Tiger Moth Test-Flight

First Flight after restoration of a DH82A Tiger Moth; flown and with commentary by Dave Hadfield. www.hadfield.ca
This Australian-built Moth was once owned by Art Scholl, and featured in many films and commercials. Now it flies near Lindsay ON.
BTW... the fuel screen was clean after landing.

[@tomling9310]

Your flying videos are some of the best on KZbin. 👍

[@LizMatzelle]

Congrats to Doug! This Tiger, A17-695, taxiied into my own Tiger, A17-370, and broke both of her left wings... back in February of 1944! I'm so happy to see 695 finished restoration and back in the air. I hope my own (basket case) won't be TOO many years behind!

[@davehadfield5906]

What a connection!

[@thomasberthe4324]

Your videos set a rare standard for professionalism and historical record. Instructor patter is superb. Your films should be required viewing for flight students as exemplary of professional airmanship and conduct. Learned to fly in vintage aircraft from experimental test pilots, and retired out of 30 years of accident investigation and flight test, so have considerable basis for appreciation. Many thanks.

[@davehadfield5906]

That's very nice. Thanks!

[@tb100]

Glorious. I part-owned one a decade ago in South Africa, based at Rand Airport (FAGM), also yellow like this one. We typically asked permission from the tower to land on the grass next to paved runways. Ours didn't have brakes, hence much happier on grass.

[@apostlestumpy]

Good to see the Aussie Tiger has found a good home! My oldest brother took myself and our other brother up in Tiger A17-111 (VH-RNI), years ago. A magnificent experience! He now lives in Vancouver and still loves flying the older types!

[@gzk6nk]

I had a Chipmunk share (G-BCSL) for 35 years and absolutely loved that aeroplane. When we first got it (1979) it wanted a lot of work doing to it so some of us went to Chester (Hawarden - where ours had been built in 1950!) and flew G-BARS, a Chippy owned by British Aerospace Flying Club. They also had a Tiger Moth on the fleet so I had a flight in that. Being an open cockpit tailwheel biplane it was wonderful fun but I have to say that after the delightfully responsive and co-ordinated Chippy the Tiger's unresponsive ailerons and iffy handling came as a bit of a shock! But hey, it had so much character one forgave it that! I note you were in no hurry to exit the aeroplane after the flight. I know that feeling - the warm glow one gets after flying a wonderful old vintage machine (DHC1 in my case) just makes you want to remain sitting there in the comfortably-reclined tail-down seat after the flight listening to the tinks and clinks of cooling metal and the dying whine of the gyros! Heaven!

[@rogerlishman2532]

Thanks for the video. It made have a quick squiz at Dad's logbook. He trained at 4 Air School in Benoni, South Africa, commencing 3 Feb 1942 on Tiger Moth 2221. His instructor was P/O Hatfield (close!). Interesting to note that exercise 10, spinning started at 3 hours total time and was done in most of the training periods. The military instructors took it seriously then, for obvious reasons. He finished the war as a captain on Sunderlands and after being de-mobbed, never flew again.

[@kbjerke]

Wow!! One of my favourite biplanes! Thanks, Dave!

[@steve_neuser]

THANKS for another BRILLIANT video, Dave...your content sets the standard!!

[@philwardle7369]

Lovely stuff, thanks so much. My first flight lessons here in Oz were in an Aussie built DH Moth back in the 1970's, and what memorable flights they were. In fact one of those Moths was used as a tow in my first flight in a glider. I even had the opportunity to buy a fully restored Moth from the father of a student of mine in the early '80's for ten grand AUD, but missed out by a day by being too slow. These days I content myself flying R/C models or, with a Virtual Reality headset, fly one in Microsoft Flight Simulator.

[@chrisbraceland3743]

Thank you for this video. It gave me a sense of what it was like for my father when he went into the British Commonwealth Flight Training program in 1942. Dad would say, "If you can fly a Tiger Moth, you can fly anything".

[@davehadfield5906]

You're welcome. It's actually the Harvard that becomes final pilot-maker, but the Moth was chosen because it was NOT easy to fly well. The BCATP could have bought Piper Cubs. They picked the Moth and Finch so they could weed out marginal pilots, earlier.

