This website has been established
to record the history, restoration and return to airworthiness of 1938
Tiger Moth N-5490.
The website is dedicated
to the de Havilland engineers who created the Tiger Moth and to the pilots
who learned to fly on them
many of whom went on to
distinguished wartime and post-war flying careers while others perished
either in training accidents or combat.
If anyone can add to the information presented on this website, please make contact.
Scroll down this page for the latest project news.
The N-5490 project is a proud supporter of the RAF Charitable Trust.
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1938 De Havilland Tiger Moth
N82KF, originally RAF serial N-5490, resting quietly at Harvey Field, Snohomish,
Washington State, USA on 29th January 2012 before acquisition.
Appearances can be deceptive.
After sitting in this open T hangar for many years, the airframe had deteriorated
significantly.
On close inspection and
stripping down, many additional wounds from a long and hard life were uncovered.
A complete and meticulous
restoration is currently under way, returning this historic aircraft to
its orignal
1938 specification, pre-Munich
Crisis colour scheme and 20 ERFTS markings. The end result is expected
to be the most original
and authentically restored
Tiger Moth to date. Follow the restoration
here.
If you would like to support
the restoration of tN-5490, or have any information that would add
to the
research surrounding the
aircraft or the pilots who flew it, please
make contact.
Latest Project News
29th May 2018
It is with great sadness that I have to announce that Sergeant Jim Hutchings
DFM passed away, aged 90, after a short illness on 24th April.
Jim trained on N-5490 at
21 EFTS, RAF Booker in 1949 and flew twelve sorties in N-5490. As
such, Jim was the only living service pilot that I have managed to trace
that flew N-5490.
Jim subsequently flew Horsa
gliders and Jim finished up at Netheravon, from where we flew the last
Horsas to MU's in early 1950. Tugs at that time were Dakotas and
Valettas.
He then went on to serve
in Malaya and Korea on Austers and L19 Bird Dogs (1913 Light Liaison Flight)
until 1953 and then after CFS,
instructing at Middle Wallop
until 1958. He last flew in a Piper Archer in 2008 on the occasion
of his 80th birthday.
Read more about Jim here.
3rd March 2018
A major milestone in the restoration of N-5490 was finally reached yesterday
when the fuselage frame was delivered to have its welding repairs completed.
The damage had been caused
by past heavy landings and new sections have been recovered from other
frame components. Once returned in a few weeks, the frame will receive
its finish coat
of matt cockpit green and
re-assembly will commence. At this point, most of the fuselage fittings
have been restored and await re-assembly in hundreds of plastic bags,
complete with all new correct
British nuts and bolts replacing the hundreds of American AN nuts and bolts
that have been fitted since the aircraft arrived in the States.
Over the winter, the windscreens
were returned to England for restoration which included nickel plating,
all new glass and screws.
New instrument panels have
also been fabricated and the various apertures for the original instruments
are being milled out of the 3/8" Baltic birch plywood on a CNC machine.
The undercarriage restoration
is also complete including almost all new main components, pins, etc.
In particular, the main compression legs are unused originals.
Also in process right now
is the fabrication of a complete set of control cables. This work
is being carried out in England by Andy Presland who makes the cables for
the aircraft of the Shuttleworth Collection.
The fittings, most of which
are also new, are being silver cadmium plated, as original before being
shipped to Old Warden. Cable has been ordered from Bruntons and the
original pattern
British brass thimbles have
ben sourced. All of the cable ends will be hand spliced, per the
original DH cables.
The goal is to get the fuselage
as close to the fabric covering stage as possible by the end of the year.
Meanwhile attention is turning
to the engine, for which a complete set of unused original crankshaft bearings
has just been sourced in Australia.
27th April 2017
It has been nearly a year since my last post here. However, that
does not mean that nothing has been happening.
A huge amount of detailed
restoration work and research has been completed in the last twelve months
and is being reported in the Crew
Room.
The great news this week
regards the FAA registration of the aircraft. N-5490 was the Tiger's
original RAF serial number, but it was registered N82KF
when it was imported to
the USA in 1976 by Geert Frank and sold to its first stateside owner, Ken
French, the number reflecting his initials.
(This numbering scheme was
used for many of the Tigers that Geert imported, restored and sold in the
seventies.)
