De Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth
| de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth | |
|---|---|
 de Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth D-EBKT over Oppenheim |
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| Type: | Trainer aircraft |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
October 26, 1931 |
| Commissioning: |
1932 |
| Number of pieces: |
> 7000 |
The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth ( German Bärenspinner ) is a single-engine, biplane training aircraft that made its first flight in 1931 . Designed by Geoffrey de Havilland , it was mainly used as a trainer aircraft for the British Royal Air Force (RAF). After the end of service around 1950, many DH.82s were used for civilian purposes, and quite a number of them are still in use today at veterans' meetings.
history
The Tiger Moth prototype was derived from the De Havilland DH.60T Moth Trainer . On the DH.60T, the upper wing was supported against the fuselage with four vertical struts, which were arranged around the cockpit and could therefore hinder an exit in an emergency. In the new trainer, which was designed according to the Air Ministry's specification 15/31 , the four struts were combined into two V-struts and moved forward in front of the cockpit. A sweep of 19 inches (48 cm) at the wing tips on both the upper and lower wings compensated for the associated shift in the center of gravity. Otherwise the aircraft, now called the Tiger Moth, was identical to its predecessor DH.60T. The eight pre-series machines were also exported as DH.60T Tiger Moth, so that for a short transition period the suffix “T” changed its meaning from “trainer” to “Tiger Moth” (German tiger moth, name of moths from the bear moth family ) .
The last of the pre-series machines (G-ABPH) received a larger V-position of the lower wing and a further increased sweep, which was associated with the allocation of the new de Havilland type number DH.82. The first G-ABRC with this designation flew from Stag Lane on October 26, 1931 . After the acceptance flights, he was approved for aerobatics at a flight weight of 1750 lb (795 kg) and was also accepted as the standard trainer of the Royal Air Force (RAF).
The British (RAF) then ordered 35 aircraft in accordance with the specifications T.23 / 31, which were distributed to the Central Flying School (CFS) and other training units. Two more Tiger Moth (RAF serial number S1675 / 76) received swimmers from Short .
The next order in 1934 was for 50 modified machines (T.26 / 33) with a 130-hp engine under the designation "DH.82A Tiger Moth" or "Tiger Moth II" from the RAF. This variant also received a cladding made of plywood for the upper rear fuselage section and a blind canopy for the rear cockpit. With the beginning of the Second World War , the Royal Air Force had 500 machines in its inventory. Many civil aircraft were also drafted as trainers.
During the Battle of Britain and the expected German invasion , 1,500 bomb suspensions for eight twenty-pound bombs were produced in order to equip some of the training aircraft and use them against the invading forces.
By the end of the war, over 7,000 Tiger Moths had been built, 4005 of which were Tiger Moth IIs for the Royal Air Force during the war. About half of the aircraft were manufactured by the Morris Motor Company . Another 151 were built under license in Norway , Sweden and Portugal . Another 2949 were built in various Commonwealth countries . Canada gave the USAAF 200 machines, which flew there under the name PT-24 . Many machines later came to New Zealand , where they were used as agricultural aircraft in agriculture for fertilizer flights.
Although the Tiger Moths didn't even exist at the time, the type has been used in many films since 1945 (e.g. Lawrence of Arabia from 1961) to portray aircraft from the First World War, mainly because it was a fragile biplane fits common ideas, was / is readily available and is also a very mature construction.
construction
The DH.82 was from an air-cooled hanging de Havilland Gipsy III - four cylinder - inline engine with 120 PS driven. During the war, around 300 units of the Tiger Moth II were also used to train flak gunners as remote-controlled tow planes for target display bodies under the designation "Queen Bee".
Military users
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Technical specifications
| Parameter | DH.82 | DH.82A | DH.82C Gipsy Major |
Thruxton Jackaroo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| crew | 2 (student pilots and flight instructors) | |||
| length | 7.34 m | 7.63 m | ||
| span | 8.94 m | 9.25 m | ||
| height | 2.68 m | 2.90 m | ||
| Wing area | 22.2 m² | |||
| Empty mass | 488 kg | 506 kg | 545 kg | 617 kg |
| Takeoff mass | 829 kg | 990 kg | ||
| Top speed | 174 km / h | 166 km / h | 171 km / h | 163 km / h |
| Service ceiling | 5185 m | 4270 m | 4453 m | - |
| Range | 480 km | 440 km | 400 km | |
| Engines | 1 × 4-cylinder in- line engine de Havilland Gipsy III with 120 PS (88 kW) |
1 × de Havilland Gipsy Major 1 or 1F with 130 PS (100 kW) or 1C with 145 PS (107 kW) | 1 × Gipsy Major 1C (145 PS) or Menasco Pirate D.4 (125 PS) | 1 × Gipsy Major 1 or 1F or 1C |
See also
literature
- AJ Jackson: De Havilland Aircraft since 1909 , Naval Institute Press, 1987, ISBN 0-87021-896-4
- Kurt W. Streit, John WR Taylor: History of Aviation. Künzelsau: Sigloch Service Edition, 1975, first London: New English Library, 1972 (with a list of picture sources and a detailed index; especially the chapter Great Constructors and their Work: Geoffrey de Havilland , pp. 322–327)
Web links
- Flying Museum
- Tiger Moth "Miss Sophie" at the Lauf-Lillinghof airfield
- Quax association for historical aircraft with its own DH-82 and DHC-1
- Tiger Moth EM840 - Restoration of a copy
- Image documentation of the DH.82a
- Tiger Moth Crew - Nordhorn
- The New "Tiger Moth". In: FLIGHT, NOVEMBER 13, 1931. Flight International , November 13, 1931, accessed on October 26, 2011 (English): “The Tiger Moth is dead. Long live the Tiger Moth. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ Banquet Lights - 'Tiger Moth Bombers' , BBC, WW2 People's War Collection, entry December 2, 2005
- ↑ Ketley and Rolfe 1996, p. 11.
- ↑ http://www.artiklar.z-bok.se/Iran-2.html November 26, 2011
- ^ Yugoslav Air Force 1942–1992, Bojan Dimitrijevic, Belgrade 2006