DE HAVILLAND DH.87 HORNET
MOTH - A side-by-side
cabin biplane designed 1934 as replacement for DH.60 Moth, first flown
May 9, 1934. Production total, 165 in DH.87A (pointed wing tips) and DH.87B
(blunt wing tips) versions, with 130 hp Gipsy Major 1 or IF. Four delivered
to RAF
1938 with twin Canadian Fairchild floats as seaplane trainers, converted
to landplanes 1939 and used for communications by FAA. Sixty-four civil
Hornet Moths impressed in UK (plus one escapee from Denmark in 1940) for
RAF service, for communications and to equip six Coastal Patrol Flights
in Coastal Command for off-shore radar cali-bration patrols in 1940. Three
DH.87B impressed for RAF in India, and at least 17 for SAAF in South Africa.
A single ex-civil example served in the RCAF.
