Born in 1882, Geoffrey de Havilland was the second son of a village pastor. At an early age, he displayed a mechanical interest and pursued a career as an automotive engineer, building cars and motorcycles. Frustrated at work, in 1909 he received a gift of 1,000 pounds from his grandfather to build his first airplane, just a few years after the Wright brothers had made their first flight.

By World War I, de Havilland was working for Airco, where he designed a number of early warplanes, which enjoyed varying success, and flew as his own test pilot. In 1920, with the support of his former boss, de Havilland set up his own independent company and embarked on a series of aircraft named after moths, inspired by his love of lepidopterology, or the study of butterflies and moths.

• READ MORE: Reaching Uncharted Corners of the Globe in a Fokker F.VII

In 1932, he introduced the DH.82 Tiger Moth, a variant of earlier aircraft designed specifically as a military trainer for the Royal Air Force (RAF), as well as other air forces. Like many aircraft at the time, the Tiger Moth’s fuselage is constructed of fabric-covered steel tubing, while its wings are made of fabric-covered wooden frames. I’ve seen a single person lift a Tiger Moth by the tail to take it out of its hangar. The Tiger Moth was powered by a de Havilland Gypsy air-cooled, 4-cylinder in-line engine which produced 120-130 hp, depending on the version.

Like most trainers, the Tiger Moth had two seats, each with its own set of controls, with the student in front and the instructor or solo pilot in back. One of the major changes introduced to the Tiger Moth, at RAF insistence, was folding door panels that made it easier to enter and exit both cockpits. The feature was absolutely essential when a student or instructor needed to quickly bail out wearing  heavy parachutes.

The silver knobs on the left control throttle, fuel mixture, and aileron trim. The knob on the right enables “auto slots,” slats on the wings that automatically deploy like flaps to provide additional lift at low speeds and high angles of attack. Notice that there is no artificial horizon. However, there is a turn indicator (in the center) as well as a red column that indicates the aircraft’s pitch. It is currently showing nose-up because the plane is resting on its tailwheel.

The compass, situated just in front of the stick, is a bit tricky. You can either keep it pointed toward north and look to where the line is pointing, or you can rotate the compass ring to show the current heading at the top and follow that by keeping it centered.

• READ MORE: Reenacting Bombing Missions in an F-117 Nighthawk

In addition to the cockpit gauge, there’s also a mechanical airspeed indicator on the left wing. Red shows typical stall speed range (below 45 mph).

I’m at England’s Upavon Airfield, a few miles north of Stonehenge, which was home to the RAF’s Central Flying School, founded in 1912, and where the first Tiger Moths were delivered. It is now a small army base (hence the vehicles) and is also used as a glider field. With no electrical starter, the Tiger Moth is hand-propped to get it started. The turning of the propeller, by hand, engages the magnetos that send charges to the spark plugs, starting the engine.

This particular Tiger Moth, N-6635, is based on the one on display at the Imperial War Museum at RAF Duxford, near Cambridge. It’s actually a composite that was put together with parts from different Tiger Moths.

The engine is modeled realistically. If you overstress it on full throttle for more than a few minutes, it will overheat and conk out. If you let it idle for too long, the spark plugs will foul up. With a small engine like this, the left-turning tendencies are not pronounced. However, the trickiest part of takeoff for most tailwheel airplanes is still when the tail comes up. The descent of the rotating propeller causes a gyroscopic precession to the left.

The Tiger Moth gained immediate popularity as the RAF’s primary trainer—the first airplane a would-be pilot learned to fly after ground school before moving on to more advanced fighters or bombers. It gained a reputation for being “easy to fly, but difficult to master.” In normal flight, it was forgiving of mistakes. On the other hand, the Tiger Moth required great precision from a pilot to learn aerobatic combat maneuvers, without going into a spin. However, it recovers easily from spins, which meant it highlighted a student’s shortcomings without (usually) putting them at fatal risk. Though I did notice that when flying upside down (or going through a roll), the engine sputters, probably because gravity messes with the fuel flow.

