de Havilland Moth Minor

DH.94 Moth Minor Coupe at Portsmouth Airport in September 1954

The Moth Minor was designed as a low-wing monoplane to replace the biplane Moth series, and was intended to give similar performance with less power, and without the need for rigging of the biplane's tensioners and struts. Its predecessor was the DH.81 Swallow Moth monoplane of 1931, of which only one was built. The wooden prototype of the DH.94 was first flown by Geoffrey de Havilland on 22 June 1937 at Hatfield Aerodrome.[1] Production started and nearly 100 examples had been built by the outbreak of the Second World War. With a selling price of only £575[1] the Moth Minor was popular with flying clubs keen to acquire modern monoplanes. Nine aircraft were specially built with hinged coupe tops instead of the normally open cockpit.

As the factory at Hatfield was needed for the war effort, the drawings, jigs, components and unfinished aircraft were shipped to the de Havilland factory at Bankstown, Sydney. More than 40 aircraft were produced in Australia.[1]

Civil aircraft operated in the United Kingdom were commandeered for use by the Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm, and one example was used by the United States Army Air Corps. A large number of civil aircraft from the UK were sent to Australia, where they and a handful of locally built Australian civil aircraft were commandeered by the Royal Australian Air Force.[2]

After the Second World War several Moth Minors continued to be flown by private owners in the United Kingdom.

During World War two, de Havillands took over the small grass airfield at Witney (Oxfordshire) where they operated as a Civilian Repair Organisation on behalf of the British Government. They carried out complete overhauls to battle-damaged Spitfires and Hurricanes, plus any de Havilland types. An ex-Battle of Britain RAF pilot had been posted in to Witney to carry out the test flights as the aircraft were completed by the factory but as the war drew to an end, he was de-mobbed and test-flights carried out by de Havilland pilots who flew down to Witney from Hatfield. Frequently, Peter de Havilland would fly in to Witney in a DH.94 Moth Minor which was the coupe model and had a variable-pitch airscrew.

• DH.94 Moth Minor : Two-seat touring and training aircraft.
• Moth Minor Coupe : Two-seat touring and training aircraft, with a built-up rear fuselage and hinged cabin top.

Data from British Civil Aircraft since 1919, Vol 2 [1]

General characteristics

• Crew: 2
• Length: 24 ft 5 in (7.44 m)
• Wingspan: 36 ft 7 in (11.15 m)
• Height: 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
• Wing area: 162 sq ft (15.1 m²)
• Airfoil: RAF34 modified[3]
• Empty weight: 983 lb (446 kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 1,550 lb (703 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × de Havilland Gipsy Minor 4-cylinder inverted air-cooled in-line piston engine, 90 hp (67 kW)
• Propellers: 2-bladed fixed-pitch wooden propeller

Performance

• Maximum speed: 118 mph (190 km/h, 103 kn)
• Cruise speed: 100 mph (160 km/h, 87 kn)
• Range: 300 mi (480 km, 260 nmi)
• Service ceiling: 16,500 ft (5,000 m)
• Rate of climb: 620 ft/min (3.1 m/s)
• Wing loading: 9.57 lb/sq ft (46.7 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 0.58 hp/lb (0.95 kW/kg)

A number of Moth Minors have survived, including:

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

• British Aircraft Swallow
• Klemm Kl 35
• Miles M.2 Hawk Trainer
• RWD 23
• Yakovlev UT-2

Related lists

• List of aircraft of the Royal Air Force
• List of aircraft of the Royal Australian Air Force
• List of aircraft of the Royal New Zealand Air Force and Royal New Zealand Navy

Notes

Bibliography

• The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982–1985). Orbis Publishing.
• "Moth Successor: The New Moth Minor Described" Flight 1939

Wikimedia Commons has media related to De Havilland DH.94 Moth Minor.

• Photo at Ugolok Neba