Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

provided by

This silent black-and-white clip shows a de Havilland DH60G Gipsy Moth plane, registration VH-UIB, in action in the 1930s. In the first scene the plane is shown side-on and then with its wings in the transport position being wheeled out of a hangar. The wings are then moved into the forward secure position and the plane filled with fuel. After an intertitle, 'Let us “take-off” for a quick flip’, scenes filmed from the cockpit show the runway as the plane hurtles to take-off and then bird’s-eye views of Adelaide.

Educational value points

• The DH60G Gipsy Moth was part of the D60 series of pre-Second World War light aircraft and was an early training biplane in the history of aviation. Designed by the de Havilland Aircraft Company in the 1920s, the Moths were produced as affordable easy-to-fly private planes for the civilian market. More than 800 were built including 32 by Larkin Aircraft Supply Company in Melbourne. The Gipsy Moth was a precursor to the very popular Tiger Moth.

• As revealed in the clip, the Gipsy Moth is only a small aircraft – 7.29 m long, 2.68 m high and an unfolded span of 9.14 m – about the same dimensions as a modern double garage, but its size made it ideal for training. The plane was popular before, during and after the Second World War. Altogether 122 Gipsy Moths appeared on the RAAF register during the War including this one, which was pressed into service in 1944.

• Basically a trainer, the Gipsy Moth could not fly very far (about 515 km) or climb very high (4,420 m). However, with a Gipsy1 engine rated at 100 horsepower (74 kW) and a speed of 164 km per h, it broke many light-plane records around the world. As seen in the clip, flying in it was an exhilarating experience. The noise of the wind in the wires, the roar of the straight-out exhaust and the feel of the slipstream in the open cockpit all contributed to the experience.

• The clip offers an aerial view of the city and surrounds of Adelaide, South Australia, as they were in the 1930s and of the facilities of Parafield Airport, including the hangar built by the Royal Aero Club of South Australia in 1927. The flight over Adelaide reveals the planned design of the city and the surprising number of multistorey buildings in the city centre.

• Much of the historical value of home-movie footage like this lies in its eye-witness record of times past and its narrative of personal interests and enthusiasms. Although amateur, the cinematography and editing are not unskilful, particularly the aerial work. Numerous angle shots are used to add interest to scenes such as filling the plane with fuel. The intertitles are shaky, but they nonetheless reveal the filmmaker’s joy in flying.