de Havilland DH.94 Moth Minor

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Moth_Minor

The de Havilland DH.94 Moth Minor was a 1930s British two-seat tourer/trainer
aircraft built by de Havilland at Hatfield Aerodrome, England and by de
Havilland Australia at Bankstown Aerodrome, Australia.

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, without
the need for rigging. 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. Production
started and nearly 100 examples had been built by the outbreak of the Second
World War. With a selling price of only £575 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.

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.


Role
Tourer/Trainer

Manufacturer
de Havilland

Designer
J.P. Smith

First flight
22 June 1937

Number built
c.140

Unit cost

£575

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.
This aircraft was obviously used as a "hack" by pilots at Hatfield but
unfortunately the registration or Service Number was not noted.

Variants

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.

Specifications

General characteristics
Crew: two
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 ft² (15.05 m²)
Empty weight: 983 lb (446 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 1,550 lb (703 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × de Havilland Gipsy Minor 4-cylinder inline piston engine, 90 hp
(67 kw)

Performance
Maximum speed: 103 kn (118 mph, 190 km/h)
Cruise speed: 87 kn (100 mph, 161 km/h)
Range: 261 nmi (300 mi, 483 km)
Service ceiling: 16,500 ft (5,030 m)
Rate of climb: 620 ft/min (3.15 m/s)
Wing loading: 9.57 lb/ft² (46.7 kg/m²)
Power/mass: 0.058 hp/lb (0.095 kW/kg)




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