The de Havilland DH.80A Puss Moth is a British three-seater high-wing monoplane aeroplane designed and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company between 1929 and 1933. It flew at a speed approaching 124 mph (200 km/h), making it one of the highest-performance private aircraft of its era.
DH.80A Puss Moth
de Havilland DH.80A Puss Moth G-ABLS first registered in 1931
The unnamed DH.80 prototype which first flew in September 1929 was designed for the flourishing private flying movement in the United Kingdom. It was a streamlined all-wooden aircraft fitted with the new de Havilland Gipsy III inverted inline engine that gave unimpeded vision across the nose without the protruding cylinder heads of the earlier Gipsy II engine.
After the prototype was tested, the aircraft was redesigned with a fabric-covered steel-tube fuselage and as such redesignated the DH.80A Puss Moth. The first production aircraft flew in March 1930 and was promptly sent on a sales tour of Australia and New Zealand. Orders came quickly, and in the three years of production ending in March 1933, 259 were manufactured in England. An additional 25 aircraft were built by de Havilland Canada. Most were fitted with the 130 hp (97 kW) Gipsy Major engine that gave slightly better performance.
The Puss Moth was replaced on the production line by the de Havilland DH.85 Leopard Moth that, with a plywood fuselage, was both cheaper to build, and lighter weight. Being lighter, the Leopard Moth had better performance on the same rather modest 130 hp (97 kW) Gipsy Major engine.
Technical faultsedit
Early in its career, the DH.80A was plagued by a series of fatal crashes, the most famous being to Australian aviator Bert Hinkler while crossing the Alps in CF-APK on 7 January 1933. The cause was eventually pinned down to "flutter" caused by turbulence leading to wing failure – this was corrected by stiffening the front strut with a jury strut to the rear wing root fitting. One aircraft took part in the Challenge 1934 European tourist plane contest, but dropped out because of an engine fault on one of the last stages.
Operational historyedit
Most DH.80As were used as private aircraft, though many also flew commercially with small air charter firms for passenger and mail carrying. Seating was normally two although in commercial use two passengers could be carried in slightly staggered seats with the rear passenger's legs beside the forward passenger seat. The wings folded backwards for storage, pivoting on the rear spar root fitting and the V-strut root fitting, a system used on other de Havilland light aircraft of the period.
Surviving British civilian aircraft were impressed into service during the Second World War to act as communication aircraft. A few survive into the early 21st century.[1]
Record breaking flightsedit
During the early 1930s, DH.80s were used for a number of record breaking flights. In early 1931, Nevill Vintcent made the first flight from England to Ceylon in G-AAXJ. On 25 May 1931 Capt James Douglas Mail flew in his Puss Moth G–ABIU named Baby Tank from Croydon to Bulawayo, taking 8 days according to his logbook via Pisa to Rome then on to north Africa and down the east coast, arriving 8 days later. Total flying time was 73hrs 50mins.
In July and August 1931 Amy Johnson made an eight-day flight with her co-pilot, Jack Humphreys, to Moscow and Tokyo in G-AAZV, named Jason II, completing the leg to Moscow in one day.
Late in 1931, the Australian Bert Hinkler piloted the Canadian-built CF-APK on a series of important flights including New York City to Jamaica, Jamaica to Venezuela, and a 22-hour, west-east crossing of the South Atlantic, only the second solo transatlantic crossing.[2]
In November 1931, the 19-year-old Peggy Salaman set out in G-ABEH named Good Hope, to beat the record for the flight from London to Cape Town. She succeeded in arriving in Cape Town at 5.40 a.m. with Gordon Store, her co-pilot and navigator, beating the previous record set up by Glen Kidston by more than one day.[3][4]
Most famous of the record breaking Puss Moths was Jim Mollison's G-ABXY, The Heart's Content which completed the first solo east-west Atlantic crossing in August 1932 from Portmarnock Strand near Dublin to New Brunswick, Canada and the first east-west crossing of the South Atlantic from Lympne Aerodrome to Natal, Brazil in February 1933. His wife, Amy Johnson, made record flights between England and Cape Town using G-ACAB, Desert Cloud in 1932. C. J. Melrose flew VH-UQO, named My Hildegarde in the 1934 MacRobertson Air Race. They finished overall seventh and second on handicap in a time of 10 days 16 hours.[5]
Accidents and incidentsedit
On 5 May 1931, English aviator Glen Kidston was killed when his Puss Moth broke up in mid-air while flying through a dust storm over the Drakensberg escarpment of South Africa.[6]
On 27 July 1932, Puss Moth G-ABDH, owned by Brian Lewis and Company and piloted by Bruce Bossom, son of politician Alfred Bossom, encountered thundery weather and turbulence en route from Heston to Hamble. The plane broke up in mid air and crashed near Hindhead, killing all three occupants.[7]
On 20 July 1936 a Puss Moth crashed on takeoff at La Marina Boca do Inferno near Cascaes in Portugal killing General Jose Sanjurjo Sacanell who was travelling to Spain to assume command of the Nationalists in the civil war. The pilot, Spanish playboy and aviator Juan Antonio Ansaldo, survived the crash.[9]
Arthur, Robin (1992). "Pre-War Airliner Fleets: I. Hillman's Airways Ltd". Archive. No. 1. Air-Britain. pp. 23–24. ISSN 0262-4923.
