De Havilland Hornet Moth
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The de Havilland DH.87 Hornet Moth is a single-engined cabin biplane designed by the de Havilland Aircraft Company in 1934 as a potential replacement for its highly successful de Havilland Tiger Moth trainer. Although its side-by-side two-seat cabin made it closer in configuration to the modern aircraft that military trainee pilots would later fly, there was no interest from the RAF and the aircraft was put into production for private buyers.
Design and development
The prototype first flew at Hatfield on 9 May 1934 and, with two other pre-production aircraft, embarked on an extensive test program that resulted in the first production aircraft (designated DH.87A) completed in August 1935 having wings of greater outboard taper. These were found to cause problems, especially when landing in three-point attitude: there was a tendency for the tips to stall, causing embarrassment to the pilot and often damage to the aeroplane. From early 1936, de Havilland offered owners of the DH.87A replacement wings of the new squarer shape at a reduced price in exchange for the original wings. Designated DH.87B, new aircraft from about manufacture Number 68 were built with the new square wings. This wing reduced the overall span by Template:Convert. The alterations slightly increased overall weight at some penalty to performance.
A total of 164 aircraft were produced, of which 84 were placed on the British Register.Template:Sfn Over 70 British Hornet Moths were impressed for military service at the start of the Second World War. In early 1940, the RAF used Hornet Moths to carry out unarmed coastal patrols to deter German submarines, while later in the war, many were used as liaison aircraft.Template:Sfn South Africa requisitioned 19 Hornet Moths, with the aircraft used for communications duties, while at least three Hornet Moths were impressed into military duties in India.Template:Sfn
Small numbers survived the war and with time became highly prized by vintage aircraft enthusiasts. A small number are still flying, over eighty years after production ceased.
Variants
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- DH.87 Hornet Moth : prototypes
- DH.87A Hornet Moth : production model
- DH.87B Hornet Moth : production model with wing modification
Operators
Civil charter operators and pilots 1935–2009
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Military operators
- Royal Air Force (1940–1945)
- Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm
- One aircraft impressed and four from CanadaTemplate:Sfn
Specifications (DH.87B)
References
Notes
Bibliography
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- Follett, K. "Hornet flight", (translated in Italian "Il volo del calabrone", Mondadori Editore S.p.A., Milano, 2003 Template:ISBN) It's a fictitious novel, first printed in 2002, in which a hornet moth plays a key role in the story.