Thought you might like this Tiger Moth review...
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As Geriaviator says, it was built to work and as earlier stated modified from another Moth to fulfil requirements.
As such the two things which made it great are the ease of repair and the handling characteristics.
Of the handling, well, it's handling is poor. And that makes it a great trainer!
But still today, decades later, it is such a rewarding aircraft to fly well and great fun. And it is still flying!
She is such a seductive mistress. We know her and her foibles and failings. But we keep coming back and we love her anyway.
As such the two things which made it great are the ease of repair and the handling characteristics.
Of the handling, well, it's handling is poor. And that makes it a great trainer!
But still today, decades later, it is such a rewarding aircraft to fly well and great fun. And it is still flying!
She is such a seductive mistress. We know her and her foibles and failings. But we keep coming back and we love her anyway.
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Of the handling, well, it's handling is poor. And that makes it a great trainer!
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SSD,
I don't disagree. The Chipmunk is without doubt a delight. But it was 15 years too late.
And just as the Tiger Moth's contemporaries, the Stampe and the Jungmann, (both also delightful handling aircraft) the Chipmunk would not have been as easily repairable which is arguably the key to the success of the type and the job at hand.
Its place in history, not its handling, is what keeps the Tiger's appeal so strong.
I don't disagree. The Chipmunk is without doubt a delight. But it was 15 years too late.
And just as the Tiger Moth's contemporaries, the Stampe and the Jungmann, (both also delightful handling aircraft) the Chipmunk would not have been as easily repairable which is arguably the key to the success of the type and the job at hand.
Its place in history, not its handling, is what keeps the Tiger's appeal so strong.
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I think just one thing keeps the Tiger's appeal so strong, and it's something even a Chippy doesn't have:
It's an open cockpit biplane!
I defy anyone to fly any open cockpit biplane, no matter how poor its handling, and not to have a big grin on their face!
In a Chippy, you can play at being a Spitfire pilot. In a Tiger Moth, a Sopwith Camel pilot!
In a spam can you can recreate the heady days of driving a 1956 Ford Consul!
It's an open cockpit biplane!
I defy anyone to fly any open cockpit biplane, no matter how poor its handling, and not to have a big grin on their face!
In a Chippy, you can play at being a Spitfire pilot. In a Tiger Moth, a Sopwith Camel pilot!
In a spam can you can recreate the heady days of driving a 1956 Ford Consul!
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Just so I say with the program here, I know that a spam can is a basic production airplane made of aluminum. Thus I understand how a Tiger Moth is not a spam can, how isn't a Chipmunk a spam can?
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Spam, besides being the famous meat product, is also a term used by Brits to describe our cousins south of you. Americans, especially to the Brit armed forces are known as Spams. Spamcan=generic US light aircraft, Piper, Cessna etc.
The phrase Spam Can was coined by people brought up on tube and rag tailwheel aircraft in the US, to describe (then) new aircraft with stressed skin aluminum construction, Cessnas mostly at that time. It's an old timey 1950s US expression still used by 'antiquers' in the US, and sometimes others with no idea where it came from.
Spam (the meat product) was introduced just prior to WW II, picked up by the U.S. military for rations, and brought to Britain by US wartime forces. A lot of people who ate those rations were same people flying Cubs in the US circa 1955 ;-)
BTW, I'd suggest that the Tiger Moth was only 'unrivaled as the trainer of her time' if you limit the discussion to trainers for the Commonwealth forces. Otherwise the Jungmann, Boeing Stearman, Ryan PT22, Polikarpov Po-2 etc were all pretty good rivals.
Spam (the meat product) was introduced just prior to WW II, picked up by the U.S. military for rations, and brought to Britain by US wartime forces. A lot of people who ate those rations were same people flying Cubs in the US circa 1955 ;-)
BTW, I'd suggest that the Tiger Moth was only 'unrivaled as the trainer of her time' if you limit the discussion to trainers for the Commonwealth forces. Otherwise the Jungmann, Boeing Stearman, Ryan PT22, Polikarpov Po-2 etc were all pretty good rivals.
Last edited by Silvaire1; 27th Feb 2015 at 02:04.
