sources used. They cannot, however, guarantee the accuracy of any information contained on the Website, partly because of the multiple sources from which they come.

    JavaScript and cookies - Storing information

    This Website imperatively uses JavaScript and cookies to function properly. Neither of these technologies, or other means shall in no case be used on the Website for the retention or disclosure of personal information about Visitors. Exceptions to this rule will involve storing the Users banned for inappropriate comments they might have given as well as contact information for Users wishing to subscribe to future newsletters.

    When a user accesses the Website, the corresponding servers may automatically collect certain data, such as IP address, date and time of Website access, viewed pages and the type of browser used. This information is kept only for the purpose of measuring the number of visitors to the different sections of the site and make improvements.

    Donations - Advertising

    To continue providing the Service for free, the Webmaster reserves the right to insert advertising or promotional messages on any page of the Site. In the same idea, any donations will only by used to cover the running costs of the site, such as hosting, connection fees, hardware and software necessary for the development and maintenance of the Website.

    Links and other websites

    Administrators shall in no case be liable for the non-availability of websites operated by third parties to which users would access through the Website.

    Administrators assume no liability for any content, advertising, products and/or services available on such third party websites. It is reminded that those sites are governed by their own terms of use.

    Placing a link to third party sites or authorize a third party to include a link on their website refering to this Website does not mean that the Administrators recommend in any way the products or services offered by these websites.

    Modifications

    The Webmaster reserves the right to modify at any time without notification the present terms of use as well as all content or specific functionality that the Website offers.

    The modified terms and conditions immediately apply to the using Visitor when changes come online. Visitors are invited to consult the site regularly on the most current version of the terms and conditions

    Governing Law and Jurisdiction

    These general conditions are governed by Belgian law.

    In case of dispute regarding the interpretation and/or execution of the above terms, the parties agree that the courts of the district of Nivelles, Belgium shall have exclusive jurisdiction power.

    Credits page

    Wikipedia.org

    Wikipedia is a collaboratively edited, multilingual, free Internet encyclopedia.

    Youtube

    YouTube is a video-sharing website on which users can upload, view and share videos.

    Special thanks to all Youtube quality aviation vids providers, specially (Those I forgot, please excuse me or report) :

    Airboyd
    Andys Video
    Aviation videos archives
    Bomberguy
    Classic Aviation TV
    Historical Aviation Film Unit
    Horsemoney
    Jaglavaksoldier
    Joluqa Malta
    Just Planes
    Koksy
    Classic Airliners & Vintage Pop Culture
    Memorial Flight
    Octane130
    Okrajoe
    SDASM archives
    Spottydog4477
    The Aviators TV
    Valentin Izagirre Bengoetxea
    Vexed123
    VonBerlich
    Zenos Warbirds

    Bundesarchiv

    The German Federal Archives or Bundesarchiv are the National Archives of Germany.

    FAQ

    I don't see my comments any more!

    Please note that each page has it's own comment entry. So, if you enter a comment i.e. on the B-747, you will only see it on that related page.

    General comments are accessed via the "BLOG En" button.

    Comments are moderated, so please allow some delay before they appear, specially if you are outside Europe.

    Menus are developing below the page, because they are too long!

    But they remain accessible, for example by scrolling the mouse wheel, or with your finger (on the menu) on a smartphone or tablet.

    I see adds on all videos.

    Use a good free add remover software.

    The site is loading random pages at startup.

    We think it is a good way to bring back the memory of aircraft, persons or events sometimes quite forgotten.

    HELP PAGE

    Why this site?

    Discovery

    This website is dedicated to one's aeronautical passion (which I hope we share) and was realised mainly as an educationnal tool. Knowing that, you'll notice that each new visit brings random topics for the purpose of making new discoveries, some achievements or characters certainly not deserving the oblivion into which they have sometimes fallen.

    By these pages, we also want to pay tribute to all those who gave at one time or another, their lives or health in the name of freedom, aeronautical security or simply our comfort.

    Centralisation

    Internet is full of websites dedicated to aviation, but most are dedicated to subjects or periods that are very limited in space or time. The purpose of this site is to be as general as possible and thus treats all events as well as characters of all stripes and times while putting much emphasis on the most significant achievements.

    The same years saw birth of technologies like photography and cinema, thus permitting illustration of a large part of important aeronautical events from the start. Countless (and sometimes rare) media recently put online by enthousiasts finally give us access to these treasures, but the huge amount of information often makes things a little messy. A centralization effort is obviously most needed at this level.

    All persons who directly or indirectly contributed to the achievement or posting of such documents are here gratefully acknowledged.

    General

    Fluid website

    This site automatically fits the dimensions of your screen, whether you are on a desktop computer, a tablet or a smartphone.

    Bilingual website

    You can change the language by clicking on the flag in the upper left or via "Options" in the central menu. Of course, the videos remain in the language in which they were posted ...

    Browser compatibility

    The site is not optimized, or even designed to run on older browsers or those deliberately deviating from standards. You will most probably encounter display issues with Internet Explorer. In this case, it is strongly recommended installing a modern (and free!) browser that's respecting the standards, like Firefox, Opera, Chrome or Safari.

    Cookies and Javascript

    This site uses cookies and JavaScript to function properly. Please ensure that your browser is configured accordingly. Neither of these technologies, or other means shall in no case be used on the Site for the retention or disclosure of personal information about its Visitors. See the "Legal" page for more on this subject.

    Website layout

    Left menus

    Because of the lack of space on smartphones and small tablets, these menus are hidden. Everything is nevertheless accessible via the main menu option, located between the video and photo sections. This menu is placed there for compatibility reasons with some browsers, which play the videos over the menus.

    "Search" and "Latest" :
    The link "In Titles" restricts the search to the titles of different forms. Use this option if you are looking for a plane, a constructor, a pilot or a particular event that could have been treated as a subject.

    The link "In Stories" will bring you to a search in all texts (the "Story" tab) and will take more time. The search term will appear highlighted in green when opening the corresponding story.

    Would you believe, "Timeline" will show all subjects in chronological order.

    "Random" will reload the entire page with a new random topic.

    The bottom section keeps you abreast of the latest five entries. New topics are added regularly. Don't hesitate to come visit us often : add bookmark.

    Blogs and Comments central section

    Under the photos section comes the comments tabs window :

    You can enter general comments in your own language via one of the two buttons on the left (BLOG EN and BLOG FR). Note that these buttons are accessible regardless of the language to allow some participation in the other language.

    All comments are subject to moderation and will be published only if they comply with the basic rules of decorum, while remaining relevant to the purpose of this site.

    The third tab allows you to enter comments on the shown topic and is bilingual. Personal anecdotes, supplements and other information questions will take place here.

    The "Story" tab shows the explanatory texts. They are most often taken from Wikipedia, a site where we participate regularly.

    The "Data" tab is reserved for list of features and specifications.

    Right menus

    On a smartphone, the lack of space is growing and this menu is moved to the bottom of the page to give priority to videos and pictures.

    The top right icons are links to videos posted by third parties (on their own responsabilities) or by ourselves. The link below these icons will take you to the channel of the one who posted the video. Feel free to suggest other videos if you think they are of some interest (Use the BLOG button or the "Contact" link).