The Fisher R-80 Tiger Moth is a Canadian two-seat,

conventional landing gear Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...

, single engined,

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 ...

kit aircraft Homebuilt aircraft, also known as amateur-built aircraft or kit planes, are constructed by persons for whom this is not a professional activity. These aircraft may be constructed from "scratch", from plans, or from assembly kits.Armstrong, Kenn ...

designed for construction by amateur builders. The designation indicates that the aircraft is 80% the size of the aircraft that inspired it, the

de Havilland Tiger Moth 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. ...

. Fisher Flying Products was originally based in

Edgeley, North Dakota Edgeley is a city in LaMoure County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 585 at the 2020 census. History Edgeley was founded in 1886 by Richard Sykes, a landowner from England who named it after Edgeley, Cheshire, where he was born. ...

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

but the company is now located in

Woodbridge, Ontario Woodbridge is a very large suburban community in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada, along the city's border with Toronto. It occupies the city's entire southwest quadrant, west of Ontario Highway 400, Highway 400, east of Ontario Highway 50, Highway 50, n ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

.Vandermeullen, Richard: ''2011 Kit Aircraft Buyer's Guide'', Kitplanes, Volume 28, Number 12, December 2011, page 54. Belvoir Publications. ISSN 0891-1851Downey, Julia: ''Kit Aircraft Directory 2005'', Kitplanes, Volume 21, Number 12, December 2004, page 58. Belvoir Publications. ISSN 0891-1851Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook'', page 160. BAI Communications. Kitplanes Staff: ''1999 Kit Aircraft Directory'', Kitplanes, Volume 15, Number 12, December 1998, page 48. Primedia Publications. IPM 0462012Tacke, Willi; Marino Boric; et al: ''World Directory of Light Aviation 2015-16'', page 108. Flying Pages Europe SARL, 2015.

Development

The R-80 was designed by Fisher Aircraft in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1994 and was intended to comply with the US '' Experimental - Amateur-built'' category, although it qualifies as an ultralight aircraft in some countries, such as

. It also qualifies as a US Experimental

Light Sport Aircraft A light-sport aircraft (LSA), or light sport aircraft, is a fairly new category of small, lightweight aircraft that are simple to fly. LSAs tend to be heavier and more sophisticated than ultralight (aka "microlight") aircraft, but LSA restrictio ...

. The R-80's standard empty weight is when equipped with a Norton AE 100R engine and it has a gross weight of . The construction of the R-80 is of wood, with the wings, tail and fuselage covered with doped

aircraft fabric Aircraft fabric covering is a term used for both the material used and the process of covering aircraft open structures. It is also used for reinforcing closed plywood structures. The de Havilland Mosquito is an example of this technique, as are ...

. The aircraft features

interplane strut In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of strut, which act in ...

s and

cabane strut In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of strut, which act in ...

s. Like the original Tiger Moth, the R-80 has no flaps. The R-80's main landing gear is bungee suspended. Cockpit access is via the lower wing. The company claims an amateur builder would need 600 hours to build the R-80. Specified engines for the R-80 version have included the

Geo Tracker The Chevrolet Tracker, formerly the Geo Tracker, is a mini SUV produced for Chevrolet and Geo by CAMI Automotive in Ingersoll, Ontario. Although appearing as a compact SUV, the Tracker was actually certified as a light truck due to its off-road ...

auto-conversion engine and the Norton AE 100R

rotary engine The rotary engine is an early type of internal combustion engine, usually designed with an odd number of cylinders per row in a radial configuration. The engine's crankshaft remained stationary in operation, while the entire crankcase and i ...

. By late 2011 more than 24 R-80s were flying. In 2000 Fisher introduced a welded

4130 steel 41xx steel is a family of SAE steel grades, as specified by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Alloying elements include chromium and molybdenum, and as a result these materials are often informally referred to as chromoly steel (common ...

tube fuselage as an alternative to the standard wooden fuselage. This version featured a LOM M132 engine of , a gross weight of and was developed at the request of customers. The steel fuselage version was known as the ''RS-80''. Six RS-80s had been completed by the end of 2004. Since the company moved to Canada, the RS-80 option is no longer available. In reviewing the R-80 Ben Millspaugh wrote in Kitplanes Magazine:

Operational history

In 2000 African Flying Adventures purchased four RS-80 kits to be used for tourist flying in

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

Variants

;R-80 :Original version with wooden fuselage ;RS-80 :Version with welded

tube fuselage, introduced in 2000 and discontinued 2008.

Aircraft on display

*NX34TM

Tillamook Air Museum Tillamook Air Museum is an aviation museum south of Tillamook, Oregon in the United States. The museum is located at a former U.S. Navy Air Station and housed in a former blimp hangar, known as "Hangar B", which is the largest clear-span wooden ...

, Tillamook, Oregon/

Specifications (R-80)

Notable appearances in media

In 2015, an R-80 Tiger Moth built by Jerry Boughner was featured in the

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bor ...

video ''Wildest Dreams''.

References

External links

Official websitePhoto of an R-80Photo of an RS-80
{{Uncertified aircraft developed in Canada 1990s Canadian ultralight aircraft Light-sport aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1994 Biplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft