As there was no real comparison between the original DH.60 and the new DH.60G, the Gipsy Moth quickly became the mainstay of
British flying clubs as the only real recreational aircraft in the UK. By 1929 it was estimated that of every 100 aeroplanes in Britain, 85 were Moths of one type or another, most of them Gipsy Moths. This was in spite of the fact that with de Havilland having switched from the Cirrus engine to its own Gipsy engine, surplus Cirruses were now pouring into the market and a trove of Cirrus-powered aircraft like the
Avro Avian, the
Klemm Swallow, and the
Miles Hawk started fighting for the flying club and private market. Although replaced in production by the
DH.82 Tiger Moth, the Gipsy Moth remained the mainstay of the British flying scene up to the start of WWII. The war however marked the end of the Gipsy Moth and post-war it was quickly replaced by ex-RAF Tiger Moths pouring into the civilian market.
DH.60 Moth in flying clubs The DH.60 arrived at the right spot at the right time. Next to the Moth's maiden flight, 1925 also marked the birth of the first five
Royal Aero Club flying schools and clubs and with its simplicity and performance, the Moth was the aircraft of choice to equip the clubs. De Havilland then used this income to concentrate on developing the Moth further into a mass-produced, mass-market aircraft. The Moth made the aero clubs at least just as much as the aero clubs made the Moth. The Moth remained the mainstay of the clubs even long after more modern aircraft became available. With de Havilland's habit of painting the wings and tailplane of the Moth in silver also came the clubs' habit of distinguishing their aircraft by painting their fuselage in one distinctive club colour. Aircraft of the London Aero Club had a yellow fuselage (plus yellow struts and wheel caps); those of Newcastle a red one. Green stood for the Midlands and blue for Lancashire. Registration letters were black on the wings and, depending on the club colour, either black or white on the fuselage. As the Royal Aero Club marketed the idea of flying clubs to other members of the
Commonwealth, the de Havilland Aircraft Company followed suit and soon established subsidiaries in
Australia and
Canada to supply the local flying clubs with Gipsy Moths. Canadian Moths were offered with a detachable canopy for winter flying. Other factories to licence-build the Gipsy Moth were the
Larkin Aircraft Supply Company in Australia (which built 32 DH60 Cirrus Moths for the
RAAF), the Munitions Supply Board built 6 DH60M's and Commonwealth Dockyards (Codock) built 1 DH60G also for the RAAF, while Genairco built 3 DH60X, and de Havillands own factory in Australia locally built 7 DH60G Gipsy Moths. Other manufacturers of the DH60 were
Morane-Saulnier in France (40 built), the Moth Aircraft Corporation in the U.S. (18 DH60G built and 161 DH60M built). A further 40 built were by de Havilland Canada and 10 built by the Norwegian Army Aircraft Factory in Norway. (Note that the General Aircraft Company, (Genairco) in Australia, after overhauling and repairing 6 DH60 Cirrus Moths for the RAAF and then building 3 local examples of the DH60X Cirrus II Moth, also went on to design and build their own derivative "Aussie Moth" biplane. This Genairco design was strongly influenced and based on the DH60 fuselage layout but with intended improvements including a wider fuselage able to seat 2 in the front cockpit, deeper cockpit doors and with a different wing and rudder profile. While initially called a "Genairco Moth" and now more correctly called a "
Genairco Biplane", these later 9 aircraft (with 2 built as cabin biplanes) are not variants of the DH60 Moth despite some DH production lists including them.)
DH.60 Moth in private use and
Jason, a DH.60G Gipsy Moth, in Jhansi, India in 1930 Most Gipsy Moths belonged to flying clubs, but after
the Prince of Wales purchased a Gipsy Moth (G-AALG) for his own private flying, the aircraft became popular with
high society. In addition the Moth was used for many record flights. The 'Lonely Flyer'
Sir Francis Chichester flew his Gipsy Moth from England to Australia, on to New Zealand and then across the Pacific to Japan. Although he originally planned to fly around the world, a crash in Japan convinced him to switch to sailing. (Chichester subsequently named his yachts 'Gipsy Moth II', 'Gipsy Moth III', and most famously, '
Gipsy Moth IV'.) Of the
aviatrixes, London secretary
Amy Johnson flew her Gipsy Moth (G-AAAH "Jason") 11,000 mi (17,703 km) to Australia in 1930, and
Jean Batten used a Gipsy Moth for her flights from England to India and England to Australia (the aircraft used to fly to India was G-AALG borrowed from Victor Dorée, who then owned the aircraft.) In March 1928
Mary Bailey flew her Cirrus Moth solo from Croydon to Cape Town, a trip of three weeks, and returned the following year. 's Gipsy Moth (G-AAAH "Jason")
DH.60 Moth in military service Although the DH.60T was aggressively marketed as a military trainer, response was rather lukewarm. In particular the RAF initially purchased only a handful of aircraft for testing and found that many aspects of the Moth did not suit their method of military flight training. However, by 1931 the RAF had acquired 124 DH.60M Moths and these were used by the Central Flying School and other training units until 1939. Moth trainers were however ordered by a number of foreign
air forces including those of Argentina, Australia (as noted above), Austria, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and the flying arm of the Danish Navy. Finnish
Valtion lentokonetehdas licence-built 21 Moth trainers of which 18 were purchased by
Finnish Air Force. First examples were equipped with Cirrus engine while 11 later ones had Hermes engine, X-type landing gear struts and a locally built engine cover which earned these the name "Härkä-Moth" ("Bull Moth"). Two Gipsy Moths were purchased by the Paraguayan government during the
Chaco War. They were used as liaison aircraft. One was lost in a fatal accident at Ñu-Guazú Air Force Base and the other survived the war. It was transferred to the Paraguayan Aeroclub in 1936. The bulk of military Moths however were civilian sport aircraft impressed by their countries air forces and used as trainers and liaison aircraft. Like this, civilian Moths ended up flying for both the Nationalist and Republican air forces during the
Spanish Civil War. This was repeated on a larger scale during the
Second World War where Moths ended up flying, amongst others, for the air forces of Egypt, China (with several captured ex-Chinese aircraft flying for the Japanese), Ireland, Italy, Iraq, Belgian Congo, Dutch East Indies (later taken over by the Indonesian AF), South Africa, New Zealand and the U.S. Navy. ==Variants==