[@chrisbraceland3743]

@@davehadfield5906 Yessiree! Dad also flew the Finch but spent most of his time in the Harvard. He had over 800 hrs. in this aircraft. Then the RCAF need bomber pilots and dad switched to the Avro Anson. Dad also played football for the RCAF Hurricanes. The year they won the Grey Cup. See the documentary: "The Photograph". By the time dad was certified to fly bombers, the war was winding down. He went straight in the jet age flying the 1st jets in Canada: The Vampire with the Goblin 2 Engine. He stayed in the Airforce until 1958. The last plane he flew was the F-84 (??)// T-33 Shooting Star. He was a aeronautical engineer working on the Avro Arrow CF-105 designing the starter for the Iroquois engines. He was good friends with the Polish test pilot, Janusz Zurakowski back in the day.

[@alankonyer3508]

What a fantastic job, Dave and Doug. Many thanks for sharing. We'll keep an eye out for your bird in the skies over Lindsay.

[@nextlaunch1]

Great video! A Tiger Moth pilot was kind enough to show me around his aircraft earlier this year, it’s a lovely aircraft!

[@renelesieux1250]

I was flying on Tiger-Moth on the Aero Club of Mantes La Jolie , Le Président made business with the imprtation from England , le Moteur Gipsy needed care ! Yes on ground was not easy if windy . My Instructor teach me to do Vrille 3 rounds then was my job to stop it this figure . Also Glissades and PTU that was very good to improve capacity of flying . Also I remind the big compass ! so nice , It was when I had 17 years old ! lot of fun but also responsability , it was my best time of my life

[@peterculverwell2030]

Love this vid, I remember the Tiger Moths at air shows at Grand Central airport outside Johannesburg, probably a different model, but as a youg boy who loved aviation they were the highlight of the airshow. So great to see that sideslip on approach, and what a greaser for the first landing. Kudos to all involved 👌

[@sharg0]

Love these videos with tech and procedures for these old birds!

[@richardmessenger9474]

Priming the engine by pushing down a button on the carburettor...in England we called it "tickling the carburettor"..👍👍

[@Pete-tq6in]

A beautiful aeroplane. As a purist, I’d have stuck to no brakes, no tailwheel and no starter, I’d have also gone with bucket seats and sit-on parachutes but it’s entirely up to the choice of the owner, one more airworthy Tiger Moth in the world is a wonderful thing. Anyway, who am I kidding? I’ll only ever dream of owning and operating a Tiger Moth!

[@ThomasPeterson-qh1ff]

It really limits your operations..as it tears up the sod and is really not suitable for paved area operations

[@davecarnahan-aviation798]

Hello Dave and thank you for posting this informative and inspiring video. I purchased a DH82A Tiger Moth a couple of years ago in Guelph Ontario, unfortunately just as the COVID-19 thing began. My mentor, Tom Dietrich of the Tiger Boys was a huge influence and help to me in the beginning but as you may well know, Tom sadly passed away Feb 17, 2021 (after a lengthy illness, and not from COVID). I ended up bringing the moth home to Trenton, Ontario where it now sits in my shop. I have not been focused on it over the past few months but after watching your video, I feel inspired to give it some attention and to put together a little video for my KZbin channel over the next week or so. I hope that maybe our paths will cross some day as I am not too far from you and if you are interested, I have plenty of Tiger Moth parts and also I may even consider selling the actual aircraft (CF-WHC). Anyway, I always enjoy your videos... thank you!

[@davehadfield5906]

Dave, please get in touch with me through my website, and we'll have a chat.

[@davecarnahan-aviation798]

@@davehadfield5906 Will do

[@gaius_enceladus]

Great video! A very good, cautious and sensible flight - getting the feel of the handling. Lovely landing too!

[@keithpearson7539]

Lovely flight...as always. I do like the narratives that accompany each video. Really good

[@johnbauby6612]

I flew one of these in Australia. Crazy that these are still flying. Capable but .......

