If this famous little plane could talk, what an amazing story it could tell – thrilling air races; world flying records; death-defying aerobatics; outback cattle auctions – and then a destructive storm that left it on a scrap heap until its discarded wreck was lovingly restored to its former glory.

It’s a De Havilland DH-60M Gipsy Moth, a two-seater biplane with a wooden construction and a plywood covered fuselage with fabric on the surfaces. This plane has a wingspan of 9.14m and its length is only 7.29m. It really is small!

One of the unique features of the Gipsy Moth that is well-known is its folding wings design, which allowed owners to hangar the aircraft in even more compact spaces. Amazingly, this light aircraft, which has a maximum speed of 169km/h, revolutionised general aviation and was the choice of plane by many of the pioneering aviators of the world.

This plane was custom built at the De Havilland works airfield on the outskirts of north London during 1930 for Charles William Anderson Scott,  and it was placed on the British Civil Register as G-ABHY in January 1931.

Scott then flew this very plane on a record-breaking flight from London to Australia in 1931, smashing through prior records set by aviators like Bert Hinkler and Amy Johnson, 

Join me as we follow this plane’s amazing story, and as we take a closer look at the life and exploits of aviators like Scott and Johnson – and in particular the astonishing journey of this sturdy little De Havilland Gipsy Moth – on this week’s episode of The Incredible Journey. 

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CHARLES SCOTT

Charles William Anderson Scott was born in 1903 to a wealthy and well-connected London family.  Scott, who was obsessed with planes and flying, joined the RAF as a pilot in 1922 when he was just 19 years old. After six months of training, Scott received his wings and was appointed as a pilot officer, stationed with No. 32 Squadron at the RAF base Kenley on the edge of Greater London. 

For much of his career as a pilot he participated in flight displays organised by the RAF at various locations throughout the country. This earned him a reputation as an aerobatic pilot.

TALK OF THE TOWN

His first aerobatic flying experience was at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Park in 1924, and from there he went on to fly at least half a dozen more displays. In 1925 when his squadron did an air display in Hendon, Scott was even selected to do a solo aerobatics display.

He was allocated seven minutes of flying time during the lunch break, but two minutes into the flight he ran into some trouble. A flying wire broke near the edge of the port side of the aircraft. 

Determined not to cut short his display by too much, Scott flipped his aircraft over and flew upside down in an attempt to alleviate the strain on the flying wires. He flew inverted for as long as he dared until he noticed a tremor in the top part of the plane and immediately righted himself. He landed shortly after, just shy of his seven-minute deadline. 

The following week his inverted flying stunt was the talk of the flying community!

HEADING FOR AUSTRALIA

Scott left the RAF in December of 1926 after nearly 900 hours of flying time. Soon after he resigned from the RAF, by chance he took shelter in Australia House in London during a rainstorm. That was all it took. On the spur of the moment, he made a decision to migrate to Australia, and a few months later he boarded a ship to Australia.

Scott became one of the very first pilots for the newly established Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service, now known as Qantas. He was doing both the regular flights all over Queensland and the Northern Territory, plus conducting flying training lessons at the Eagle Farm Airport in Brisbane. 

During this time Scott was very impressed with the record-breaking exploits of Charles Kingsford-Smith and Bert Hinkler, and their consequent fame. Scott wanted to be part of all of that, so he decided to attempt the England to Australia record himself.

Scott had managed to make several record-breaking flights across Australia while flying for Qantas. He had also broken several speed records including the Brisbane to Cairns record and the Brisbane to Melbourne record in 1930.

AMY JOHNSON

Around this time Scott met Amy Johnson. Now, Johnson was a pioneering English pilot and was the first woman to fly solo from London to Australia. Scott got to know her while escorting her across Australia when she had completed her flight, and he was inspired by her achievement. 

Amy Johnson had been introduced to flying as a hobby when she was in her early twenties, and gained her aviator’s certificate in January 1929. She then went on to gain her pilot’s license six months later at the London Aeroplane Club. 

That year she also became the first British woman to obtain a ground engineer’s license. A few months later she bought a second hand de Havilland Gipsy Moth, which she named Jason. In 1930 she took on the daring and bold challenge of being the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia. 

Flying her Gipsy Moth, she left Croydon Airport in Surrey on the 5 May 1930 and landed in Darwin, in the Northern Territory of Australia, on the 24 May. She had flown nearly 18000kms, or 11,000 miles, in just under three weeks. 

She returned to England and her Gipsy Moth is now on permanent display in the Flight Gallery of the Science Museum in London. In recognition of this achievement Johnson was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire and also received the Harmon Trophy, an honour granted to the world’s most outstanding aviator of the year. 

RECORD ACHIEVEMENTS

But Johnson didn’t stop flying after this achievement. She bought a de Havilland Puss Moth which she christened Jason II and with co-pilot Jack Humphreys became the first to fly from London to Moscow in a single day, completing the 2832km, or 1,760 mile trip in just 21 hours. 

From Moscow they continued across Siberia and on to Tokyo, setting a record time for a flight from Britain to Japan. 

In 1932 Johnson married Scottish pilot Jim Mollison, and a few months later she broke her new husband’s solo record for the flight between London and Cape Town in South Africa. 

