Flying Archives - Birds, Wildlife, Places

In writing Learning to Fly (above)^[1] I failed to mention that my original desire had not actually been to learn to fly, but rather to go for a flight in an old, open cockpit biplane – a Gypsy Moth or Tiger Moth perhaps. It was while exploring the possibilities for that adventure that I discovered Solent Flight not three miles away and that I could fly there a great deal more for a good deal less per hour – even if only in a modern microlight and not in a biplane. Of course after thirty hours of lessons it cost me substantially more than if I’d stuck to my original plan of an hour in a Moth, but it all turned out for the best in the end, as I am about to tell.

It was my 70^th birthday. I was looking forward to an untroubled and gentle decline into older age. There was nothing on my bucket list left to be done and, apart from one or two niggles, I was content with my lot. Then my kids announced that they were going to buy me a flight in a biplane by way of a birthday present. I had quite forgotten, but they had not !

I booked my flight at Tiger Moth Training Aviation School, based at Henstridge Airfield in Somerset.^[2]

Henstridge is not so far from where my brother lives, so on the appointed day and hour a party of us – brother, sister-in-law and my wife – arrived at the airfield, me to fly, them to watch me fly. The sun was shining and the clouds were few. Unfortunately the wind was blowing perpendicular to the line of the runway and in intermittent gusts. In the old days, explained Annabelle – my instructor – these planes were flown from an open field so could take off whichever the way the wind was blowing. But here we had to use the runway and a gusty cross-wind was not helpful. It was decided it would be better to fly another day. Still, as I was there, Annabelle had me sit in the cockpit and took me through the Moth’s controls, while Clive, her colleague, took the others round the outside of the airplane.

The De Haviland DH 82 Tiger Moth was built in the 1930s and into the 1940s. It was widely used by the RAF and others as a basic trainer until it was replaced by the De Haviland Chipmunk in the early 1950s. Many are still flying, having been restored to airworthy condition, like the Moths at Henstridge. The fuselage is constructed from steel tubing and covered variously with fabric and thin plywood. The wings and tail plane are made of timber and covered with fabric. The wings are held in place by struts and steel cables. The twin cockpits are open, each protected by a modest windshield.

These are the controls of one of Tiger Moth Training’s aircraft :

Photo By Maxwell Williams – https://www.largescaleplanes.com

At first scrutiny, and compared to my familiar microlight, it was cluttered and confusing. But I soon realized that much was the same. Some dials were at a crazy angle, the compass was horizontal instead of vertical and the connecting rods from various levers were on view rather than hidden away, but otherwise they were known items.

An interesting one was the lever-with-knob on the right. It operated a couple of leading-edge slats/slots on the top wing to be employed in take-off and landing. These are instead of trailing-edge-of-the-wing flaps for the same purpose on other aircraft, such as the microlight.

Having completed the familiarization, I asked Annabelle and Clive, what are cheescutters ? Readers of Learning to Fly may recall that in a book I once read concerning learning to fly a Tiger Moth the author was repeatedly complaining about the cheesecutter, without ever explaining what it was. Having decided it probably didn’t refer to the hat of the same name, Clive guessed it might refer to the wires that go from the lever to operate the slots – like cheese wires. I have since re-read the complaints and I reckon Clive was close. I think the writer was actually referring to the slots themselves as he kept forgetting them on landing.

I returned to Henstridge alone a couple of days later in more amenable weather and Annabelle took me up. Once sufficiently airborne, she handed over control to me. Flying the Tiger proved to be both easy and problematic. The gentlest touch on the stick and rudder pedals was sufficient. But it was hard to be gentle enough. Easy to fly, hard to fly well – a well-known feature apparently, which made it a good trainer. Annabelle was (mostly) very kind – except when I overdid the throttle on one occasion, what with the engine being sixty years vintage and all. She was a fine instructor, first showing and telling, then handing the plane over to me to try myself. She (the plane) cruised straight and level quietly – although I kept having to apply rudder to counteract the rightward yaw caused by the direction of spin of the propeller – another well-known feature of the Moth. She turned, wings steeply over, in the tightest circle. She wouldn’t fly sideways though, as the microlight will, insisting on keeping her nose pointing ahead and therefore blocking my view of the countryside forward. She wouldn’t stall like the microlight either. Bring the revs down, pull hard back on the stick. Instead of the nose dropping – requiring throttle-up to recover – her nose just bobbed in front of me.

I couldn’t get a view ahead, but I could enjoy the patchwork fields and farms and villages of the Blackmore Vale to left and right. Even better, I was in an open cockpit between two pairs of wings, with struts and wires – and a mechanical windspeed indicator one of the port side struts. I tried leaning my head out beyond the protection of the windshield. I had a helmet on, but no goggles. No problem. It was windy, but not uncomfortable. But then we were only doing about sixty mph airspeed.

Tiger Moth Flight Adventure

Photo : https://www.key.aero/article/tiger-moth-flight-adventure

Having had my fun, I asked Anabelle to loop the loop for me. The maneuver was over so quickly I wasn’t sure exactly what had happened, but apparently we did indeed loop.

After a full hour airborne Anabelle brought us in to land. Clive greeted us on arrival. ’Ere, I said, we’ve only been up five minutes ! He was kind enough to laugh.

Me in the Moth. Note Annabelle despairing in the rear cockpit.

https://bundellbros.co.uk/birdswildlifeplaces/birds-wildlife-places-introduction/learning-to-fly/ ↑