RESTORATION PROJECTS   -   TIGERMOTH
 de Havilland Tigermoth A17-377

THE TIGER MOTH STORY

By Ashley Briggs

 Well, where do I begin?  How do you sum up over nine years of restoring the museum’s tiger moth in only a few pages?  There were numerous stops and starts along the way – mainly due to workshop relocations and the arrival of children.  The eight years we spent prior, restoring the museum’s Ceres didn’t seem anywhere near as hectic.  Oh, to be young and without responsibilities – that is only a distant memory now! 
 

The Tigermoth at the beginning of the project – 1992 

Well, back to the present now and the story.  With the completion of the Ceres, the Cessna 310 quickly filled the space in the workshop.  At the time, I was also museum manager which made it extremely difficult to concentrate on a single project.  The museum always has a massive list of jobs (always requiring urgent attention, of course!) and the list never seems to get smaller.  (I don’t envy Michael’s position one bit!!!)  Still wanting to remain ‘hands on’ in the restoration side of things, an idea was hatched where the tiger moth fuselage could be transported to my workshop in Hallam for restoration.   

Once the tiger moth was moved, an assessment was carried out.  We basically had before us a fuselage of some sort, tail feathers, an engine and one lower wing.  The other three wings had been stolen from the museum several years earlier when, after falling into disrepair from external display, it was removed in the early seventies and stored in a disassembled state at the museum.

Front fuselage frames after cleaning and priming - 1993

Tuesday nights quickly became known as ‘tiger night’ for the group of people involved at the beginning.  We started by disassembling the fuselage into components.  All of the components were then paint stripped, corrosion treated and painted.  Delaminated timber was reglued and missing components were re-manufactured…and there were a lot of them!  Luckily we were able to acquire an original floor.  This replaced a poor quality one which had been fitted earlier during an aborted restoration attempt.  The most frustrating part of this rebuild was that so much was missing, and what was there was jerry-rigged and incorrect.  It was difficult to make comparisons with other tiger moths, most of which have had several re-incarnations and personal modifications from many different owners.  Therefore, a great deal of research from period photos was required with aircraft close to the museum’s serial number of A17-377.  As work continued, parts were acquired from almost every state of Australia and also from England the USA. 

Reassembly of the airframe – 1995

As reassembly started, each reconditioned component was carefully reattached.  The smallest things, like when we fitted the first bit of fabric (only 10” x 24” long) to the rear of the oil tank bearers, seemed like such a major step forward.  Not long after that, the rear frame was reattached, the rear turtledeck fitted and all of a sudden we had something resembling a tiger moth, some eighteen months after starting the project.  We continued refitting components, assembled the instrument panel, throttle and trim levers.  Fabric was attached to the fuselage sides after the two fuselage stringers had been reassembled from the seven broken pieces.  The fin and tail plane were cleaned, reglued and covered.  The undercarriage was the next item installed.  We fitted the wheels, rolled the fuselage out of the workshop and turned it around – just because we could! 

          Back on its wheels - 1996                     

Attention then turned to the cowlings.  The top and sides were remade as the originals were in such a poor state.  When fitted they looked a treat.  The next job in the queue was the doping, then painting of the fuselage in silver.  The engine was cleaned, painted and fitted.  The elevators followed.  Camouflage paint was applied to the centre section.  Then the fuel tank was fitted.   

The fuselage was then transported back to the museum and installed in the Casey Hanger.  (Another one of the numerous sidelines during the restoration – disassembling and transporting this 50 x 30 foot hanger from Berwick airfield to the museum) 

Waiting for its wings – 2001

With the fuselage in store at the museum, work started on the wings.  We had a pair of ailerons and a starboard lower wing in poor condition with no trailing edge.  The ailerons were started first.  These in the end being scratch built as the fittings were the only items salvaged.  The lower wings then commenced using the sole surviving wing as a pattern as soon as these were completed.  Another sideline, the CA 31 had to be reconditioned for the display at Avalon air show.  An upper wing was then loaned to us from Borge Sorenson as we had nothing to copy off.  Once we had constructed these items, the fuselage was returned to the factory for a trial assembly.  To see the Tigermoth as a complete assembly was great personal satisfaction. 

         Trying on its wings for size – 2001

Then, with a possible external display opportunity, the work program was accelerated and a massive effort was exerted in covering the wings and ailerons.  This task took several days.  The painting took somewhat longer as the various different colours refused to dry in the cold weather.  Next, oil and fuel lines, connecting rods, magneto’s wiring and tacho drives were all duly fitted.  Fuel and oil was added with fuel leaks emanating from the fuel filter on the firewall.  An ‘o’ ring, which replaced the old cork seal, fixed this.  The fuel cock leaked also, but also stopped leaking once the seal had swelled.   

The first attempt to fire up the engine failed, with the magneto timing being incorrectly set.  Once retimed, the engine fired on its third swing.  It then settled down and ran beautifully.  After this, the Tigermoth was transported back to the museum and once again parked in the Casey Hanger for assembly.  With a shuffle of the DH-60 to the back corner with its wings folded, enough space was available to finally assemble the Tigermoth completely. 

Covering and doping the wings – 2002

It is now intended to relocate the Tigermoth to the Pacific Gallery in place of the Wackett, which is in need of a major refurbishment.   

And now to thank the many members who have assisted over the years.  Some are still around while others have moved on.  Barry McCutcheon was there at the start and finish, so whether he’s just as big an idiot as me is yet to be seen!  Other members, Norm Day, Michael Grinter, Michael Fiddes, Ross Keenan, Ray Brown, Steve Edmonds, Richard Hanson, Mathew Williams, Matt Austin, Ray Wade, Tony Shakeshaft, and of course Linda, my wife, who somehow tolerates this sickness called aircraft.                      

Now - September 2003

Undergoing engine runs at the completion of a 10-year restoration the museum’s deHavilland Tiger Moth was one of over 1000 built at the deHavilland facility at Mascot, New South Wales, during the Second World War.  The aircraft had been used as an instructional airframe by T.A.A. after the war prior to its acquisition by the museum. It has now been finished in wartime camouflage.  The aircraft has taken its place in the Pacific Gallery in the museum, replacing the CAC Wackett Trainer which is now scheduled for its own restoration.

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