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) (236): 38–61. ISSN 1243-8650.
Jackson, A.J. British Civil Aircraft, 1919–1972: Volume II. London: Putnam (Conway Maritime Press), 1988.
Jackson, A.J. British Civil Aircraft since 1919 (Volume 2). London: Putnam, 1974. ISBN0-370-10010-7.
Ketley, Barry and Mark Rolfe. Luftwaffe Fledglings 1935–1945: Luftwaffe Training Units and their Aircraft. Aldershot, UK: Hikoki Publications, 1996. ISBN978-5-9955-0028-5.
Prins, François (Spring 1994). "Pioneering Spirit: The QANTAS Story". Air Enthusiast. No. 53. pp. 24–32. ISSN 0143-5450.
Seth, Pran Nath and Sushma Seth Bhat An Introduction to Travel and Tourism. New Delhi, India: Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 2005. ISBN978-8-12072-482-2.
External linksedit
Wikimedia Commons has media related to De Havilland DH.80 Puss Moth.
The de Havilland Moth Club
October 27, 2023
havilland, puss, moth, other, uses, cerura, vinula, havilland, puss, moth, british, three, seater, high, wing, monoplane, aeroplane, designed, built, havilland, aircraft, company, between, 1929, 1933, flew, speed, approaching, making, highest, performance, pri. For other uses see Cerura vinula The de Havilland DH 80A Puss Moth is a British three seater high wing monoplane aeroplane designed and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company between 1929 and 1933 It flew at a speed approaching 124 mph 200 km h making it one of the highest performance private aircraft of its era DH 80A Puss Mothde Havilland DH 80A Puss Moth G ABLS first registered in 1931Role Light utility aircraftManufacturer de HavillandFirst flight 9 September 1929Introduction March 1930Produced 1929 1933Number built 284 Contents 1 Design history 2 Technical faults 3 Operational history 3 1 Record breaking flights 3 2 Accidents and incidents 4 Variants 5 Operators 6 Specifications DH 80 7 See also 8 References 8 1 Notes 8 2 Bibliography 9 External linksDesign history editThe unnamed DH 80 prototype which first flew in September 1929 was designed for the flourishing private flying movement in the United Kingdom It was a streamlined all wooden aircraft fitted with the new de Havilland Gipsy III inverted inline engine that gave unimpeded vision across the nose without the protruding cylinder heads of the earlier Gipsy II engine After the prototype was tested the aircraft was redesigned with a fabric covered steel tube fuselage and as such redesignated the DH 80A Puss Moth The first production aircraft flew in March 1930 and was promptly sent on a sales tour of Australia and New Zealand Orders came quickly and in the three years of production ending in March 1933 259 were manufactured in England An additional 25 aircraft were built by de Havilland Canada Most were fitted with the 130 hp 97 kW Gipsy Major engine that gave slightly better performance The Puss Moth was replaced on the production line by the de Havilland DH 85 Leopard Moth that with a plywood fuselage was both cheaper to build and lighter weight Being lighter the Leopard Moth had better performance on the same rather modest 130 hp 97 kW Gipsy Major engine Technical faults editEarly in its career the DH 80A was plagued by a series of fatal crashes the most famous being to Australian aviator Bert Hinkler while crossing the Alps in CF APK on 7 January 1933 The cause was eventually pinned down to flutter caused by turbulence leading to wing failure this was corrected by stiffening the front strut with a jury strut to the rear wing root fitting One aircraft took part in the Challenge 1934 European tourist plane contest but dropped out because of an engine fault on one of the last stages Operational history editMost DH 80As were used as private aircraft though many also flew commercially with small air charter firms for passenger and mail carrying Seating was normally two although in commercial use two passengers could be carried in slightly staggered seats with the rear passenger s legs beside the forward passenger seat The wings folded