page_title: De Havilland Tiger Moth
section_title: Postwar
hierarchical_section_title: De Havilland Tiger Moth / Operational history / Postwar
caption_attribution_description: English: De Havilland 82A Tiger Moth Coupe at Coventry (Baginton) Airport
context_page_description: 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 and many other operators as a primary trainer aircraft. In addition to the type's principal use for ab-initio training, the Second World War saw 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 Tiger Moth remained in service with the RAF until it was succeeded and replaced by the de Havilland Chipmunk during the early 1950s. Many of the military surplus aircraft subsequently entered into civil operation. Many nations have used the Tiger Moth in both military and civil applications, and it remains in widespread use as a recreational aircraft in several countries. It is still occasionally used as a primary training aircraft, particularly for those pilots wanting to gain experience before moving on to other tailwheel aircraft. Many Tiger Moths are now employed by various companies offering trial lesson experiences.
context_section_description: In the postwar climate, impressed Tiger Moths were restored to their former civil operations and owners. Accordingly, large numbers of surplus Tiger Moths were made available for sale to flying clubs and individuals. There were also relatively few new light aircraft being manufactured at the time to take its place. Due to the type being relatively inexpensive to operate and the aforementioned factors, the Tiger Moth was met with an enthusiastic reception across the civil market. Additionally it was promptly put to use for various new roles including aerial advertising, aerial ambulance, aerobatic performer, crop dusting and glider tug work.
  In the air racing market, a quantity of Tiger Moths were converted to a single-seat configuration, often temporarily. Several aircraft were extensively modified for greater speed; these changes included alterations such as the removal of the centre-section fuel tank, alternative fuel tank configurations, all-new elevators, custom-designed fuel injectors, and the recovering of the fuselage with lighter-weight fabric. Three particular aircraft, G-APDZ, G-ANZZ and G-ANMZ, were accordingly rebuilt and were frequently used in international competitions; the design changes led to substantially improved performance during inverted flight.
  Many ex-RAF examples were imported to the Netherlands during the post-war era and used to equip the Dutch National Flying School at Ypenburg. These aircraft were required by the Dutch civil aviation authorities to be fitted with a larger dorsal fin, incorporating an extended forward fillet to the fin, to provide for additional area; this requirement was also extended to privately owned Tiger Moths in the Netherlands.
  The Tiger Moth might be confused at first glance with the Belgian-designed Stampe SV.4 aerobatic aircraft which had a very similar design layout; both aircraft made use of a similar main landing gear configuration, a slightly sweepback wing, and an alike engine/cowling design. Several Tiger Moths were converted during the 1950s to a Coupe standard, which involved the installation of a sliding canopy over both crew positions, not unlike the Canadian-built Fleet Finch biplane trainers which had worked beside the Tiger Moth in RCAF service as trainers in Canada during the type's wartime years.
  After the development of aerial topdressing in New Zealand, large numbers of ex-Royal New Zealand Air Force Tiger Moths built in that country and in the United Kingdom were converted into agricultural aircraft; at the time this was a pioneering use for aircraft. In this role the front seat was commonly replaced with a hopper to hold superphosphate for aerial topdressing. A large number were also used to deploy insecticide in the crop-sprayer role, for which several alternative arrangements, including perforated piping being installed underneath the mainplanes or the placement of rotary atomisers on the lower mainplane, were used.
  Royal Navy Tiger Moths utilised as target tugs and "air experience" machines became the last military examples when that service purchased a batch of refurbished ex-civil examples in 1956. One became the last biplane to land on an aircraft carrier (HMS Eagle) in the English Channel during the Summer of 1967. On takeoff, the wind over the deck allowed the aircraft to fly but it was slower than the carrier, which turned hard to starboard to avoid a possible collision. These planes remained in service until the early 1970s.
  The Tiger Moth (and, to a lesser extent, the similar Belgian Stampe-Vertongen SV.4) had been often used as a stand-in for rarer aircraft in films, sometimes having been extensively modified to outwardly resemble the aircraft it was depicting. A trio of aircraft were converted by Croydon-based Film Aviation Services Ltd for use in the filming of the 1962 movie Lawrence of Arabia; one Tiger Moth became a replica of a Fokker D.VII while two aircraft resembled the Rumpler C.V to depict these types for the film. Several Tiger Moths were used in the crash scenes in The Great Waldo Pepper, standing in for the Curtiss JN-1.
caption: Tiger Moth Coupe with spatted undercarriage at Coventry Airport in 1955
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