Tiger Moth in RAF service, serial nos?

[Tony Harrison 2]

For some time in the near future I have the DB 58" span Tiger Moth to build. I thought it would be fun to try and build it as one of two T.Moths recorded as being flown by my uncle, Flt Lt Bill Warwick. A few years ago his logbooks emerged after his widow died (no-one else knew they existed) and I've seen & studied them. Fascinating stuff! He appears to have spent his career testing repaired aircraft then ferrying them to units, and he flew an extraordinary variety, from biplanes to 4-engine heavies to Vampires - I've counted over 60 types he flew solo!

His log records flights in two Moths, N9498 and DL970 - I looked for the latter serial and it seems to have belonged to a Miles Master (a type he also flew) but I think the same serial could belong to different aircraft in succession. He flew DL970 from Hawarden (#4 Flying Pool?) to Rissington on 1st May 1947.

Anyway, perhaps someone can save me re-inventing the wheel by pointing me to the best source of info for this kind of thing? I'd like especially to reproduce the colour scheme, of course.

I'd never have been able to ask him myself since he crashed & burned in a Mosquito NF30, September 1948, in the Midlands...

Thanks, Tony

[sharpy1071]

Tiger Moth N9498 was built by De Haviland Aircraft in Great Britain works construction No. 82525. I am still working on DL970. Can't help with colour scheme could be anything from plain silver through camouflage to Yellow!

[Tony Harrison 2]

Sharpy, thanks. Ideally I'd like to be able to discover which units these Moths belonged to, and thereby stand a chance of learning the colour scheme. Must look into this some more, since I know the question of colour schemes is a minefield, with all sorts of deviation from the norm. I'd guess any WW2 type wore camouflage during hostilities, though I could be completely mistaken...

rgds Tony

[Manish Chandrayan]

82525	DH82A TIGER MOTH	N9498 Burmese AF

This is from the page you can find here

[Tony Harrison 2]

Manish, thanks. This information fits very well with some of the things I've learned and surmised about my uncle's RAF career. He flew N9498 from Aston Down (Glos) to Sealand (Flints) on 18^th August 1947. Sealand was, it seems, home to an RAF Packing Unit/Depot where aircraft were crated up for sending overseas. The aeroflight.co.uk site records N9498 as having been shipped 4 October 1947 from Birkenhead on SS Martaban. "Arrived Rangoon on 13 November 1947. Stored in May 1948, inactive in June 1951."

I'd already discovered that many of my uncle's post-WW2 flights were deliveries to places like Sealand and other MU's prior to export. So his delivering it to Sealand, the Burma Air Force destination of this Tiger Moth, seem to fit into place.

rgds Tony

[Manish Chandrayan]

Tony, happy if the information is of help

[cymaz]

This his might be good bedtime reading

[Tony Harrison 2]

Thanks cymaz, some lovely pics of colourful Moths there. I think it must be quite an old site/web page as several links that look interesting don't work. But I'll try the de Havilland Moth Club.

rgds Tony