BUILDING TIGER MOTHS

Southland Times, Issue 24243, 28 September 1940, Page 2

BUILDING TIGER MOTHS

Full Production At Rongotai MACHINES USED IN TRAINING SCHEME The branch factory of the de Havilland Aircraft Company at Rongotai is now in full production and is employing more than 100 New Zealanders under the direction of experts from England. The venture was well based initially by an order from the Government for iOO Tiger Moth aeroplanes for training purposes in the Dominion. The first batches of these machines came from England complete, and had only to be assembled. With each succeeding consignment more work has been left to be done here, and the organization at Rongotai has now reached the stage of building the complete Gipsy Moth, except for the engine and metal fuselage. The wings are fabricated in the factory, the tail unit constructed by the same staff, and some of the metal work, including the cowlings, is being manufactured by New Zealand firms. Hundreds of small metal parts are being sent from England in the rough, leaving a good deal of finishing to be done by fitters and other skilled tradesmen at the Rongotai factory. MASS PRODUCTION METHODS The general manager is Mr H. Buckingham, of the de Havilland Aircraft Company, and his assistant is Mr P. J. de Havilland, who undertakes' the responsible duties of test pilot. Four other specialists have also come from the parent factory, each taking practical charge of a section of factory operations.

Concentrating at present on the Tiger Moth, the factory is able on a modest scale to get the advantages of mass production. This single-engined biplane, generally used in connection with the Empire air training scheme in Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, is the standard “trainer” of the system, for it is strong and rugged, well able to stand the rough usage associated with the earliest efforts of our future pilots.

The beginnings of the wings are seen in the woodworking shop, where balks of Canadian spruce, beautifully even in grain and free from flaws, pass through the milling machines which hollow out each side of the main frame. There are two to each wing. After this process the frame members resemble a

well-designed steel girder, light, but immensely strong for their weight. I In the assembling section two of tire | spruce girders are spaced the width of i the wing, and connected up by many light ribs of wood, having metal ties. Much skill and experience have gone 1 into the design of this light but strong I framework, which will be covered with fabric, and takes the whole “lift” of the aeroplane. Building the ribs of the wing goes on in a quiet section of the factory, where some of the delicate fitting together of small pieces of shaped wood with metal fastenings is done by the deft fingers of women. The ribs are made up on jigs, to ensure exact standardization of design. READY FOR FLYING TESTS After a thorough inspection—expert examination takes place at every stage of manufacture—the completed wing frame receives a coat of preservative paint and is transferred to another section of the factory to receive its covering of linen. This is made up like an elongated sack, which is slipped over the wing assembly and taken in hand by half a dozen girls, who face the task of stitching many yards of seams. Wings and tail units emerge from the paint factory into the main assembly hangar, where the metal fuselage carrying the engine awaits the final process. This bare centre of the Tiger Moth is soon provided with its sets of wings, tail unit; and many other fittings, and after much testing and trial is wheeled out into the open for the flying fests. Between six and eight Tiger Moths are completed at Rongotai every month, as every section of the establishment is now thinning smoothly. The heaviest “crash” repairs can also be undertaken, and engine overhaul is another important phase of the work.