Captain de Havilland's Moth

A nostalgic celebration of the golden age of aviation

The world's most iconic light aircraft, the DH60 Moth was the brain-child of Geoffrey de Havilland, genius son of an angry and disappointed Victorian clergyman. A successful designer of military aircraft, Geoffrey dreamed of doing for aircraft what the Model T had done for cars. The emergence of his Moth in February 1925 marked the beginning of a craze for flying that gripped a war-weary world for more than a decade. The most successful aircraft of its era, it was the one in which people had the greatest adventures. And it was the Moth which showed that flying was safe, practical and, potentially, open to all.

True, many early Mothists were uber-privileged. The Prince of Wales had one, as did his brother, the Duke of Gloucester. Beryl Markham, who had affairs with both, learned to fly in a Moth.

But Laura Ingalls, who did 980 successive loops in hers, Aspy Engineer, the Indian schoolboy who won the Aga Khan Trophy in his and Amy Johnson, the typist from Hull who flew hers to Australia showed that, to be a pilot, you didn't need to be a superhero or super wealthy. Just a little mad, perhaps. Captain de Havilland's Moth brings to life a golden age in aviation and an astonishing cast of characters whose courage, determination and epic eccentricity is shown in the light of what it is actually like to fly these remarkable aeroplanes.

Captain de Havilland's Moth is a joy. Every chapter is chock full of extraordinary people, evocative places and often jaw-dropping adventures. Alexander Norman brings to life a golden era in aviation history in such a vivid and entertaining way... I wish I'd thought of it! Rowland White

Alexander Norman is the author of a number of bestselling books - including his ghosted Dalai Lama autobiographies, and Gurkha, by Kailash Limbu. His family are steeped in aviation history, and he has flown numerous moths himself.

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