[@2009preston]

Great Video. I spent a few wonderful hours flying a Tiger Moth out of Hawarden in the UK back in 1980’s though sadly not since. Right now I’m building a 1/3 scale RC model of the same aeroplane. I expect it will fly just like the original though unfortunately the prop will be swinging in the wrong direction. I have one query about Doug’s beautiful restoration. It may be just a curious video anomaly but it seems like the fabric on the underside of the upper mainplane may be a little to loose as it appears to flap in the slipstream from the propeller. Maybe it’s an illusion or I’m mistaken but I recall the fabric on the Tiger I flew was very taught in all conditions of flight

[@davidbamford4721]

When the notification for this video came on my screen I was watching a dramatisation of the Frederick Forsyth story ”The Shepherd”. Always an unsettling story.

[@christiansemcesen2470]

Excellent video. You touch upon many of the important points of Tiger Moth flying. I am lucky enough to be member of a club that operates two of them, and I have access to another three that are privately owned as well - just one of which is fitted with luxuries: adjustable seat, starter and brakes. The others are fitted with skids and have no brakes. Have about 250-300 hours on them, instructing and flying for fun, and it is a supreme tool for teaching people to really FLY an airplane, and use their feet while doing so! Look up adverse yaw in the dictionary, and you will find a picture of the Tiger Moth. There are few greater joys in life than slipping a Tiger into a grass field just like you do here.

[@murrayhelmer8941]

We had an open cockpit tiger like that here in Saskatchewan at Corman Airpark. Had to hand prop that thing many times. Wish I remembered the reg now

[@stephensowell9578]

Doug, fine job, and here's wlshing many rewarding flights with the Moth.

[@nickpook442]

Great video. I’ve just joined The Real Aeroplane Club in Breighton, Yorkshire, England. It has an amazing collection of vintage aeroplanes, including some very rare pre-war aircraft. Talking to the chief flying instructor about an aerobatics course (which would just be on a C150 aerobat) I mentioned the desire to refresh my tail-wheel skills, having not flown tail wheel for over 20 years, expecting him to mention a Cub or similar. He said ‘sure, you can do it on our Tiger Moth. If you’re going do it, might as well do it properly!’ Can’t wait!

[@davehadfield5906]

An 82A with a tailskid, on grass, is a very well mannered taildragger. Have fun with it!

[@nickpook442]

Thank you, I will (Breighton is grass!) The cost, naturally is somewhat higher than a Supercub etc, but who cares? What an opportunity (and an honour) to fly a piece of aviation history. My dream is to eventually fly some of the museum aircraft.

[@SimonAmazingClarke]

Fantastic video about a beautiful aircraft. I enjoyed the running commentary, gives a great insight into your though process.

[@SuzanneAllison]

Love learning from your videos Dave!

[@michelledauvergne6830]

Thank you very much for sharing with this wonderful aircraft ! Good flights !

[@thecooky7744]

It's nice to see a first flight video that checks out the aircraft, not just jump in and go

[@spurgear4]

Just wanted to let you know I really enjoy your videos, hopefully someday I will drop in with my old Vegabond for a visit.

[@welshpete12]

I'm jealous of you ! I flew meanly gliders over here in the UK . We had a saying at the gliding club ." If you can fly a glider and a Tiger Moth properly ", then you can fly anything . None of us had flew a Tiger Moth . So we said, we were half bad pilots ! 😋

[@welshpete12]

Is that a ME 109 in the back ground at 13:43 ?

[@davehadfield5906]

@@welshpete12 Thanks, and yes. That's the 109E that based at Niagara Falls for several years.

[@billolgaau]

Bring's back memories - the first aircraft I ever flew in Australia & ended up instructing on them 60 years ago. ( teach a modern pilot to stall & they spin every time) . I Loved doing spins & not all of them were intended as we used to drop toilet rolls or kids balloons & try & chop them up & spinning instead. I was fortunate in doing 1 hours IFR with the old WW2 Canvas rear hood, Spinning & recovery in the Tiger ( British turn & slip has the slip on top) with mums Cousin an ex WW2 P40 pilot. From that I went to DC3's & THAT was a jump in type! ( I did fly Cessnas & Pipers as well)

[@davehadfield5906]

Thanks, Bill. Good story. I've posted some of my P-40 cockpit videos on my channel as well.

