Spotter Magazine Spotter Magazine Issue 2 July 2016 | Page 29

JULY 2016 De Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth DE730 c/n85660, officially registered 9H-RAF, is the first airworthy aircraft of the Malta Aviation Museum. Purchased as a complete, but wingless aircraft in Autumn 2000, the Tiger Moth was previously on the British register as G-ANFW. Built in 1942, it served with the RAF until 1946, when it was purchased from the Air Ministry as RAF surplus, and was initially used at St Eval as a glider tug. Eventually disposed of in favour of more modern aircraft, G-ANFW found her way to the Torbay Aircraft Museum. The museum is known to have closed down in the eighties, and its entire collection was auctioned off. In 1986, the aircraft was involved in a minor accident when it collided with a vehicle while taxiing at White Waltham Airfield. In August 1995, the aircraft suffered another accident whilst taxiing at the same airfield, when it collided with some temporary fencing, damaging the engine, undercarriage left wingtip and tail assembly. 29