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The de Havilland Moths were a series of light aircraft, sports planes, and military trainers designed by Geoffrey de Havilland. In the late 1920s and 1930s, they were the most common civilian aircraft flying in Britain, and during that time every light aircraft flying in the UK was commonly referred to as a Moth, regardless if it was de Havilland-built or not. The first Moth was the DH.60 - a straight-winged
biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a ...
two-seater. To enable storing the plane in small spaces, the DH.60's wings could fold backwards against the fuselage. "Like a moth" remarked Geoffrey de Havilland, an avid lepidopterist, so the plane was nicknamed Moth from the drawing board on. The Moth was one of the first practical
light aircraft A light aircraft is an aircraft that has a maximum gross takeoff weight of or less.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 308. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. Light aircraft are used as utility aircraft c ...
designs to be intended for civilian training and recreational use, rather than for military buyers. The Moth was also one of the first light aircraft to be mass produced, and was available to a much wider section of the general public than previous aircraft designs. First variations of the name began with changes in the engine used for the DH.60: Variants with a Cirrus Hermes,
Armstrong Siddeley Genet The Armstrong Siddeley Genet was a five-cylinder, air-cooled, radial engine for aircraft use built in the UK, first run in 1926. It developed 80 hp at 2,200 rpm in its final form and was a popular light aircraft powerplant. Followin ...
, or
de Havilland Gipsy The de Havilland Gipsy is a British air-cooled four-cylinder in-line aircraft engine designed by Frank Halford in 1927 to replace the ADC Cirrus in the de Havilland DH.60 Moth light biplane. Initially developed as an upright 5 litre (3 ...
engine became "Hermes Moth", "Genet Moth", or "Gipsy Moth", respectively. The original
ADC Cirrus The ADC Cirrus is a series of British aero engines manufactured using surplus Renault parts by the Aircraft Disposal Company (ADC) in the 1920s. The engines were air-cooled, four-cylinder inline types. They were widely used for private and li ...
-powered DH.60 retroactively became the "Cirrus Moth". As the DH.60 became more and more popular, de Havilland decided to cash in on the fame of the original by giving each of his new designs a name ending with ''Moth''. First of them was the DH.61, a giant five-passenger biplane aptly called "Giant Moth". Other Moths include the Leopard Moth and
Hornet Moth The hornet moth or hornet clearwing (''Sesia apiformis'') is a large moth native to Europe and the Middle East and has been introduced to North America. Its protective coloration is an example of Batesian mimicry, as its similarity to a hornet ...
cabin biplanes, the Puss Moth cabin monoplane and the Moth Minor low-wing two-seater. The most famous of the Moths, however, for sheer numbers built (nearly 9,000), is the DH.82 Tiger Moth - a biplane trainer used during the Second World War in Britain and the Commonwealth of Nations, and the aircraft in which all Second World War RAF pilots learned to fly. The prototype of the DH.84 Dragon light passenger plane was originally called "Dragon Moth", but later the "moth" in its name was dropped as the plane was a civilian airliner and the name moth was to be used for sports planes only.


1979 Rally

In June 1979 a rally of 63 De Havilland planes (mainly Tiger Moths) undertook a staged race from the De Havilland aerodrome at Hatfield to
Strathallan Strathallan is the strath of the Allan Water in Scotland. The strath stretches north and north-east from Stirling through Bridge of Allan, Dunblane and Blackford to Auchterarder in Perth and Kinross. Strathallan is also the name for one of th ...
airfield in Perthshire over three consecutive days. The rally marked the 50th anniversary of the Gypsy Engine Reliability Tour in 1929. Titled the "DH MOTH AIR RALLY" it was sponsored by the Famous Grouse. Planes reached Strathallan on Saturday 30 June 1979 and there was an aerobatic display open to the public on the following day.The Famous Grouse DH Moth Rally 1979: Souvenir Programme


References

{{de Havilland aircraft * de:De Havilland D.H.60