During the 1930s, between world wars, students selected by the RAF took about nine to 12 months to earn their pilot wings, building up about 150 hours of flight time, about 55 with an instructor and the rest solo. Their instruction included night, formation, and instrument flying, along with gunnery and aerobatics (for combat).

The Tiger Moth was sold to 25 air forces from different countries and proved popular to private buyers as well. It was a big commercial success for the company. A total of 1,424 Tiger Moths were produced prior to the outbreak of WWII, most of which were manufactured at the de Havilland factory in Hatfield, north of London.

Slowing down while descending to land can be difficult. I found I usually needed to cut the power to idle and glide in. Power-off landings were a very typical method in that era. It’s nearly impossible to see forward in the Tiger Moth, especially when landing. It’s best to lean your head out the side, while keeping one eye on controlling the airspeed at around 60 mph (about 15-20 mph above stalling).

• READ MORE: Exploring the Checkered History of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter

There are also no wheel brakes. So once you do land, you just have to let friction slow you down. It’s easier in a grassy field like this.

The success of the Tiger Moth led to Geoffrey de Havilland being awarded the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1934. But its story was only just beginning.

Welcome to Goderich Airport (CYGD) in Ontario, Canada, about 2.5 hours north of Detroit on the eastern shore of Lake Huron. In 1928, de Havilland set up a subsidiary in Canada to produce Tiger Moths to train Canadian airmen. This Tiger Moth, #8922 (registration C-GCWT), is based on a real plane that belongs to the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Mount Hope, Ontario, and is in airworthy condition.

With the outbreak of WWII in 1939, the British government realized that Britain itself was an unsuitable location for training large numbers of new pilots. Not only is the weather often poor, the airspace over Britain was quickly becoming a battleground between the beleaguered RAF and the German Luftwaffe—the last place you’d want a student pilot to learn how to fly.

Canada, in contrast, offered vast areas far from enemy activity, where pilot training could be conducted. To take advantage of this, the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) was created to instruct thousands of airmen from Britain and across the Empire in safer locations like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Bermuda, and South Africa. The yellow “training” livery was typical of the BCATP, though the real-life airplane was also equipped with a plexiglass-enclosed cockpit to permit winter training.

Many of the small airports dotted across Canada from east to west—as well as some large ones—got their start as part of BCATP, commonly referred to as “the Plan.” I selected Goderich to fly from because after it was built in Canada in 1942, this plane, #8922, was used to train pilots here at the No. 12 Elementary Flying Training School (EFTS), as part of the BCATP. The same airplane later went to No. 4 EFTS at Windsor Mills, Quebec, an airfield that no longer exists.

Eventually, there were 36 elementary flight schools across Canada, in addition to dozens more devoted to training bombardiers, navigators, and gunners. At least 131,533 Allied pilots and aircrew were trained in Canada under BCATP—the largest of any country participating in the Plan—of which 72,835 were Canadian. The program cost Canada $1.6 billion but employed 104,000 Canadians in air bases across the land. De Havilland produced 1,548 Tiger Moths in Canada, by war’s end, to help stock these flight schools with aircraft.

While training pilots in Canada was safer than in Britain, lives were still lost. From 1942 to 1944, a total of 831 fatal accidents took place, an average of five per week.

• READ MORE: The Story of the Schneider Trophy and the Supermarine S.5

BCATP training was by no means limited to Canada. I’m here at Parafield Airport in Adelaide, Australia, which was home to that country’s No. 1 Elementary Flight Training School and received its first Tiger Moths in April 1940. This particular Tiger Moth, A17-58, was built by de Havilland in Australia in 1940 and apparently still continues to fly. Australia eventually had 12 elementary flight schools (plus a host of other schools) as part of BCATP, which was known there as the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS).

Prior to BCATP, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) only trained about 50 pilots per year. By 1945, more than 37,500 Australian aircrew had been trained in Australia, though many then went to Canada to complete their more advanced training before going into combat. Most Australians in the RAAF went on to fight in the Pacific Theater, though some joined the RAF to fight over Europe. De Havilland built a total of 1,070 Tiger Moths in Australia and even exported a few batches to the U.S. Army Air Forces and the Royal Indian Air Force.

