The de Havilland DH 82 Tiger Moth was a 1930s biplane designed by de Havilland and operated by the Royal Air Force and others as a primary trainer. The Tiger Moth remained in service with the RAF until 1952 when many of the surplus aircraft entered civil operation. Many other nations used the Tiger Moth both in military and civil applications and the ubiquitous little trainer still is in great demand worldwide as a recreational aircraft. Design and development The Tiger Moth trainer prototype was derived from the de Havilland Gipsy Moth (DH 60). The main change to the DH Moth series was necessitated by an effort to improve access to the front cockpit since the training requirement specified that the front seat occupant had to be able to escape easily, even wearing a parachute. Access to the front cockpit of the Moth predecessors was restricted by the proximity of the aircraft's fuel tank directly above the front cockpit and the rear support struts for the upper wing. The solution adopted was to shift the upper wing forward but sweep the wings back to maintain the centre of lift. Other changes included a strengthened structure, fold-down doors on both sides of the cockpit and a revised exhaust. It was powered by a de Havilland Gipsy III 120 hp engine and first flew on 26 October 1931 with de Havilland Chief Test Pilot Hubert Broad at the controls.[4] One distinctive characteristic of the Tiger Moth design is its differential aileron control setup. The ailerons (on the lower wing only) on a Tiger Moth barely travel down at all on the wing on the outside of the turn, while the aileron on the inside travels a large amount upwards... this is one of the ways the problem of adverse yaw can be counteracted in an aircraft's control design. From the outset, the Tiger Moth proved to be an ideal trainer, simple and cheap to own and maintain, although control movements required a positive and sure hand as there was a slowness to control inputs. Some instructors preferred these flight characteristics because of the effect of "weeding" out the inept student pilot General characteristics Crew: 2, student & instructor Length: 23 ft 11 in (7.34 m) Wingspan: 29 ft 4 in (8.94 m) Height: 8 ft 9 in (2.68 m) Wing area: 239 ft² (22.2 m²) Empty weight: 1,115 lb (506 kg) Loaded weight: 1,825 lb (828 kg) Powerplant: 1× de Havilland Gipsy Major I inverted 4-cylinder inline , 130 hp (100 kW) Performance Maximum speed: 109 mph at 1,000 ft (175 km/h at 300 m) Range: 302 miles (486 km) Service ceiling: 13,600 ft (4,145 m) Rate of climb: 673 ft/min (205 m/min)