When I acquired N-5490,
I immediately thought that this would be the perfect FAA N number for the
aircraft.
However, I was disappointed
to discover that the number had already been allocated, to a Philips gyrocopter
in Florida.
I approached the FAA to
see if there was any way I could negotiate with the owner for the number.
I was told that this was
indeed possible, so I wrote to Mr. Philips, the gyrocopter owner, proposing
such an arrangement, but received no reply.
Fast forward to this week.
I was carrying out some other research on the FAA's aircraft registration
website and discovered that N5490 was
to be purged from the records
on 22nd August this year. Obviously, nothing had been heard from
Mr. Philips for many years, and the likelihood
is that his home-made gyrocopter,
which he registered in 1971, was never completed.
So I have now reserved N
number N5490 for N-5490! Since the number 'N5490' was part of the
original 1938 RAF markings,
this means that I will not
have to add a separate N number anywhere on the aircraft.
In other news this week, I have been corresponding with an archivist at the RAF Museum who has unearthed two more RAF documents that reference N-5490:
This is one of the the contract
cards for Air Ministry contract 778402/38 against requirement no. 83/38.
Under this contract,
750 Tiger Moths IIs were
supplied by de Havillands to the RAF. N-5490 is the second machine
on this card.
This is an extract from the
RAF's serial number ledger, showing the service lifespan of N-5490,
starting with being taken
on charge 29th October 1938 and finally being sold 6th November 1953.
24th May 2016
Today I heard from Ross McNeill who sent me two RAF Form 1180 Accident
Cards for N-5490. I have added them to the
History page.
I knew about Carver's accident,
but not that of Midshipman Hadingham. He nosed N-5490 over at 14
EFTS Elmdon, on 28th September 1939.
Further research into Midshipman
Hadingham revealed the following:
Sadly, just over a
year after the nose-over accident, Midshipman David Arthur Charles Hadingham
perished while second pilot of Whitley Mk. 5 P5091 'KN-Y' of 77 Sqn.
at 0335 hrs Wednesday 9th
October, 1940, while operating from Topcliffe. Hadingham had been
attached to Bomber Command and posted to the Squadron for operational experience
from HMS Daedalus.
The target that night was
Hanau. In bad weather, the Whitley crashed into high ground half
a mile west of Snape, near Masham, Yorkshire, killing Haddingham
along with Sergeant G. W.
Brown, Sergeant William G. MacMorland (RAFVR observer), Sergeant Joseph
Reginald Wardman (RAFVR wireless operator)
and Sergeant Cleveland Cottham
(air gunner). The aircraft was returning from operations on Hanau
and crashed about ten miles from the airfield.
It is thought possible that
the aircrsaft ran out of fuel just prior to the crash.
Aged just 23, Hadingham
lies in Grave 4289 in the Sanderstead (All Saints) Churchyard extension,
Coulston and Purley, Surrey.
23rd April 2016
The continuing search for photographs of the Tiger Moths of 20 ERFTS, Gravesend
has turned up this photograph of N-5491, coded 'L' - sister ship to N-5490.
The photograph was taken
by Ivan Thomas when he was 15 or 16 years old. Check here
for more of Ivan's photos of pre-war Gravesend.
7th March 2016
Research into the pilots who trained on N-5490 continues and more incredible
stories of heroism and survival are being unearthed.
Today I uploaded the story
of Midshipman (A) Pat Jackson who trained at 20 ERFTS Gravesend on No.
4 Air Course in 1939.
Along with his crew, Jackson
survived nine days in a lifeboat in the North Atlantic after having to
ditch his
Fairey Swordfish when unable
to find HMS Victorious after a long, lonely search for the Bismarck.
See the new page for Pat Jackson here
and check out his full first
hand story of his survival here.
1st November 2015
Hard on the heels of receiving the tremendous photo of F-BHIN (below) last
month, the photo above was discovered this week.
It shows one of the Tigers
at the Aero Club du Bearn in the fifties on aerowtowing duties.
The Club operated six Tigers - F-BDNZ, F-BGDL,
F-BHIC, F-BHII, F-BHIN (alias
N-5490), and F-BHIQ. Close study of the image suggests that this
is N-5490's sister ship F-BHIQ.
