Much Ado about Mothing

I am probably not alone in having the Tiger Moth feature in my childhood daydreams of being a pilot. In fact, most pilots seem to reserve a special fondness for this iconic aeroplane. When you get a chance to learn to fly a Tiger Moth, it starts to get a bit surreal.

It’s not the same as being checked out on another type, and for me, there’s a much bigger burden of responsibility because the Tiger is an important piece of history. The most common words of wisdom are instructive: “it’s an easy plane to fly, but a hard plane to fly well”. I found that to be very true, and I have a long way to go before I can say I fly the Tiger well.

“My” Tiger Moth (she actually belongs to Don Gordon, who generously allows me to fly her) is VH-DHR, ostensibly a 1942 build. Most Tiger Moths have been restored, refurbished or rebuilt (sometimes numerous times) in the eight decades since they rolled off production lines around the world. DHR was built in Sydney at de Havilland Australia, and is therefore a DH-82A Tiger Moth. Geoffrey de Havilland founded the famous company in 1920. He was a lepidopterist (an enthusiast for butterf lies and moths), and named his early biplanes after different groups of moths. The ground-breaking design was the DH-60 Gipsy Moth, made famous by Amy Johnson, Jean Batten, and Francis Chichester, in flights from England to Australia. The DH-82 Tiger Moth, first flown