[@arnhemseptember2009]

What amazes me, is howmuch the wing fabric flutters!

[@N17C1]

Not unusual to find broken wing ribs around the upper, center section caused by that vibration.

[@ThomasPeterson-qh1ff]

Optical illusion

[@conradgittins4476]

Nice work. Of my limited aviation experience, my favourite times were in the Tiger.

[@flymachine]

Always blows my mind to see a Moth and think about how the Twin Otter and ultimately Dash 8 came from the same drawing tables

[@sblack48]

No they didn’t. The Moth was designed in the UK by Geoffrey Dehavilland’s team. The Chipmunk, Beaver, Otter, Buffalo, Caribou, Twin Otter, Dash 7 and 8 were all Canadian designed.

[@OIE82]

First time seeing one of your videos. Excellent narration.

[@Hani_Santa]

Amazing footage and explanations, thanks man, so much fun. I am only able to fly this in Microsoft Flight Simulator in Virtual Reality.

[@randytolle6706]

Nice Video, On a motorcycle the button on the carb that lowers the float for priming is called a "Tickler."

[@davehadfield5906]

Yes, we sometimes call it that here too. I simply forgot in the video.

[@onmyworkbench7000]

The Tiger Moth was one of my dad's favorite airplanes.

[@robertshorthill6836]

Oh man, I'd give a week's pay to take a ride in this Moth. Interesting video, thanks

[@BrianGrinter]

Beautiful aircraft looks great in its RAAF scheme

[@jackx4311]

Why was the Moth was used as a basic trainer by the RAF for over 20 years? According to an RAF flying instructor, it was easy to fly - and even if a novice pilot made a serious mistake, the chances are he'd suffer no worse than a bad fright. Yet the Moth was quite difficult to fly really well, and any pilot errors showed up very quickly as soon as they tried aerobatics or formation flying - so one aircraft could be used both for basic training *AND* for sorting out the potential top-notch pilots from the competent and the also-rans.

[@SmokeFlame1]

This is a great video. Lovely Tiger Moth.

[@shannonparker7404]

Love this! Thankyou for sharing.

[@samuelcruz9258]

Extraordinaria restauración. Tiger moths...un hermoso biplano.

[@tgmccoy1556]

Knew Art Scholl from my own airshow days. R.i.p. Art.

[@davehadfield5906]

I wish I had. Did you learn anything about his Moths?

[@tgmccoy1556]

@@davehadfield5906 not much just ran into him on the circuit I worked for a Cessna dealer and later Piper.

[@Surestick88]

De Havilland had a knack for building really pretty airplanes didn't they.

[@tonyfranks9551]

Real flying ....thank you....

[@antofagastaride]

It's amazing to see how the upper wing bottom skin flaps in the wind

[@ThomasPeterson-qh1ff]

Illusion from the spinning prop, camera and light angle

[@kennethrodmell9006]

Delightful!

[@68orangecrate26]

Outstanding…

[@bluespruce9060]

What a great video. My dad owned a Canadian Tiger Moth when I was a lad. One thing is, I wonder where your mike pickup was while you were running engine? Sounds like it was getting blasted with wind. That hissing can be edited out by any sound mixer to cliean up your audio. Thanks for the great watch!

[@davehadfield5906]

It's Sony ASR50 helmet-cam. There is no way to avoid wind-blast in the mic when flying aircraft with small windscreens. I use PowerDirector for an editing program. Their mixer doesn't clean up the hiss very well.

[@KirkForrest-e5o]

I like the sound. If you're flying an open cockpit it will have wind, noise, and whatever smells or temperature. It's part of the charm. I would fly with him, in that aircraft at any time.

