The Club - Tiger Moth Club NZ Inc

“Welcome to the Tiger Moth Club of NZ”

This is an organisation which encourages participation – nurturing interest in flying, maintaining or just sharing the magic & history of vintage/classic aircraft.

The Club was formed in 1969 at Taumarunui by a dedicated group of enthusiasts, most of whom still enjoy Club functions and seeing what their efforts have lead to. Around that time, Tiger Moths were by far the most prevalent in the vintage arena, hence the name of the Club but in recent years the Cub & Auster Club has amalgamated plus there are increasing numbers of Chipmunks, Stearmans & other interesting aircraft joining the fray.

We have a Technical Support group within the Club which can offer invaluable information to members who might otherwise find keeping up maintenance programs difficult plus sourcing sometimes difficult to find information. The Club also has strong affiliations with the Moth Club in the U.K .

There are two regular annual gatherings – the ‘season starter’ at Taumarunui in October which is a brilliant setting for our sort of flying, with members of the local Aero Club looking after us royally. Then in the summer, the AGM Rally is held at a different grass airfield each year which often turns into a Safari especially when held in the South Island. Competitions are held at both events which help build skill levels plus specialised instruction is available . Above all, camaraderie amongst like minded folk is the driving force behind the Club.

If you would prefer not to fill out the online form (as below) you may download the PDF form here and fill it out: Membership Application Form. For questions please do not hesitate to contact the Secretary on tigermothclub@gmail.com.

WANT TO BECOME A CLUB MEMBER?

If you would like to become a member of the Tiger Moth Club of New Zealand, click on the button below, and fill out your details. There is payment advice on the form.

ONLINE MEMBERSHIP FORM

The Tiger Moth Club of New Zealand was founded in October 1969 in Taumarunui, which now houses the headquarters of a vintage car club.
Currently there are about 200 members of all walks of life, all with some connection to the Tiger Moth or other vintage aeroplanes.

Committee

The committee of the Tiger Moth Club of New Zealand consists of the following people:

Patron
Simon Spencer-Bower QSM

President
John Baynes

Vice President
Keith Skilling

Secretary
Ross Brodie

Treasurer
Amanda Rutland

Club Captain
Graeme Wood

Committee members
John King
Darren Luff
Grant Wilson
Glen Thompson
Bill Lamb

More About Us

The Tiger Moth Club, despite its name, does not represent Tiger Moths exclusively. TMC members own a variety of types other than Tigers, be it other de Havilland types or aircraft from different manufacturers.

There are the Moths (from the DH60 Gipsy Moth to the DH94 Moth Minor), but also the DH84 Dragon, the DH89 Dragon Rapide, and the elegant DH90 Dragonfly, all of them light twin-engined transport aeroplanes.

There are other British types immensely important to NZ aviation, like the Auster, Avro 631 Cadet and Miles Messenger, and also the successor to the Tiger Moth as a trainer, the de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk, and the DHC-2 Beaver bush planeA number of American vintage aircraft are also represented: The Ryan PT-22, Piper Cub, the Super Cub, and the Boeing Stearman trainer. And those reliable workhorses of NZ light commercial aviation, the Cessna 180 and 185.

On quite another level in the speed and power department are the Beech Staggerwing and the North American T-6 Harvard trainer, the latter of which was used into the Eighties by the RNZAF in the advanced trainer role.

History

The Tiger, as the aeroplane is affectionately called, evolved from the DH60T (for Trainer) by adding an inverted engine and moving the top wing forward for easier egress from the front cockpit, an important requirement in a military trainer. To keep the Centre of Gravity range, the top wings were swept back. The bottom wings were given some dihedral to move the wingtips further away from the ground.

The first of many took to the air at Stag Lane on 26th of October 1931. The type became the standard trainer of the R.A.F. and was used in that role by a number of Commonwealth Air Forces and from Brazil to Iraq. An enormous number of aircrew were trained on the type during WW2 away from the theatres of war at E.F.T.S.s in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Africa.

The Tiger Moth was produced at De Havilland’s in Stag Lane (Hatfield from 1934), later by Morris Motors in Oxford, but also in Toronto, Sydney, Rongotai (Wellington), Alverca do Ribatejo (Portugal), Kjeller (Norway), and Stockholm (Sweden). Total production ran to 8’811 aeroplanes, 345 of which were produced by De Havilland New Zealand at Rongotai.

In the Air Force training role, the Tiger Moth was replaced by the DHC-1 Chipmunk in 1955, but many continue to fly as private aeroplanes.

Sources: The Tiger Moth Story, Bramson/Birch, De Havilland Aircraft Since 1909, A.J.Jackson

Tigers in NZ

The Tiger Moth was introduced to New Zealand both as an Air Force trainer and as a training aircraft at Club level. With the Second World War looming, production was started at De Havilland NZ’s plant at Rongotai, Wellington. Under the Commonwealths Elementary Flying Training School (E.F.T.S.) scheme, thousands of pilots, not only Kiwis, were trained in New Zealand at various airfields. In total, 345 DH82’s were built at Rongotai, establishing a solid base for the survival of the Tiger Moth into the modern era.

After the war, with lots of war-trained pilots returning, the aeroplanes were used for all sorts of commercial activity, from flight training to topdressing, this archetypal Kiwi way of spreading superphosphate fertiliser, and aerial baiting, another unique Kiwi form of helping to get pests under control.

But Tigers had been in use at Club level from the start, and a healthy number of them is kept flying today by enthusiasts, not least of the Tiger Moth Club.

Sources: The Tiger Moth Story, Bramson/Birch; De Havilland Aircraft Since 1909, A.J.Jackson; Vintage Aeroplanes in NZ, J.King