Our Fleet

Piper Cub

The PA-18-95 (The military version was called an L-18C) was the first series of Super Cubs produced by Piper. They have more and different tubing to the PA-18-90 which was an upgraded J3C. The original empty weight was around 800 to 840 pounds.

The Tiger Club operates two Piper Super Cubs, G-LCUB and G-SWAY. G-SWAY is fitted with an electric starter making it easier for touring.

LCUB is fitted with the C-90-8F engine which really develops about 95 horse power during take-off, it has no flaps and as the engine does not have a starter, so it needs to be hand swung. The C-90 engine burns around 5 gallons per hour. Around 840 L-18Cs were produced in total.

G-LCUB was originally built as an L-18C-PI with c/n 18-1631 first registered as 51-15631 indicating it was built in 1951. It then went to the French Army as 18-1631 and was sold to Three Counties Aero Club at Blackbushe in January 1971 when it was registered G-AYPR. It was sold through several private owners around England before arriving at Liverpool, when it's registration was changed in February 2007 to G-LCUB by J.A. Keen at Liverpool Airport just before the Tiger Club bought it and moved it down to our base.

Tiger Moth

G-ACDC

G-ACDC was built in 1933 and the Tiger Club has owned this biplane since the fifties. CDC as it is known to everyone, has had a busy and eventful life and continues to do the work it was built for, that of teaching people to fly.

G-ACDC (Construction No. 3177) is the third DH82a Tiger Moth built and the second oldest still flying, it was registered on 6th February 1933 and was one of 10 allocated for use by the De Havilland School at Hatfield where it remained until November 1941.

G-ASKP

SKP was manufactured and built at De Havilland’s factory at Hatfield, under constructor’s number 3889. It was part of a batch of 400 Tiger Moths ordered under Air Ministry Contract No 778402/38 in 1938 to be delivered to the RAF. The time taken to build aircraft in those days was considerably faster than nowadays, as it was delivered in February 1939 as N6588.

The Tiger Club still has CDC’s first post-war logbook. This includes a card showing it was Lot number 79 at a R.A.F. auction in 1953. In preparation for auction it was brought up to flying standard at R.A.F. Aston Down and signed off there in September 1953. CDC was purchased by A.J. Whittemore (Aeradio) Ltd who had it flown to Croydon where it went into storage. The civilian registration G-ACDC was officially restored on 4th December 1953. In July 1955 it was sold to locally based Continental Aircraft Services and a short while later moved on to Rollason Aircraft & Engines Ltd at Croydon.

Rollasons converted CDC to civilian standards and at this time it had accumulated 4980 hours. During this overhaul the Tiger was completely stripped down and most of the structure was found to be sound though a new starboard upper wing was required and the anti-spin strakes, fitted by the military, were removed. CDC was then repainted to the old De Havilland colour scheme of maroon and silver and signed off on 24th June 1957 by Adrian "Dev" Deverill who was to look after her for the next 35 years.

It was on the 6th September 1957 CDC suffered a minor mishap on take-off at Croydon and the starboard upper wing was replaced again. It seems that repairing Tiger Moths in those days was a quick job as she was flying again on 13th September. In October an unfortunate accident occurred when a Chipmunk taxied into CDC but the only repair required was a new rudder.

During 1958 a new racing propeller was fitted and CDC was used until the early 60’s for racing It won at least one race in the hands of David Phillips and was then converted back to the original specification. CDC then lived a busy life with general club flying and participating in the airshows that the Tiger Club was beginning to run. The Tiger Club developed several other Tigers into racing Tigers, with modifications including moving the fuel tank into the front seat, to reduce drag. These Tigers were known as Super Tigers and included G-AOAA "The Deacon" and G-ANZZ "The Archbishop". It was during the Rochester Air display in September 1963 that CDC suffered her most serious accident. It was a very windy day and Neville Browning was trying to entertain the crowds with a crazy flying display, when he was caught by a strong gust. The aircraft completed several somersaults before coming to rest, luckily without injury to the pilot. After being recovered back to Rollasons, it was found to need all four wings to be replaced and the front fuselage and cockpit to be rebuilt. It was agreed at Dev’s insistence that CDC would no longer be used for crazy flying, due to the historical value of this aircraft. During 1964 Barry Griffiths devised a new display item and CDC was used for the first show. This required Barry to be dressed up as a mad professor, carrying a black box that was supposed to be a radio control for CDC, which was being flown by Neil Williams. The box exploded in a cloud of red smoke and CDC at this point appeared out of control and started attacking its controller. The cost of the black box meant it did not occur again, though the crowd thoroughly enjoyed it. The first logbook finishes at the end of 1964 when the total flying time was 6146 hours.

The first Tiger, used by the Tiger Club for Standing on the Wing was G-ARAZ. The idea came from Lewis "Benjy" Benjamin in 1959 but obtaining approval from the Ministry of Aviation meant the first test flight, with a dummy, did not occur until February 1962. Rollasons made a dummy pilot and the trials were successful. Benjy of course was volunteered as the guinea pig and the first live flight was successfully carried out on 4th March 1962. This aircraft was used for some years and then the rig was passed on to CDC, which continues this tradition today. Unfortunately the authorities will not allow us to fly members of the public on the wing, even for raising money for charity.

Since those early days CDC has continued as the flagship of the Tiger Club and as its most popular aircraft. All new Club members want to have a record of it in their logbooks. CDC is also used for trial lessons, introductory flights and conversions. CDC is now cleared by the C.A.A. for aerobatics after antispin strakes were fitted.