The BCATP was one of the largest aviation training programs in history, providing about half of the airmen who flew for Britain and its dependencies in WWII. The ability to train in safety, away from the combat zone, gave Allied pilots a crucial advantage over the Germans, who typically went into combat with roughly half the training hours of their  counterparts. The program was so important that President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who called the U.S. “the arsenal of democracy,” dubbed Canada “the aerodrome of democracy” as a result of its contribution to training Allied airmen—many of them in the Tiger Moth.

Tiger Moths were not only used to train pilots during WWII. Some were deployed for coastal patrols. I’m here at Farnborough, Britain’s former center for experimental aircraft development (southwest of London), to investigate another interesting purpose they served.

No, it’s not a mistake—there’s a reason why there are no pilots visible in either cockpit. This aircraft, LF858, was what was known as a “Queen Bee.” British anti-aircraft gun crews needed practice firing at real targets. But flying an airplane with people shooting at you is, well, rather dangerous. So de Havilland figured out a way to put radio equipment in the rear cockpit that could receive messages for an operator on the ground and work the aircraft’s controls accordingly. In other words, it was the world’s first “drone” aircraft.

Besides being able to fly by remote control, the main difference between a regular Tiger Moth and a Queen Bee is that instead of metal tubing for the fuselage frame, the latter used wood (like for its wings) to save money. The objective wasn’t to shoot down the Tiger Moth—that would be wasteful. Gunners used an offset to hopefully miss, so the airplane could land and be used again. But if they did hit, no pilots were at risk.

About 470 Tiger Moth “Queen Bees” were built during WWII. The term “drone” for a pilotless airplane derives directly from the Queen Bee program and refers to a male bee who flies just once to mate with a queen then dies.

By the end of WWII, nearly 8,700 Tiger Moths had been built, 4,200 of them for the RAF alone. It continued to be used by the RAF for training until it was replaced by the de Havilland Chipmunk in the 1950s.

The fact that so many people across the British Empire had learned to fly in a Tiger Moth made them immensely popular after the war, among private pilots and enthusiasts. An estimated 250 Tiger Moths are still flying, including this one based out of the small airstrip near Ranfurly on the southern island of New Zealand.

A number of Tiger Moth clubs exist around the world. The late Christopher Reeve, of Superman fame, once joined one of these clubs and learned how to fly the Tiger Moth. Reeve even made a movie about it, which you can find on YouTube. He said it took some time getting used to how slow they approach and land.

Tiger Moths have appeared in several films, often disguised as other biplanes. For instance, the plane in Lawrence of Arabia (1962) was a Tiger Moth, decked out to look like a German Fokker. The silver biplane in The English Patient (1993) was a Tiger Moth (the other, yellow biplane in that movie was a Stearman). It’s worth mentioning that the biplane in Out of Africa (1985) was not a Tiger Moth, but the earlier and very similar Gypsy Moth, also built by de Havilland. Apparently there was even a movie in 1974 called The Sergeant and the Tiger Moth (1974) about a guy and his girlfriend who aren’t even pilots but build and fly one anyway. I have no idea if it’s any good, so please find and watch it for me.

If you’d like to see a version of this story with more historical photos and screenshots, you can check out my original post here. This story was told utilizing Ant’s Airplanes Tiger Moth add-on to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, along with liveries and scenery downloaded for free from the flightsim.to community.

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The aircraft assigned to the 5th Bomb Wing from Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, arrived at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, in late January, deploying as part of a Bomber Task Force (BTF). They are designated to the 23rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, which is integrated into joint exercises with allies and regional partners.

“Designed to showcase the U.S.’s ability to deter, deny, and dominate, BTF missions aim to influence and dissuade aggression from adversaries or competitors,” the Air Force said in a statement.

• READ MORE: DOD: China’s Military Catching Up with Western Air Forces

The quarterly bilateral exercise—dubbed “Cope North 2024″—launches Monday and includes forces from the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF), Stars and Stripes reported.

RAAF deployed a C-27J Spartan multirole military transport aircraft along with 215 aviators to participate in Cope North, it said Monday.

