de Havilland Gipsy Moth History
de Havilland made a range of light
aircraft all called Moths, and the de Havilland dh-60, designed by
Geoffrey de Havilland, was powered by the Gipsy engine and is
therefore known as the "Gipsy Moth". The name Moth
reflected the aircraft's wings which could be folded backwards
towards the fuselage, like the wings of a moth, for ease of storage. Like most light aircraft of the
1920's era, the de Havilland dh-60 Gipsy Moth was a wood and fabric
biplane with twin tandem cockpits.
de Havilland Gipsy Moth
Club Use
The prototype de Havilland
dh-60 Gipsy Moth first flew in early 1925 and, unlike the late
production aircraft, was powered by a Cirrus engine. The British Government decided
that supporting flying clubs was a cheap way of ensuring there would
be a good number of qualified pilots available should another war
ever occur. With this in mind in 1925 they created five "Royal Aero
Club" flying schools and equipped them with de Havilland Gipsy Moths
at a unit cost of approximately £550 per aircraft.
de Havilland Gipsy
Moth RAF Service
Although de Havilland tried to sell the
Gipsy Moth to the RAF as a military trainer, the RAF thought
there were several problems with the design when used near it's
flying limits, which they expected their trainee combat pilots to
reach, consequently they only purchased 120 de-Havilland Gipsy
Moth biplane trainer aircraft.
The RAF thought that if the
Gipsy Moth was handled very aggressively it would be too easy for the
student to enter a spin, and it was quite possible the student
would lack the
necessary skill to recover control. The trainer sitting in the
rear seat would have the option of bailing out, however the upper wing was
directly over the trainees head, so trying to get out of this
confined space while wearing a parachute in an emergency would
be an
unacceptable risk. Should the unfortunate trainee stay with the
de Havilland Gipsy Moth until crash landing, the position of the petrol tank,
and it's fuel line location, would make fire a
probable occurrence.
de Havilland eventually made
major modifications to the Moth's design to vastly reduce these
potential problems, and in so doing created the definitive Moth,
the famous de Havilland
Tiger Moth.
Various scale
models, model kits and plans of the de Havilland Gipsy Moth have
been available in the market place.
de Havilland Gipsy
Moth Specifications:
de Havilland
Gipsy Moth Crew: Pilot and passenger / student
de Havilland Gipsy Moth
Height: 8ft 9.5in (2.68 m)
de Havilland Gipsy Moth
Length: 23 ft 11 in (7.29 m)
de Havilland Gipsy Moth
Wingspan: 30 ft 0 in (9.14 m)
de Havilland Gipsy Moth
Empty weight: 920 lb (417 kg)
de Havilland Gipsy Moth
Loaded weight: 1,650 lb (750 kg)
de Havilland Gipsy Moth
Engine: Single 100 hp (75 kW) de Havilland Gipsy I, 4 cylinder,
upright, in-line piston engine
de Havilland Gipsy Moth
Maximum speed: 102 mph (164 km/h)
de Havilland Gipsy Moth
Range: 320 mi (515 km)
de Havilland Gipsy Moth
Service ceiling: 14,500 ft (4,420 m)
de Havilland Gipsy Moth
Rate of climb: 500 ft/min (2.5 m/s)