deHavilland aircraft
DH.82 Tigermoth

The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s British biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and other operators as a primary trainer aircraft. In addition to the type's principal use for ab initio training, the Second World War had RAF Tiger Moths operating in other capacities, including maritime surveillance and defensive anti-invasion preparations; some aircraft were even outfitted to function as armed light bombers.

The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a single-engined, biplane, taildragger aircraft with two seats in tandem configuration. It was developed principally to be used by private touring customers as well as for pilot instruction for both military and civilian operators. It is typically powered by a de Havilland Gipsy III 120 hp engine; later models are often fitted with more powerful models of this engine, while some have been re-engined by third-party companies.

Production

The Tiger Moth quickly became a commercial success, and examples were sold to more than 25 air forces. In addition to the military demand, aircraft were also produced for the civilian market. At one point, the flow of orders for the Tiger Moth effectively occupied almost the entirety of de Havilland's capacity to manufacture aircraft, and little capacity could be spared to accommodate domestic customers. In 1932, de Havilland also developed an affordable air taxi from the Tiger Moth, using many of the main components of the former with a new plywood fuselage seating four people in an enclosed cabin; it was marketed as the de Havilland Fox Moth.^[11] Following the end of all manufacturing, third parties occasionally rebuilt Tiger Moths to a similar configuration to the Fox Moth, such as the Thruxton Jackaroo..