With grateful thanks to
Jean-Marc Lacoste of Versailles, France for providing this and another
fine image now posted on the History page.
Jean-Marc rescued these
photos from the trash at Pau when the airfield closed in 1978!
The above photo captures
the point of release - high in the sunlit silence - with the Pyrenees rising
in the distance to the south above athe sun-split clouds.
This is one of the most
etherial and haunting Tiger Moth images I have ever seen.
12th October 2015
Another historic image of N-5490 has surfaced. Here we see her in
her shiny new all-over silver dope livery and French
registration marks applied
by A. J. Whittemore's at Croydon in 1955. F-BHIN left Croydon on
17th October 1955 to start a new civilian life in France.
It was registered to the
Aero Club du Bearn, Pau-Idron on 27th January 1956 and became one of at
least six Tigers that the Club operated around this time.
G-ANHG's CAA C of A was
suspended 9th May 1957 and the registration was cancelled in late 1959.
The photo was supplied by
Ken Tilley who acqired the image from the late Charles Holland collection.
25th May 2015
Apologies for not posting to the website for over a year! However,
it has been a very busy year for N-5490 with restoration going ahead at
full speed.
N-5490 is now completely
dismantled and many hundreds of parts have been blasted, inspected and
primed ready for re-assembly. Some small repairs are needed to the
fuselage frame,
and so the necessary replacement
tubes and repair fishplates have been sourced in readiness for welding.
The plan for the rest of 2015 is to have the fuselage
repaired and reassembled
with the controls and other components refitted. Currently work is
concentrated on the control box, which is at the core of the fuselage.
The photograph above shows
the control box partially stripped down. (The assembled control box
at the bottom of the photograph is from Queen Bee V4760.)
As re-assembly progresses,
regular reports will be posted to the Crew Room forum.
While the restoration is
progressing, more research into the pilots who flew N-5490 at 20 ERFTS
Gravesend is producing interesting results.
Several more biographies
are currently being prepared and will be added to the Pilots page shortly.
These include Sub Lieutenant
(A) Gibson, who trained on No. 3 Air Course at Gravesend in 1939, had a
busy war and rose to the rank of Vice Admiral,
having captained the Ark
Royal in the sixties. He held the three most senior Fleet Air Arm
appointments: Flag Officer Aircraft Carriers, Flag Officer Naval Flying
Training
and Flag Officer Naval Air
Command. Gibson died in 2000 aged 84. The search for his pilot's
logbook is under way.
18th March 2014
Bill Graham gets ready to fire up N82KF at Schellville, California in the
summer of 1987.
This and two more superb
photos have turned up recently. They were taken by the late Mike
Ody and were kindly passed along
by George Trussell via Air
Britain. The other two photos may be found in the Crew Room.
30th December 2013
Apologies for not having reported any news or restoration progress for
over a year - where does the time go?
I will be making more updates
shortly - particularly relating to the restoration which is now getting
under way.
Just before Christmas, I
received an e-mail from Jim Hutchings, aged 85 who learned to fly in N-5490
in 1949 at 21 EFTS, RAF Booker.
He was a trainee Army pilot
training to be a glider pilot. He went on to Airspeed Horsas.
That was 64 years ago and Jim is the only living pilot
I have been able to trace
who flew N-5490 in its RAF service days. His logbook shows that he
flew N-5490 twelve times during his flight training.
I have added a page to the
Pilots
section of the website, detailing Jim's service career and his association
with N-5490.
2nd December 2012
On a bright September morning in 1986, N-5490 arrives at Petaluma, California
at the end of its epic delivery flight from Fairbanks, Alaska.
What makes this photograph
remarkable is that I took it! See many more of my photos of the arrival
in the Crew Room.
23rd November 2012
More pilot biographies of those who trained and instructed at 20 ERFTS
are being added t0 the Pilots page.
So far, fifteen have been
written and there are many more in the research phase that will be added
in due course.
Included are remarkable
stories of courage, sacrifice, achievement, humour and record breaking
that make compelling reading.