[@bluespruce9060]

If your cam as a mike jack you can plug an external mike into it and place it inside the cockpit. That's what we do in the Stearman@@davehadfield5906

[@bluespruce9060]

All the time Flown Tiger Moth and Stearman.. What you can do is add an external mike and put it out of the wind to avoid the feedback@@KirkForrest-e5o

[@bluespruce9060]

What we do Dave is that our cam has an external mic jack, we can plug one in and keep it out of the wind. @@davehadfield5906

[@ohwell2790]

The plane was restored and the fuel tank was not inspected and cleaned? What!

[@davehadfield5906]

Of course it was. But if left empty for a significant period, ordinary respiration can cause condensation within the tank; and with all those corrugations, it's hard to get it all out.

[@timking2822]

Those belts need to be replaced.

[@balsumfractus]

Surprised to see the fabric under the upper wing flapping around so much!!

[@ThomasPeterson-qh1ff]

Illusion caused by the camera, angle of light and spinning prop

[@andremarais2706]

Very nice. Do you need rib stitching?

[@kbjerke]

Appears as though you've done a slip or two before... 😁

[@nickpook442]

Got to fly the Tiger today, 90 mins over two flights. (In North Yorkshire, England.) Need 2 hours for solo for the insurance but by 90 mins we’d both had had enough, it was only just above freezing on the ground. Felt the cold seeping in and my contraction starting to slip. Great fun though, and Dave, you are right, the Tiger really is a pussy-cat! She keeps you honest with the flying skills though!

[@sblack48]

I didn’t know any of these had electrical systems

[@sloleydave]

Hmm, looked to me whilst sucking in, that both front switches were on. That's not something I'd risk if I'm right...

[@scotabot7826]

Mag switches on the outside of the cockpit, never seen that before, Wow!! What's the purpose of that?

[@davehadfield5906]

They never had electric start, only hand-start, so placing the mag switches on the outside made it very clear to the prop-swinger if the mags were Hot or not. Fewer accidents.

[@mikedunn7795]

Really nice flight! Was the fuel filter clean when you landed and checked?

[@davehadfield5906]

Yes -- I should have mentioned that in the video.

[@Peter_Riis_DK]

Time flies when you see a well narrated video, thanks. Btw. what happened, Dave - did your thumb have a close encounter with a prop or other fast moving machinery?

[@davehadfield5906]

Hammer. Embarrassing.

[@Peter_Riis_DK]

@@davehadfield5906 Well, mine still show the result from an encounter as a young boy with an ill mannered frame saw fifty eight years ago.

[@deanmurphy1240]

So was this the Waldo pepper pond ditching airplane? That was a Tallmanz airplane I thought.

[@davehadfield5906]

It's possible. I saw a film credit for Art Scholl in that movie, and it's obviously a Tiger in the pond. But I just found out that Tallmantz had Moths too. Both companies have credits in the film. If you find out for sure please let me know.

[@BradLatham-q6k]

God bless.to you all.

[@antiussentiment]

It's a DH.. ..flying a DH. ~ smiles ~

[@brykalaero]

Just purchased. A17-284. for restoration.

[@ThomasPeterson-qh1ff]

What you are seeing is an illusion caused by the angle of light, the spinning propeller and the camera

[@abundantYOUniverse]

Fantastic thanks!

[@konradsusiebakalarczyk267]

Hay Dave, is a engine for one of these Gypsy/ Tiger worth much or collectable? I know of one in an old air/ice boat.

[@davehadfield5906]

It'll have some value as "parts", or a "core", but not much. You could try advertising it on Barnstormers.

[@Channel-os4uk]

So was there crap in the fuel filter?

[@davehadfield5906]

Good question - no, it was clean.

[@pwddogman]

Why is the fabric so loose on the wings?

[@ThomasPeterson-qh1ff]

Optical illusion

[@frankcloskey7789]

WoW What a landing .10/17/2022yr

[@irwinwka]

Where was the video taken, elevation?

[@davehadfield5906]

CNF4 airport. 900 ASL

[@bill45colt]

is its engine water cooled or air cooled

[@skyerider7007]

Air cooled

[@wdhewson]

That fabric is way too loose !!

[@ThomasPeterson-qh1ff]

An optical illusion a result of the angle of the light and spinning prop.

[@brentfellers9632]

WOW!