The Tiger Moth Story

There were no proper drawings for the first Tiger Moth. It just happened on a trial and error basis when the Royal Air Force requested that the de Havilland concern should alter their highly successful Gipsy Moth so that, in a emergency, service pilots wearing parachutes could leave the front cockpit without difficulty.

In a little shed on the now built - over Stag Lane aerodrome a handful of de Havilland engineers concocted the forerunner of the Tiger Moth from parts of a standard Metal Moth. From these shaky beginnings the Tiger Moth emerged and when the Second World War started the little biplane filled an urgent need for a cheap, reliable trainer that was safe but not all that easy to fly accurately.

( ... ) By the time peace had returned almost 9,000 Tigers had been manufactured in Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada as well as a few European countries. It had trained aircrew by the tens of thousands. ( ... ) For countless thousands of pilots throughout the world who first learned to fly Tigers this book will bring back happy memories and provide more than a few surprises. ( ... )