Tiger!: The De Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth - Tapa dura

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Stuart McKay learned to fly on a Gipsy Major powered Beagle terrier 2 at White Waltham in 1963 and beginning in 1966, built a Jodel D.9 Bebe single seat monoplane, G-AVPD, whose maiden flight was from Heathrow to Booker on June 14, 1969.

Keen to be associated with Tiger Moths since his teens, McKay is Editor of the de Havilland Moth Club's magazine The Moth and Secretary of the Club and Manager of the annual International Moth Rally held at Woburn Abbey. In recognition of his services to the Club he was awarded the Bronze Medal of the Toyal Aero Club in 1984 and appointed MBE in 1997. In 2010 he was awarded an Honorary Master of Science degree by the University of Hertfordshire.

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When the first Tiger Moth lifted off from de Havilland’s Stag Lane Aerodrome in 1931, few could have thought that this fabric-covered biplane would become an iconic airplane in its own right, recognized all over the world and still in widespread flying service more than 80 years later.

Designed to meet a British Air Ministry specification for a completely new basic training aircraft, the ‘Tiger’, as the Tiger Moth soon became known, was a popular and versatile aircraft. Although Tiger Months were fitted with machine guns and even bombs, and also flew on skis and floats, it was as a wartime trainer that the aircraft found fame.

Over 8,700 Tiger Moths were built and tens of thousands of WWII British and Commonwealth air force pilots learned their trade on the type. Remarkably the Tiger Moth remained in military service as late as the 1960s.

During the austerity years following WWII the ready supply of surplus ex-military Tiger Moths which could be put into operation for a few hundred pounds, meant that Tiger Moths quickly became the stalwart of flying schools and clubs through the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. The aircraft was also used as a crop sprayer, glider tug, wing walker platform, joy rider and air ambulance. Even today, there are at least 600 airworthy Tiger Moths around the world and they remain an everyday sight in the summer skies above many an airfield.

Written by the acknowledged world expert on the type, Tiger! is the most comprehensive and readable account of this remarkable and versatile aircraft, a fitting tribute to a true aviation icon.

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Alongside the Spitfire and Lancaster, the DH82 Tiger Moth biplane is one of the few aircraft that even the non-enthusiast can identify at first glance.

This recognition comes in part the Tiger's amazing longevity first flown in 1931, the Tiger Moth was still in active military service in the 1960s, when Royal Navy Tigers were flying on and off aircraft carriers. Easy to fly, but difficult to fly well, the Tiger was first used as a trainer but it had also been used as glider tug, crop sprayer, film 'stunt' plane and wing walker platform. In 1940 Tiger Moths were even fitted with anti-personnel bombs and the Tiger also flew on floats and from catapult launchers.

With over 8,000 built, the Tiger saw service with almost every British and Commonwealth air force, as well as being exported to air forces in South America, the Middle East and the Pacific. The Tiger also saw service in civilian flying clubs around the world and even today, at least 250 Tiger Moths remain airworthy.