I bought a new toy!
 

As firm belivers that "he who dies with the most toys wins", my wife and I just spent some of the kids inheritance and purchased a 1935 De Havilind 87B Hornet Moth, {it will live with our two Champs and 421B} we have joined the Moth Club but if there are any out there with tips on maintaining and flying this aircraft we would love to hear from you,{my only previous contact with DH products was many years ago} also I would like to build an RC model of same so if anyone knows of a kit of the "B" model please PM us, thanks in advance, "Clunck".

AHhhh,deH... I wasn`t sure what you`d bought,as I`d never heard of a Honney Moth;thought you might have meant a Horrny..Moth,but you`d need to be a bit of a `gymnast`,and it`s got no autopilot..! might struggle to get to 6000ft...so then it had to be a misprint and it was a Monneeyyyy Moth,;the sort that get into your pockets and leave a trail of coins wherever you go....
I`m sure you`ve invested wisely,and every time you go and just sit in it and `sniff` the atmosphere,staring into space with a silly grin,mumbling `AAHhhhh de Havilland,over and over,the kids will think you`ve cracked,and may suggest a retirement home........until you take them flying in it..!
Serious bit; get a good checkout,on both grass and tarmac,with x-winds; roll control is not `brilliant;brakes are ????able,non-lockable tailwheel,etc.... but you`ll still be smiling...enjoy,enjoy ,enjoy.......Syc

You should be able to fit skis ,and floats,so triple the fun,fun fun.....

...and when you've settled into the DH magic, get rid of that 421B and have a Dove instead. The ultimate owner-pilot's machine; unbridled joy to fly, in my humble opinion, and such a head-turner!

Sounds to me like you've not only considerably enhanced their inheritance, you will get far more pleasure than you would with the money sitting in some dusty banker's vault! :ok:

Speaking of de Havilland, I saw a light aircraft on New Year's Day, bit too far away for my eyesight to get any clue of i/d other than the undercarriage looked quite clunky. Then the unmistakeable sound of Gipsy Queens drifted past my earlobes... Of course, a Rapide.

Sycamore, yes the unedited post was a bit confusing, a combination of bad spelling and sticky keys caused by morning coffee slops getting a bit solid , however a 100PSI shot of air seems to have fixed the problem {the sticky keys that is, the spelling is beyond help} We both have plenty of T/W experience, {belive me the back seat of a Harvard with fourteen different NATO nation students up front concentrates the brain/foot combination work quite well} we own two Champs and have a fair bit of time in the last of the military piston singles plus eighteen seasons spraying and fire bombing, on Ag Cats, so we should be OK and not bend it, our checkout will come in the Spring from the previous owner who has owned it for forty years. We will not be flying it on floats or skis, the Champs do both quite well and are not as an important artifact as the only DH 87B flying over here, it will be hangared in the winter and only flown in the Summer, including Oshkosh this year we hope.TheiC, yes Ive flown the Dove {or rather the Devon} but believe me pnumatic brakes and systems really dont do very well in thirty below without lots of TLC in heated hangars, they were however a delight to fly in warmer climes.We both have spent a fair bit of time dealing with very old aircraft and have found that there is a lot of know- how not in print which in the past we have tapped in to by contacting other owners and maintainers of these old aircraft, thus the original post, thanks for the replies and PMs!

There used to be a Hornet Moth that came into Airwork at Hurn Airport from the Channel Islands every Summer for its Annual - may well be people at Flight Refuelling (FR Aviation) that took over from the "RAF in Mufti". Also there were (are?) Tiger Moths much closer to you at St. Lazare airfield in Quebec plus, of course,the DeH museum at Downsview may be able to help.

We are now dealing with insurance on the Hornet Moth, the agent is an old friend who in the past insured our fleet, his response to the Hornet Moth policy was a classic , "I dont think Ive ever written a policy in which the combined ages of the two named pilots and the aircraft is two hundred and twenty one years!" Who says insurers dont have a sense of humour?

Clunckdriver,
You couldn't have spent money on a better type. Well done. My kids are likewise deprived of any chance of inheritance in a similar fashion. Check your PMs!
WW

I would go to Henry Labouchere as a first. He looked after Doc Hamiltons Hornet G-AHBL for over 20 years. She is no longer wtih us but I have have fond memories of her and her aircraft.

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