backwards for storage pivoting on the rear spar root fitting and the V strut root fitting a system used on other de Havilland light aircraft of the period Surviving British civilian aircraft were impressed into service during the Second World War to act as communication aircraft A few survive into the early 21st century 1 Record breaking flights edit During the early 1930s DH 80s were used for a number of record breaking flights In early 1931 Nevill Vintcent made the first flight from England to Ceylon in G AAXJ On 25 May 1931 Capt James Douglas Mail flew in his Puss Moth G ABIU named Baby Tank from Croydon to Bulawayo taking 8 days according to his logbook via Pisa to Rome then on to north Africa and down the east coast arriving 8 days later Total flying time was 73hrs 50mins In July and August 1931 Amy Johnson made an eight day flight with her co pilot Jack Humphreys to Moscow and Tokyo in G AAZV named Jason II completing the leg to Moscow in one day Late in 1931 the Australian Bert Hinkler piloted the Canadian built CF APK on a series of important flights including New York City to Jamaica Jamaica to Venezuela and a 22 hour west east crossing of the South Atlantic only the second solo transatlantic crossing 2 In November 1931 the 19 year old Peggy Salaman set out in G ABEH named Good Hope to beat the record for the flight from London to Cape Town She succeeded in arriving in Cape Town at 5 40 a m with Gordon Store her co pilot and navigator beating the previous record set up by Glen Kidston by more than one day 3 4 Most famous of the record breaking Puss Moths was Jim Mollison s G ABXY The Heart s Content which completed the first solo east west Atlantic crossing in August 1932 from Portmarnock Strand near Dublin to New Brunswick Canada and the first east west crossing of the South Atlantic from Lympne Aerodrome to Natal Brazil in February 1933 His wife Amy Johnson made record flights between England and Cape Town using G ACAB Desert Cloud in 1932 C J Melrose flew VH UQO named My Hildegarde in the 1934 MacRobertson Air Race They finished overall seventh and second on handicap in a time of 10 days 16 hours 5 Accidents and incidents edit On 5 May 1931 English aviator Glen Kidston was killed when his Puss Moth broke up in mid air while flying through a dust storm over the Drakensberg escarpment of South Africa 6 On 27 July 1932 Puss Moth G ABDH owned by Brian Lewis and Company and piloted by Bruce Bossom son of politician Alfred Bossom encountered thundery weather and turbulence en route from Heston to Hamble The plane broke up in mid air and crashed near Hindhead killing all three occupants 7 On 18 September 1932 Puss Moth VH UPM of New England Airways crashed at Byron Bay New South Wales while travelling from Sydney to Brisbane Three people were killed including World War I fighter ace Les Holden travelling as a passenger 8 On 20 July 1936 a Puss Moth crashed on takeoff at La Marina Boca do Inferno near Cascaes in Portugal killing General Jose Sanjurjo Sacanell who was travelling to Spain to assume command of the Nationalists in the civil war The pilot Spanish playboy and aviator Juan Antonio Ansaldo survived the crash 9 On 19 January 1937 Puss Moth VH UPQ of North Queensland Airways crashed into the sea on approach to Cairns Queensland en route from Cooktown One person was killed and two badly injured 10 On 27 August 1941 an Air Lines of Australia Puss Moth crashed in the Coen River near Coen Queensland while flying from Thursday Island to Cairns Three people were killed including former Australian senator Charles Hardy 11 Variants editde Havilland DH 80 Prototype 120 hp 89 kW Gipsy III engine de Havilland DH 80A Puss Moth Two or three seat light aircraft mostly with 130 hp 97 kW Gipsy Major engine Operators edit nbsp AustraliaAir Lines of Australia Marshalls Airways New England Airways North Queensland Airways nbsp Belgian CongoForce Publique nbsp CanadaRoyal Canadian Air Force nbsp Independent State of CroatiaAir Force of the Independent