This aeroplane, a Puss Moth, was built in 1930 and sold to a customer in Australia where it flew with Marshall Airways. The Museum purchased it in 1981. It is the oldest aeroplane in the Museum's collections. The photograph was taken at the Museum of Flight at East Fortune in East Lothian before the aircraft was restored.
The three-seater high-wing cabin monoplane has a single de Havilland Gipsy Major engine of 130 horsepower. It had a maximum speed of 125 mph and a cruising speed of 105 mph. Its range was 440 miles.
The Puss Moth was a very popular light aircraft in the 1930s, used by private pilots who wished for greater comfort than that provided by the Tiger Moth and other open cockpit types. Some 280 aircraft were built over a three-year period and exported around the world. 25 were assembled in Canada from parts produced in the UK. Many records were set. It was a very stable aircraft, much loved by pilots, but surprisingly few remain today.
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