“Exercise Cope North will provide training opportunities and invaluable experience for our people in a challenging scenario,” RAAF Task Group Commander, Group Captain Kylie Green said. “We are focused on deepening relationships with the United Pacific Air Forces and the [JASDF], and the participation of Canada, France and the Republic of Korea.”

Exercise Cope North, which was originally established in 1978, is the U.S. Pacific Air Forces’ largest multilateral exercise.

• READ MORE: U.S. Air Force Pilot Safe After F-16 Crash in South Korea 

This year, an estimated 1,700 U.S. airmen, Marines, and sailors are expected to participate, as well as 700 service members from JASDF, RAAF, French Air and Space Force, Royal Canadian Air Force, and Republic of Korea Air Force. According to the U.S. Air Force, 85 aircraft are expected to fly 1,400 missions across three islands and six airfields.

Cope North 24 will conclude February 23.

The BUFF is here as part of a Bomber Task Force to support strategic deterrence missions aimed at reinforcing the rules-based international order in the Indo-Pacific region. #FreeandOpenIndoPacific@usairforce | @INDOPACOM | @AFGlobalStrike | @TeamMinot https://t.co/F1VP7BW1SA pic.twitter.com/rDIf2Ye2gg

— PACAF (@PACAF) February 2, 2024

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The large-scale exercise—dubbed “Red Flag 24-1″—will focus on overcoming pacing challenges with allies in the Indo-Pacific theater, the Air Force said. The realistic combat training exercise has nearly 2,000 participants, about 100 aircraft, and personnel from 30 U.S. and allied units, including the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). 

• READ MORE: Royal Australian Air Force Refuels USAF Aircraft in Trials

During the event, Red Flag participants will undergo a range of combat environment scenarios, including defensive counter air, offensive counter air suppression of enemy air defenses, as well as offensive counter air-to-air interdiction, the service said.

“Training prioritizes first timer’s combat missions, mission commander upgrades, integration, and flag unique experiences that contribute most to readiness and partnering,” said Colonel Eric Winterbottom, commander of the 414th Combat Training Squadron based at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.

• READ MORE: Royal Air Force Tests Expeditionary Fueling System in Arctic Circle

The Royal Air Force’s presence in the exercise includes eight Typhoon fighters, a Voyager air-to-air refueling aircraft, a rivet joint aircrew, and air operation controllers.

RAAF said it has deployed about 150 of its personnel, along with six F-35A Lightning II fighters, marking the first time the country’s fighter jets have participated in the exercises.

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“Generations of RAAF aviators have come to this exercise since 1980, and it continues to evolve and reflect the threats and challenges faced on modern operations,” said RAAF Wing Commander Adrian Kiely, commanding officer of 3 Squadron Wing. “Exercise ‘Red Flag Nellis’ will test every facet of our F-35A capability, allow us to integrate with our American and British allies, and practice how we project force on combat operations.”

One of the world’s toughest air combat training environments, Exercise Red Flag Nellis 24-1, has now begun.#AusAirForce aviators have joined counterparts from @usairforce and @RoyalAirForce to hone their war-fighting skills.#RFNAFB #OurPartners @NellisAFB pic.twitter.com/T6dXe72LEk

— Royal Australian Air Force (@AusAirForce) January 16, 2024

Red Flag exercises began at Nellis AFB in 1975, deploying lessons learned from Vietnam in order to expose military pilots to combat missions and increase their effectiveness and confidence. Exercises typically include a variety of attack, fighter, bomber, reconnaissance, electronic warfare, and aerial refueling aircraft.

Red Flag 24-1 is set to conclude February 2.

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An RAAF KC-30A multirole tanker from 33 Squadron collaborated with USAF’s 418th Flight Test Squadron (FLTS) at Edwards Air Force Base, California, conducting more than 400 contacts of the airframes over the course of nearly a month, RAAF said Monday. 

“In addition to increasing the interoperability between our nations’ militaries, these opportunities to collaborate closely with another professional test organization provide immense benefits to everyone involved by sharing best practices, lessons learned and unique flight test techniques,” said Lieutenant Colonel Jacob Lambach, director of operations for the 418th FLTS.

