De Havilland Moth Minor

infobox Aircraft
name = DH.94 Moth Minor
type = Tourer/Trainer
manufacturer = de Havilland Aircraft Company


caption =
designer =
first flight = 22 June 1937
introduced =
retired =
produced =
number built =
status =
unit cost =
primary user = Great Britain
more users = Australia
developed from =
variants with their own articles = The de Havilland DH.94 Moth Minor was a 1930s British two-seat tourer/trainer aircraft built by De Havilland Aircraft Company at Hatfield Aerodrome, England and Bankstown, Australia.

Design and development

The Moth Minor was designed as a low-wing monoplane to replace the biplane Moth series, intended to give similar performance on lower power, and not requiring rigging. Its predecessor was the DH.81 Swallow Moth of 1931, which was not built in series. The wooden prototype of the DH.94 was first flown by Geoffrey de Havilland on 22 June 1937 at Hatfield Aerodrome cite book |last= Jackson|first= A.J.|authorlink= |coauthors= |title= British Civil Aircraft since 1919 Volume 2|year= 1973|publisher= Putnam|location= London|isbn=0 370 10107 X ] . 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 delivered to the de Havilland factory at Bankstown, Sydney. More than 40 aircraft were produced in Australia.

Civil aircraft operated in the United Kingdom were impressed into wartime service with the Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm, one example was used by the United States Army Air Corps.

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.

Military operators

;AUS
*Royal Australian Air Force; NZL
*Royal New Zealand Air Force
**No. 2 Squadron RNZAF
**No. 20 Squadron RNZAF
**No. 21 Squadron RNZAF
**No. 22 Squadron RNZAF;UK
*Royal Air Force
*Royal Navy;USA
*United States Army Air Corps

pecifications

aircraft specification

plane or copter?=plane
jet or prop?=prop
ref= British Civil Aircraft since 1919, Vol 2
crew= Two
length main= 24 ft 5 in
length alt= 7.44 m
span main= 36 ft 7 in
span alt= 11.15 m
height main= 6 ft 4 in
height alt= 1.93 m
area main= 162 ft²
area alt= 15.05 m²
empty weight main= 983 lb
empty weight alt= 446 kg
loaded weight main=
loaded weight alt=
max takeoff weight main= 1,550 lb
max takeoff weight alt= 703 kg
engine (prop)=de Havilland Gipsy Minor
type of prop= 4-cylinder inline piston engine
number of props=1
power main= 90 hp
power alt= 67 kw
max speed main= 103 knots
max speed alt= 118 mph, 190 km/h
cruise speed main= 87 knots
cruise speed alt= 100 mph, 161 km/h
range main= 261 nm
range alt= 300 miles, 483 km
ceiling main= 16,500 ft
ceiling alt= 5030 m
climb rate main= 620 ft/min
climb rate alt=3.15 m/s
loading main=9.57 lb/ft²
loading alt=46.7 kg/m²
power/mass main=0.058 hp/lb
power/mass alt=0.095 kW/kg
armament=

ee also

aircontent
related=

similar aircraft=
*Miles Hawk Trainer
*Yakovlev UT-2
*RWD-23
lists=
*List of aircraft of the RAF
*List of aircraft of the RAAF
*List of aircraft of the RNZAF and RNZN
see also=

References

*cite book |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title= The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985)|year= |publisher= Orbis Publishing|location= |issn=

External links

* [http://www.airwar.ru/enc/law1/dh94.html Photo at Ugolok Neba]