As mentioned before, the de Havilland Company had been successful with building trainer aircraft for military use. The D.H.82 Tiger Moth was derived from the Moth Trainer with a sturdier fuselage, allowing heavier weights of carried the equipment. The aircraft now could take heavy practice bombs and other equipment as a camera gun. The D.H.82 prototype was ready for take-off in October 1931 and a production in large scale was started. 8.280 aircraft was produced.  

As in many other nations in Europe and South America, the Air Force in Sweden used the Tiger Moth as a basic trainer. Swedish bought the variant D.H.82A.The Air Board  regarded the Tiger Moth as a more suitable basic trainer than the Moth Trainer. The Swedish designations of the Tiger Moth was Sk 11 and Sk 11A. The Sk 11 was powered by a 110 Gipsy III engine, whereas the Sk 11A had a 130 hp Gipsy Major engine. Totally 15 Sk 11 and 20 Sk 11A were provided to the Air Force Flight Academy at Ljungbyhed.

One of the differences between D.H.82 and D.H.82A was that the latter had the upper side of the fuselage behind the cockpit covered with plywood, while the former had it covered with canvas. 

Thirteen aircraft (the first one of the intermediate version DH 60T Tiger Moth) were bought from de Havilland in Britain 1932. The Air Board bought the licensing rights of the Tiger Moth from de Havilland in 1933. ASJA, a forerunner to SAAB, built three Sk 11:s and twenty Sk 11A:s.  

In the end of the thirties, the Tiger Moth was replaced by the Sk 12 Focke Wulf Stieglitz as a trainer at F 5, but the surviving aeroplanes was used for various duties in the Air Force. During the WWII, the Air Force had begun to provide the Wings with sailplanes. The Sk 11 found a new duty as a tug aircraft. The last Tiger Moth was written off in 1958.   

Several Tiger Moths are preserved in Sweden, some in flying conditions. 

Photo at top of Sk 11A (SwAF/n 515), now exhibited at Flygvapenmuseum. It was built in 1935 by ASJA (c/n 47). After its service in the Air Force, the aircraft was sold to Roslagens Flygklubb and carried the civil registration letters SE-BYM. Later, it was bought by SAAB-Scania. The company restored the aircraft and presented it to Flygvapenmuseum.    

Revell has a kit of a RAF de Havilland DH-82 A/C in scale 1:32. A really big model.  Catalogue number 04712. Click on the thumbnail to get to Amazon's page about this model

© Lars Henriksson

Updated 2010-07-30