• READ MORE: Air Force Reverse Refuels KC-10 Tanker with ‘Floating Gas Station’

The detachment included a qualified test pilot, four flight test engineers, flight test system specialist, two contractor flight test air refueling operators, as well as aircrew and maintenance personnel, RAAF said.

“A total of 412 contacts were successfully made between the KC-30A and RC-135 over eight sorties,” RAAF Flight Lieutenant Jordan Smith said. “The RC-135 works well as a receiver for the KC-30A as they are relatively stable in contact position and the fuel offload rate is reasonable for its size. Air-to-air refueling provided by the KC-30A allows the RAAF to contribute to the force extension of USAF airframes, either on exercises or future operations.”

• READ MORE: Air Force Conducts First Commercial Air-to-Air Refueling of Fighter

Data from the KC-30A and Boeing RC-135 air-to-air refueling will be used in a USAF flight test report, which will help facilitate a series of gateway checks, RAAF said.

“[Once] clearance has been approved by both countries, it will be documented for future use when conducting air-to-air refueling with the pairing,” the service said.

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Air Force officials are in “preliminary discussions” about purchasing the drone, previously known as Loyal Wingman, which could be a “risk reduction mechanism” for the NGAD platform, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said during an event in Australia last week, Breaking Defense reported. “I think there’s a lot of mutual interest in working together,” Kendall said. “And we’re gonna be sorting out the details over the next few weeks,” he said, according to the news outlet.

The 38-foot-long MQ-28 unmanned combat air vehicle with a 2,000 nm range has been in development for the Royal Australian Air Force since 2019 and is considered a foundation of Boeing’s Airpower Teaming System.

• READ MORE: Air Force Looking to Manned, Unmanned Aircraft Teaming

Kendall has championed the concept of pairing unmanned air combat platforms with piloted aircraft, such as the sixth-generation NGAD fighter, as a cost-effective way to build mass for the service.

“To have an affordable Air Force of any reasonable size, we’ve got to introduce some lower-cost platforms,” he said earlier this year. 

• READ MORE: Report: Air Force Backs Off Pairing B-21 Bomber With Combat Drone

First Flight Test

The MQ-28 completed its first flight test last March when it conducted a takeoff under its own power and flew a planned route at different speeds and altitudes.

“The Loyal Wingman project is a pathfinder for the integration of autonomous systems and artificial intelligence to create smart human-machine teams,” Air Vice-Marshal Cath Roberts, RAAF Head of Air Force Capability, said at the time. “Through this project we are learning how to integrate these new capabilities to complement and extend air combat and other missions.”

The MQ-28 Ghost Bat is the first aircraft to be designed and built in Australia in more than 50 years, according to Boeing.

What’s a Ghost Bat?

Earlier this year, RAAF officials announced the Loyal Wingman aircraft’s new name, which is a nod to the drone’s mission as well as its origin.

“A ghost bat is an Australian hunter that uses sophisticated multi-spectral sensors to detect, hunt and kill prey both in the air and on the ground,” RAAF’s Head of Air Force Capability, Air Vice-Marshal Robert Denney said at the time. “They team together in large numbers to confuse and overwhelm their adversaries and are native to Australia.”

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The stealth bombers belonging to the 509th Bomb Wing arrived at Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base Amberley (YAMB) on Sunday, and are part of a Bomber Task Force (BTF) that routinely rotates strategic bombers in the Indo-Pacific region.

“This deployment of the B-2 to Australia demonstrates and enhances the readiness and lethality of our long-range penetrating strike force,” said Lt. Col. Andrew Kousgaard, 393rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron commander, in a statement. “We look forward to training and enhancing our interoperability with our RAAF teammates, as well as partners and allies across the Indo-Pacific as we meet [Pacific Air Force] objectives.”

The BTF rotation supports the Enhanced Cooperation Initiative under the Force Posture Agreement between the U.S. and Australia, and comes on the heels of a recent joint training exercise conducted between the two countries. 