G-ASKP (formerly N6588) had a busy training life from the very beginning. It was taken on charge at No. 5 MU (Maintenance Unit) on 14th Feb 1939 and was then delivered to Ansty aerodrome in Warwickshire on 12th September 1939, where it served with the training unit 9 ERFTS run by Air Service Training which very soon became 9 EFTS (Elementary Flight Training School) at the outbreak of WW2. N6588 was transferred to 9 EFTS on 15th October 1939. The records show that it stayed with this unit throughout its RAF service. It was used to train the pilots who went on to fly the Spitfire, Hurricane, Lancaster and every other aircraft the RAF operated during the war. 9 EFTS was disbanded on 31st March 1944 and N6588 was moved to No. 20 MU on 1st April 1944 and put into storage.

It was sold at an RAF auction to A.J. Whittemore an aircraft sales company based at Croydon on 6th November 1953. SKP was stored for some years at Croydon before being sold onto Rollason Aircraft & Engines sometime later in the 50’s. There were many Tiger Moths in storage as around 10,000 had been built and the majority had been sold or reduced to scrap during the 1950’s. The civilian market did not require the numbers that were available. Rollasons completed its rebuild to civilian standard and registered as G-ASKP in July 1963.5

Norman Jones who was the owner of Rollasons and the Tiger Club put SKP on the Tiger Club fleet in June 1964, at which point it had flown a total of 1755 hours. During the early 60’s the Tiger Club operated many DH82a Tiger Moths, some stayed with the fleet for many years, others were sold on to private owners after a short time, SKP was destined to stay with the Club. It was flown at Redhill with the Club members but could also be seen at Club displays around the country in the Tiger Formation Aerobatics and Formation teams.

It was originally painted in a yellow and red harlequin scheme,one side of the fuselage and each wing red, the other side yellow. It was rather an odd looking scheme. It has had various colour schemes since then, including a blue fuselage and silver wings and then a different red and yellow scheme before being repainted at the end of 1996 in the current maroon and silver, the 1930’s De Havilland Flying School colours, the same as ACDC.

SKP has suffered a few incidents over the years. In March 1971 at Challock, Kent it crashed into trees, going backwards at the time so the story goes. A vehicle drove into it on take off in January 1985 at Redhill and a van collided with it on landing in October 1988, just after being rebuilt from the previous accident!

Throughout its life with the Club SKP has been used as a training aircraft and general Club aircraft and has now accumulated more than 5000 hours. SKP is also much used for the Trial Flights, that so many people enjoy.

Cap 10

G-CDCE was built in 1973 by Avions Mudry & Cie as a CAP10B, Serial Number 039. It was registered as F-BNDC and was operated by the Bordeaux Flying Club in its original red, white and blue colour scheme until 2004.

In 2004 G-CDCE was completely rebuilt at Bernay, France by Apex Aircraft. Making it effectively a brand new, zero timed aircraft upgraded from CAP10B to a CAP10C model, incorporating a new wing and many other features. It was painted in the Club’s aerobatic colour scheme.

The aircraft joined the Tiger Club fleet on 22nd May 2005 and is available for aerobatic training and competitions as well as for general use by club members.

This is the first time the Club has been able to have a competitive aerobatic aircraft since the 1960’s and is a major step forward for the development of the Club.

It can be used up to Advanced standard in the British Aerobatic Competitions.

Druine Turbulent

The Rollason Turbulents are great fun to fly, they are powered by VW 1600cc Beetle engines, with only minor changes from the car engine. They are ideal for hour building and for those pilots who want to experience the adventures of formation and display flying.

The first Turbulents joined the Tiger Club in 1959 and we have operated many over the years. They have quite a history attached to them!

The Club operates four Turbulents. They are all Rollason built aircraft and are therefore very similar in performance and design. They have all been fitted with stall warning lights and the Le Burgh electronic ignition system, to make starting easier.

A Turbulent doesn’t have a lot of space in it, so we have modified the cockpit of one of our Turbulents to accommodate (slightly) taller pilots.

The Club checkout rules require that a pilot must have checked out on a Club Tiger Moth or CAP10 prior to flying a Turbulent. This is not because they are difficult to fly but as they are single seaters, we need to be certain that you are ready to fly solo.

Turbulents are easy and fun to fly but like all planes, they have their vices and pilots need to be aware of the aircraft limitations. You will therefore receive a thorough briefing by one of our check pilots before you go flying. For instance Turbulents are known for icing up very quickly, one of the most important controls, is the Carburetor Heat. Being relatively low powered, they also require careful power management.

If you want to learn formation flying, you will find the Turbulents ideal! There are several Club pilots who will take you through the theory and teach you everything you need to know.

Turbulent Team pilots, will be happy to instruct you on all the skills required for tied together flying, flying the hoop, balloon bursting and many other tricks of the air display world. There is a good chance that with a lot of application and hard work from your side and plenty of enthusiasm, that you could join the team. In the meantime you can always help out with ground crewing for the team and see what it is all about. See the Turb Team Website for full details, or the video under formation training.

Once checked out, if your interest is hour building there are few aircraft cheaper to fly. If you are intending on landing away, the Club Manager will want to brief you on starting the aircraft. Otherwise it is always good fun to fly off for the day with several other Turbs!

Come the winter months it is the Turbulent pilots who are looking forward to a wintry scene like the one in February 2009. The skis are polished and the weather checked, should snow be forecast RNZ and RGZ will be found at the front of the hangar waiting for the wheels to be removed and the skis put on.