My first 70 hours of power flying were in a Tiger Moth with the slats locked closed. One of those hours included a balloon bursting competition where I managed to get very close to stalling in tight turns (at a safe height and with an instructor on board). The handling was quite predictable and safe.
That is nice to know. One interesting statistic is that the de Havilland DH 82 Tiger Moth first flew in 1931. It was operated by the Royal Air Force, the Royal Canadian Air Force, and in many other countries, becoming one of the best known primary trainers of World War II. During the early years of the war, the aircraft was vital to the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan as thousands of Commonwealth pilots' first solos were in Tiger Moths.
A total of 8389 Tiger Moths were built by de Havilland and its licensees between 1931 and 1945.
Just think the millions of dollars that could have been saved and put towards the war effort if all these 8389 Tiger Moths had been put into service without their slots since they are now, in hindsight, considered unnecessary in terms of flight safety
