De Havilland Hornet Moth

DH.87 Hornet Moth
1936 de Havilland DH.87B Hornet Moth
General information
Type	Trainer and Tourer
Manufacturer	de Havilland
Status	In limited service
Primary user	private owner pilots
Number built	164
History
Manufactured	1935–1938
First flight	9 May 1934

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.

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 8 inches (20 cm). The alterations slightly increased overall weight at some penalty to performance.

Production was 164 aircraft, of which 84 were placed on the British Register. Many were impressed for military service during World War II, mostly being used by the RAF as liaison aircraft.

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.

• DH.87 Hornet Moth : prototypes
• DH.87A Hornet Moth : production model
• DH.87B Hornet Moth : production model with wing modification

 United Kingdom

 Australia

 Austria

 Belgium

 Canada

 Denmark^[1]

 France

 India

 South Africa

 Spain

  Switzerland

 Turkey - TC-101

 France

• L'Armée de l'Air^[2]

 Portugal

• Portuguese Air Force

 South Africa

• South African Air Force

 United Kingdom

• Royal Air Force (1940–1945)
  • No. 24 Squadron RAF
  • No. 49 Squadron RAF
  • No. 116 Squadron RAF
  • No. 510 Squadron RAF
  • No. 526 Squadron RAF
  • No. 527 Squadron RAF
  • No. 528 Squadron RAF
  • No. 529 Squadron RAF
• Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm
  • One aircraft impressed and four from Canada^[3]

Data from Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1938,^[4] De Havilland Aircraft since 1909 ^[5]

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Capacity: 1 passenger / trainee
• Length: 24 ft 11.5 in (7.607 m)
• Wingspan: 31 ft 11 in (9.73 m)
• Height: 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
• Wing area: 244.5 sq ft (22.71 m²)
• Airfoil: RAF 15^[6]
• Empty weight: 1,241 lb (563 kg)
• Gross weight: 1,950 lb (885 kg)
• Fuel capacity: 35 imp gal (42 US gal; 159 L) fuel in fuselage tank; 2 imp gal (2 US gal; 9 L) oil in an air-cooled tank
• Powerplant: 1 × de Havilland Gipsy Major I 4-cylinder air-cooled inverted in-line piston engine, 130 hp (97 kW)
• Propellers: 2-bladed fixed-pitch propeller

Performance

• Maximum speed: 124 mph (200 km/h, 108 kn) at sea level
• Cruise speed: 105 mph (169 km/h, 91 kn) at 1,000 ft (305 m)
• Stall speed: 40 mph (64 km/h, 35 kn)
• Range: 620 mi (1,000 km, 540 nmi)
• Service ceiling: 14,800 ft (4,500 m)
• Rate of climb: 690 ft/min (3.5 m/s)
• Time to altitude: 5,000 ft (1,524 m) in 8 minutes 45 seconds
• Wing loading: 7.97 lb/sq ft (38.9 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 0.067 hp/lb (0.110 kW/kg)

• Comas, Matthieu (September–October 2020). "So British!: 1939–1940, les avions britanniques dans l'Armée de l'Air" [So British!: British Aircraft in the French Air Force 1939–1940]. Avions (in French). No. 236. pp. 38–61. ISSN 1243-8650.
• Jackson, A.J. De Havilland Aircraft since 1909. London: Putnam, Third edition, 1987. ISBN 0-85177-802-X.
• Sturtivant, Ray; Burrow, Mick (1995). Fleet Air Arm Aircraft 1939 to 1945. Tunbridge Wells, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-232-7.
• Follett, K. "Hornet flight", (translated in Italian "Il volo del calabrone", Mondadori Editore S.p.A., Milano, 2003 ISBN 88-04-54428-7) It's a fictitious novel, first printed in 2002, in which a hornet moth plays a key role in the story.

• The de Havilland Moth Club