In 2005 a dozen US-based Moth pilots arrived in the UK for the Woburn Moth Rally. Two of the group – Air Marshal Ron Dick and myself – were viewing a very beautiful Spitfire instrument panel being displayed there.
“Ron said, ‘Harry, you must put this in the back cockpit of John’s new Moth!’” Of course, I laughed and asked “Why ever so?” Ron pointed out that in 2006 the anniversary of both the Spitfire and the Moth would be held and “this would be a great thing”.
I had recently received a crashed Tiger Moth at my home base in Palm Springs, California which I’d planned to repair as an Australian ‘A’ model for its new owner John Burson in Georgia, but now this was to be the bed for the panel.
Our group gathered on almost any occasion, in a pub, of course, and this idea became a popular topic. Ron pushed and John Burson thought he’d love to have what was by now dubbed a ‘Spitmoth’.
Years before, I had installed a bubble canopy on my first Tiger Moth. John had always liked this idea (this may be why he owns three Canadian Tiger Moths with canopies!) and wanted one on the Spitmoth and luckily, I had one left.
Here’s what we included in the Spitmoth: to run the Spitfire instruments, a DHC-1 Chipmunk Gipsy Major engine with starter, generator and a vacuum system. Of course, the firewall must be modified to get all these goodies in and this was a difficult build in stainless steel. An electrical system consisting of two 12 volt batteries, a regulator (from a Chipmunk) and divided in such a way that the starter and generator used 24 volts and the radio/transponder used 12 volts and a vacuum pump.
I had gathered all the original Spitfire instruments; however, there was not enough room for the large turn and bank, so I substituted a Chipmunk unit. All instruments were sent off for rebuild and the vacuum gauge face was changed to read “boost” instead of vacuum.
The radio-transponder and interphone were placed at the top of the panel so one could read them without looking down inside the cockpit. The seat was rebuilt after viewing a real Spitfire. A false undercarriage up/down unit was built, as was a working fuse box. The trim handle was replaced with a trim wheel, and a smaller rudder trim unit was also installed.
The sides of the cockpit were finished with aluminum. The standard Tiger Moth control column was replaced with a spade grip which I constructed and brakes were also fitted. The canopy was a real challenge; however I eventually did get it fitted with locking open and closed devices installed.
If one took off with it open without locking it on takeoff, it could run forward and smack the pilot on the back of the head! I had a coarse cruise propeller built for the Spitmoth too. All of these things, by themselves, were real problems, and instead of the machine being finished quickly, as all had envisioned, it took years.
The engine arrived during the summer of 2008 while I was in Idaho, and I had to rush across to Los Angeles so that US Customs would not impound it. I’ve learned a lot about importing engines into the USA! From January of 2009 until mid July, I worked on this machine seven days a week, eight hours a day.
All completed, I took my first test flight and all went well, except I was using a handheld radio, as the aircraft’s units were not installed yet. Palm Springs tower was not pleased, and on my second flight suggested I get new radios installed or put off flying. I took the radios to Chino and had them wired and now everyone was happy.
The delivery flight from my home in Palm Springs to John Burson in Georgia began on July 17. It was to be via Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada to attend the airshow celebrating 100 years of Canadian flight. After the show, with my Chipmunk being flown by Dick Laumeyer, we then took both aircraft to Oshkosh and spent a day there before continuing on to new owner John Burson’s small 2,500 ft airfield, Gum Creek (International).
(Dick is a former US Navy A-4 pilot with hundreds of carrier landings and my room-mate when we joined Pan Am in 1965.) We were greeted with lots of cold beer and one cannot imagine just how happy and relieved I was to have safely delivered this aircraft. Our trip had taken roughly 44 hours of flight time!
John Burson's Spitmoth is also fitted with a large bubble canopy.
