De Havilland DH 94 Moth Minor
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Moth Minor
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Type
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Two seater tourer/trainer
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de Havilland – England and Australia
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Designed by
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In prototype, 22nd June 1937
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Introduced
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Retired
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Primary users
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United States Army Air Corps
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Number built
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152
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Variants
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The Museum is home to a DH 94 Moth Minor which was assembled at Bankstown, NSW and delivered to the RAAF in February 1940 to be used as a trainer and communications aircraft. It was given the serial number A 21.12. It served at Pearce Air Base and at Cunderdin and passed through the hands of several private owners before being written off in a 1961 crash. Its remains were then dumped under a tree until 1972 when it was donated to the Museum and completely rebuilt.
History
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. The wooden prototype 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. This little aeroplane was the last design of the light aeroplanes that were popular throughout the 1930s and was the first monoplane to become a club aeroplane.
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].
Specifications
General characteristics
* Crew: Two
* Length: 24 ft 5 in (7.44 m)
* Height: 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
* Wing area: 162 ft² (15.05 m²)
* Empty weight: 983 lb (446 kg)
Performance
* Range: 261 nm (300 miles, 483 km)