19th November 2012
Filling up somewhere along the Alcan - the Alaska Canada Highway in the
Yukon - on the epic flight from Fairbanks, Alaska to
Petaluma, California in
September 1986. Note the packed snow on the ground. The Tiger
was landed on the dirt road every few hundred miles for a fill-up,
creating quite a spectacle
for the other customers. This and many other superb images of N-5490
were sent in by Dave Treversi today.
18th November 2012 Ken
French sent over a set of photos of N-5490 this week that were taken when
he operated
the aeroplane from Plum
Island in the seventies. Here's a delightful study taken over the
coast near the airport.
12th November 2012
Today a discussion forum was added to the website so that frequent updates
on the restoration can be posted
and everyone can become
involved more directly in the project. Just click The Crew Room link
at the top of this page,
register and you will become
an active part of the project.
Remembrance Day 2012 I
was sent
this
tribute to Flt Lt Ian Smith today. It is the remarkable story
of another heroic pilot
that should never be forgotten.
With thanks to Peter Hills, who comments: "A sober read, amazing he was
not awarded the DFC and DSO".
8th November 2012
This evening I uploaded a tribute to my parents - both DH workers - here.
Among other things, this
page tells the story of the October 1940 bombing of Hatfield and includes
many images of the downed
Ju-88 and the terrible damage it wreaked.
4th November 2012
Today this website was re-hosted to its new, permanent home here at www.N5490.org.
Many more files have been
uploaded and the content will continue to expand in the coming days, weeks
and months.
31st October 2012 This morning I received this e-mail from Bill Clark:
"I am very pleased to have
been pointed to your website and found it fascinating. It was a huge
surprise to see the photos of Gravesend Airport as it was then known and,
as a "flying/aviation mad
keen eighteen-year old" spent many an hour on the outside of that place
watching the newly formed 20 ERFTS Tigers performing
and it was this that induced
me to apply to the RAFVR to train as a Pilot at Gravesend's sister airport,
Rochester, also in Kent. I was successful in my application
but it was not until WWII
was underway that I was called to commence my flying training on Tigers.
By this time most training establishments had moved away from the southern
part of England
and so I trained in The
Midlands at Desford EFTS on the western side of the City of Leicester.
At the end of my training in various other places in the UK I flew off
the aircraft carrier Ark Royal
in a long-range Hurricane
Mk II to Malta and later went on to join other Fighter Pilots in squadrons
in the Egyptian and Libyan Deserts in 1941/42.
As you would expect I am
now a 92 year old person but still very much interested in all things aviational
concerning WWII.
I will continue to look
on your website for updates of your project and wish you every success
in this venture.
With very Best regards,
Will"
31st October 2012 Mike
Lithgow's logbook from 1939 when he was learning to fly with No. 20
ERFTS, Gravesend is preserved in the museum at Brooklands.
Mike mentions in his autobiography,
'Mach 1', that the
only memorable event at Gravesend was spinning the Tiger Moth, which made
him violently ill.
This entry in Mike's logbook
for July 6th 1939 shows that he did his spinning in N-5490 with his instructor
Pilot Officer Porter.
This morning I received the following e-mail from Pilot Officer Porter's son Peter.
"When my father moved from
Bexleyheath, Kent, he left a lot of stuff in the attic at the old house.
It is a great pity that one of the items
that he left was his log
book, particularly as I would loved to have had it after he passed away
in 1999. It would have been a mine of information
and I would have dearly
loved to use all that information as part of the website
that I was able to put together. If you look at the site
you will see that he kept
an amazing amount of stuff from his time in the RAF, including photographs
and training excerpts,
but not the most important
item, his logbook. The chap who bought his house called him to ask
if he wanted it but
my father told him not to
bother, It's possible that it is still available so I will see if
the current owner still has it.
I can't remember the address,
but my brother may be able to tell me. I'll call him tomorrow and
see if he can remember."
30th October 2012
The task of uploading biographies of the RN pilots who learned to fly at
Gravesend in the summer of 1939,
including several who are
known to have flown N-5490 is underway and can be found here.
Many more are waiting to
be added and research continues. We are particularly interested in
tracing the logbooks of these pilots.
Four logs have been traced
so far, and of these four, two of the pilots - Mike
Lithgow and Anthony Tuke - trained
on N-5490.
Heroes one and all.
27th October 2012 Website launched.
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