De Havilland D.H.83 Fox Moth

De Havilland designer A. E. Hagg evolved the de Havilland D.H.83 Fox Moth in 1932 to meet a perceived need for a light transport aircraft with good performance, economical operations and low initial cost. To standard Tiger Moth components (including wings, tail unit, landing gear and engine mounting) he added a new plywood-covered wooden fuselage, locating the pilot in an open cockpit behind an enclosed cabin which accommodated up to four passengers. The prototype, powered by an 89kW de Havilland Gipsy III engine, was flown at Stag Lane in March 1932. It was later shipped to Canada for trials on floats and skis, undertaken in service with Canadian Airways Ltd. Eight of the 98 British-built Fox Moths were exported to Canada between 1932 and 1935, and two more examples were built by de Havilland Aircraft of Australia. Many of these were powered by the Gipsy Major engine and some had sliding hoods over the cockpit. A single Japanese-built copy, powered by a 112kW radial engine and known as the Chidorigo, was flown by the Japanese Aerial Transport Company. After the war, in 1946, de Havilland Canada built 52 examples of the D.H.83C, which had a number of small improvements including trim tab on the elevators, an enlarged clear-view hood over the cockpit and the installation of a 108kW Gipsy Major 1C engine. Another example of the D.H.83C (there were no D.H.83A or D.H.83B variants) was completed by Leavens Bros Ltd in 1948.

3-View

A three-view drawing (700 x 580)