In late March, a B-2 from Whiteman flew to Amberley for training aimed at boosting interoperability among allies, while also operating in the Indo-Pacific region. 

During the spring operation, the B-2 conducted aerial refueling from an Alaska Air National Guard Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker in Australian airspace before joining eight fighter aircraft. Those fighters included:

• Two RAAF Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning IIs
• Two RAAF Boeing EA-18 Growlers
• Two RAAF Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornets
• Two U.S. Air Force General Dynamics F-16C Fighting Falcons  

When the B-2 arrived at Amberley, it marked the first time the aircraft had landed at the Australian air base, according to the U.S. Air Force.

“This is the most consequential theater with the most challenging security issues…and advancing our interoperability with critical allies like Australia is critical to maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific,” said U.S. Navy Adm. John C. Aquilino, commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, at the time of the March operation. “There are many aspects that are going on daily to continue to move the security relationship forward in a positive way to provide deterrence, prevent war, and maintain peace and stability within the region.”

• READ MORE: Chinese Fighter Accused of Intercepting, Releasing Debris Into Australian P-8’s Engines

The training exercises are part of a continued focus on establishing threat deterrence in the region, at a time when China continues to demonstrate aggressive behavior. 

In late May, for example, a Chinese fighter jeopardized the crew safety of an RAAF Boeing P-8 Poseidon aircraft when it intercepted the airplane and released debris into its engines while it conducted a routine surveillance flight over the South China Sea, according to Australian defense officials.

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Washington’s relationship with China remains one of competition, and not contention, according to U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who also described the Indo-Pacific region as the DOD’s “priority theater” during a press conference with reporters while in Thailand.

“We do not seek a new Cold War, an Asian NATO, or a region split into hostile blocs,” Austin said, while speaking at a defense conference held in Singapore in June, the Wall Street Journal reported. “We will defend our interests without flinching, but we’ll also work toward our vision for this region—one of expanding security, one of increased cooperation, and not one of growing division.”

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News of the incident sparked sharp words and accusations from defense officials in both countries, and comes close on the heels of a separate incident involving Chinese and Canadian military aircraft. 

During the May 26 incident, a Chinese J-16 fighter flew in front of the Australian P-8 and released a “bundle of chaff,” Australia’s Defense Minister Richard Marles said, per a Reuters report. The chaff, which is used as a radar countermeasure, included strips of aluminum and was sucked into the engine.

“The intercept resulted in a dangerous maneuver, which posed a safety threat to the P-8 aircraft and its crew,” Australia’s Department of Defense said in a statement released Sunday. “Defense has for decades undertaken maritime surveillance activities in the region and does so in accordance with international law, exercising the right to freedom of navigation and overflight in international waters and airspace.”

Marles said the J-16 “cut across the nose of the P-8, settling in front of the P-8 at very close distance.”

China fired back at the accusation, claiming the Australian aircraft ignored repeated warnings as it was flying near the disputed Paracel Islands, China’s defense ministry spokesman, Tan Kefei said, The Guardian reported. 

“The Australian military plane seriously threatened China’s sovereignty and security, and the measures taken by the Chinese military were professional, safe, reasonable, and legal,” Tan said.

On Monday, Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said Chinese military aircraft nearly hit Canadian aircraft deployed in Japan as part of a United Nations effort enforcing sanctions against North Korea. “China’s actions are irresponsible and provocative in this case, and we will continue to register strongly that they are putting people at risk,” he said at a press conference.

According to Canadian defense officials, Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) aircraft were forced to abruptly change their flight paths because of the aircraft interception, and this represents a concern that is increasing in frequency.

“In these interactions, [People’s Liberation Army Air Force] aircraft did not adhere to international air safety norms,” Canadian Armed Forces said in a statement. “These interactions are unprofessional and/or put the safety of our RCAF personnel at risk. In some instances, the RCAF aircrew felt sufficiently at risk that they had to quickly modify their own flight path in order to increase separation and avoid a potential collision with the intercepting aircraft.”

Chinese officials responded by accusing Canada of “spreading disinformation” and conducting “enemy reconnaissance of China,” The Guardian reported. 

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