De Havilland DH.85 Leopard Moth

The de Havilland DH.85 Leopard Moth was a three-seat, high-wing cabin monoplane designed and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company in 1933 as the successor to the DH.80 Puss Moth. It kept the same layout, with the pilot seated centrally in front of two side-by-side passengers and folding wings for hangarage, but replaced the tubular steel fuselage frame with a lighter all-plywood structure, which allowed a substantial gain in range, performance and capacity on the same type of engine. The prototype first flew on 27 May 1933 and in July won the King's Cup Race at an average of 139.5 mph, flown by Geoffrey de Havilland himself. A total of 133 were built, including 71 for owners in the British Isles and ten for Australia, with others exported to France, Germany, India, South Africa and Switzerland, and production ended in 1936.