de Havilland D.H.60 Moth

Many companies have tried to provide a plane for the man on the street; few have succeeded like the de Havilland Moth. Introduced in 1925, this little plane revolutionized the flying scene in the U.K. during the 1920s and 1930s. Appealing to the British affluent middle class, the plane was met with ravenous demand from aero clubs, the Irish Air Corps, and purchasers from as far away as Australia, Japan, and the United States. The design culminated in the Gipsy Moth, featuring a larger, very reliable Halford engine. The plane was used for many long distance flights by famous pilots such as Amy Johnson.

The plane uses 2.25 gallons of aviation fuel per hour at routine usage. A full load of fuel costs $6.

de Havilland D.H.60 Moth

Subassemblies: Recon Fighter chassis +2; Recon Fighter wings with Biplane option +2; 2 fixed wheels +0.

Powertrain: 45-kW HP gasoline engine with 45-kW old prop and 30-gallon fuel tank [Body].

Occ.: 1 XCS, 1XPS Body

Cargo: 6 Body

Armor F RL B T U

Body: 2/2W 2/2W 2/2W 2/2W 2/2W

Wings: 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C

Wheels: 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3

Equipment:

Body: Navigation instruments.

Statistics:

Size: 24'x30'x9' Payload: 0.37 tons Lwt.: 0.83 tons

Volume: 96 Maint.: 138 hours Cost: $2,096

HT: 7. HPs: 15 Body, 50 each Wing, 3 each Wheel.

aSpeed: 93 aAccel: 1 aDecel: 22 aMR: 5.5 aSR: 1

Stall Speed: 36 mph. Take Off Run: 216 yards. Landing Run: 130 yards.

gSpeed: 118 gAccel: 6 gDecel: 10 gMR: 1.25 gSR: 2

Ground Pressure: High. 1/6 Off-Road Speed.

Design Notes:

Historical wing area was 243 sf. Design loaded weight was 1,627 lbs.; it was increased 1% to the historical. Design aSpeed was a woeful 65 mph. This would increase rapidly with engine improvements in the plane's development. Historical values were used for all calculations when available. A 30-gallon fuel tank was purchased for the design; although no historical capacity for the Moth was available, the Tiger Moth carried 27.4 gallons.

Variants:

The Cirrus II Moth featured a 60-kW engine.

The DH.60X featured a 67-kW engine.

The DH.60G, or Gipsy Moth, featured a 75-kW engine. This was the first engine produced by the de Havilland company for their own planes. It provided a top speed of 102 mph.

The DH.60M introduced welded steel tube construction.

The DH.60GIII featured a 90-kW engine.

The DH.60T was a trainer version of the DH.60M.

From the Aerodrome for GURPS

© 2008 by Jim Antonicic