State of Croatia nbsp GermanyLuftwaffe small numbers 12 nbsp IndiaAir India 13 nbsp IraqIraqi Air Force nbsp New ZealandRoyal New Zealand Air Force No 42 Squadron RNZAF nbsp South AfricaSouth African Air Force Union Airways nbsp SpainLAPE nbsp Spanish StateSpanish Air Force nbsp United Kingdom nbsp DH 80A taxi aircraft of East Anglian Flying Services at Manchester Ringway Airport in June 1948Aberdeen Airways Air Commerce Air Taxis Birkett Air Service British Air Navigation East Anglian Flying Services Hillman s Airways 14 Royal Air Force No 510 Squadron RAF Royal Navy 1 aircraft impressed nbsp United States United States Navy One used by the United States Embassy in London nbsp Kingdom of YugoslaviaAeroputSpecifications DH 80 edit nbsp De Havilland Puss Moth 3 view drawing from NACA Aircraft Circular No 117Data from British Civil Aircraft since 1919 Volume 2 15 General characteristicsCrew 1 Capacity 1 or 2 pax Length 25 ft 0 in 7 62 m Wingspan 36 ft 9 in 11 20 m Height 7 ft 0 in 2 13 m Wing area 222 sq ft 20 6 m2 Empty weight 1 265 lb 574 kg Gross weight 2 050 lb 930 kg Powerplant 1 de Havilland Gipsy III 4 cylinder air cooled inverted in line piston engine 120 hp 89 kW Propellers 2 bladed wooden fixed pitch propellerPerformance Maximum speed 128 mph 206 km h 111 kn Range 300 mi 480 km 260 nmi Service ceiling 17 500 ft 5 300 m Rate of climb 630 ft min 3 2 m s See also editRelated development DH 85 Leopard MothAircraft of comparable role configuration and era RWD 5 Desoutter Mk IIRelated lists List of aircraft of the Spanish Republican Air ForceReferences editNotes edit Field in Sight Flight International 28 February 1974 Serle Percival Hinkler Herbert John Louis Dictionary of Australian Biography Sydney Australia Angus and Robertson 1949 Peggy Salaman Beats Flying Record from London to Cape Town Jewish Telegraphic Agency 1931 Peggy Salaman in Judische Woche 1th Avril 1932 Foto from the Pilot Amy Johnson Archived 2012 09 17 at the Wayback Machine The Science Museum South Kensington UK 2013 Time 18 May 1931 British Tragedies Archived from the original on 1 October 2007 Retrieved 12 February 2007 Crash of a de Havilland DH 80 Puss Moth in Devil s Jump 3 killed Bureau of Air Accidents Archive Archived from the original on 4 February 2019 Retrieved 12 August 2021 Bridge Carl Holden Leslie Hubert 1895 1932 Retrieved 16 May 2014 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a work ignored help Ansaldo Por Que pp 138 44 Buenos Aires 1951 Pilot s heroism after crash into sea The Courier Mail 20 January 1937 3 Killed In Plane Crash The Daily Telegraph 28 August 1941 Ketley and Rolfe 1996 p 11 Pran Nath Seth Sushma Seth Bhat 2005 An Introduction To Travel And Tourism Sterling Publishers Pvt Ltd p 112 ISBN 978 81 207 2482 2 Arthur 1992 p 23 Jackson 1974 p 111 Bibliography edit Arthur Robin 1992 Pre War Airliner Fleets I Hillman s Airways Ltd Archive No 1 Air Britain pp 23 24 ISSN 0262 4923 Comas Matthieu September October 2020 So British 1939 1940 les avions britanniques dans l Armee de l Air So British British Aircraft in the French Air Force 1939 1940 Avions in French 236 38 61 ISSN 1243 8650 Jackson A J British Civil Aircraft 1919 1972 Volume II London Putnam Conway Maritime Press 1988 Jackson A J British Civil Aircraft since 1919 Volume 2 London Putnam 1974 ISBN 0 370 10010 7 Ketley Barry and Mark Rolfe Luftwaffe Fledglings 1935 1945 Luftwaffe Training Units and their Aircraft Aldershot UK Hikoki Publications 1996 ISBN 978 5 9955 0028 5 Prins Francois Spring 1994 Pioneering Spirit The QANTAS Story Air Enthusiast No 53 pp 24 32 ISSN 0143 5450 Seth Pran Nath and Sushma Seth Bhat An Introduction to Travel and Tourism New Delhi India Sterling Publishers Pvt Ltd 2005 ISBN 978 8 12072 482 2 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to De Havilland DH 80 Puss Moth The de Havilland Moth Club Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title De Havilland Puss Moth amp oldid 1163411173, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