The pair’s next big adventure came in the form of the MacRobertson Air Race, where they flew a de Havilland Comet named Black Magic as part of the Britain to Australia Race. Unfortunately, they were forced to retire from the race before completing it, due to engine trouble. 

But two years later Johnson made her final record-breaking flight, from Gravesend Airport in England to South Africa. 

FATAL ACCIDENT

When World War II broke out Johnson joined the Air Transport Auxiliary, flying Royal Air Force aircraft around the country. In January 1941, Johnson was transporting an aircraft for the Air Transport Auxiliary when she encountered her final fatal accident. 

While flying to the RAF base Kidlington, Johnson encountered bad weather near Oxford and veered off course. She allegedly ran out of fuel and bailed out of her aircraft just before it crashed into the Thames Estuary near Herne Bay. 

A convoy of wartime vessels that were stationed in the estuary spotted Johnson’s parachute coming down and saw her alive in the water and calling for help. Weather conditions were terrible, snow was falling, and the ice-cold water was choppy with strong tides. 

Lieutenant Commander Walter Fletcher, the captain of one of the naval vessels navigated his ship close to Johnson’s location and attempted a rescue. He dived into the freezing water but was unable to help Amy. He succumbed to the cold, lost consciousness, and died of exposure. 

Unfortunately, Johnson could not reach the ropes that were thrown out to her, and she was dragged under the ship and her body was never recovered. Amy Johnson is remembered as an accomplished and daring pioneer aviator whose name has gone down in history. 

SCOTT’S INSPIRATION

Scott was inspired by Amy Johnson’s daring and the success of her England to Australia flight, as well as the success of other Australian aviators – famous aviators like Bert Hinkler and Charles Kingsford Smith – so he gathered financial backing to make his own England to Australia flight attempt. 

Securing funds from his father in 1930, Scott ordered a custom made De Havilland Gipsy moth that was specially fitted with additional fuel tanks and an extra oil tank that would be needed in order to successfully complete the long journey.

He then proceeded to book passage on a ship from Australia to England, where he collected his Gipsy Moth from the De Havilland factory. Scott flew test flights, checking on the performance and fuel consumption of the aircraft over several days. 

Satisfied that the aircraft was in good working condition, Scott set out from Lympne (Limp) in England at 4:55 a.m. on 1 April 1931. 

On 10 April Scott landed this very plane in Darwin, having successfully completed his flight from London to England in nine days, three hours and forty minutes, breaking Amy Johnson’s record by nineteen hours.

Scott, along with his trusty Gipsy Moth, [was] now famous, and after a break in Darwin for a couple of days he made his grand entry into Brisbane on 14 April at 3pm. The arrival was pre-arranged and he flew into the new Brisbane municipal airfield at Archerfield to the roar of an eager crowd. 

Scott was the first international pilot to land there, and the crowd rushed to greet him, grabbing him as he disembarked from the aircraft and hoisting him on their shoulders to carry him off the airfield. 

After a round of celebratory events in Brisbane he flew down to Sydney where he was greeted by the great Australian aviator Charles Kingsford Smith. When he got to Sydney, he handed the Gipsy Moth aircraft over to its new owner; a man he had sold the plane to even before making his flight from England.

Not long after his arrival in Australia, Scott was approached by Lord Wakefield, a philanthropist and one time Lord Mayor of London, urging him to attempt the Australia to England fight record. 

Wakefield helped Scott purchase another Gipsy Moth and two months later, he smashed the Australia to England record as well. The two flights between England and Australia earned him the Air Force Cross, awarded to him by King George V. 

AIR RACING

In 1934 Scott entered the London to Melbourne Air Race with English aviator Tom Campbell Black. The race, officially known as the MacRobertson Air Race, was dubbed the world’s greatest air race and is still believed to be the most important air race that has ever taken place. 

The race was slated to commence at the Mildenhall aerodrome at 6:30am on 20 October 1934 and Scott agreed to be the designated pilot for the race, taking a seat in the forward section of the tandem cockpit of a new De Havilland Comet.  Their new aircraft was a beautiful scarlet machine named Grosvenor House.  

On race day, competitors prepared to take off in front of a crowd that swelled to 60,000 spectators. Interestingly, Amy Johnson and her husband Jim Mollison also ordered a De Havilland Comet to fly in the Great Air Race. Amy Johnson and Jim Mollison were the first to take off in their Comet, which they named Black Magic. Right on their heels were Scott and his co-pilot Black. 

Just over two days after taking off from RAF Mildenhall, Scott and Black landed in Darwin. They were exhausted, and nearly risked death landing on a rough field churned to mud by the first rains to hit the NT in seven months. 

Scott and Black won the air race and set a new England to Australia flight record of 52 hours 33 mins in the process. The record remains unbeaten by any other piston-powered aircraft. Sadly, on the 10 November Charles Kingsford-Smith and his co-pilot died trying to beat this record. 

SCOTT’S ORIGINAL GIPSY MOTH

This is the original Gipsy Moth that Scott flew during his first flight from England to Australia. The plane had been sold, and after the flight it went to a cattle buyer at Eskdale Station at Toogoolawah in Queensland, who used the aircraft to travel across Queensland and New South Wales to cattle sales and auctions. The aeroplane gave him a great advantage over the other station owners, as he could arrive early and pick the cattle he wanted while the others were still en-route.

It was then sold to Lauder, the owner of the Cleland Station near Cunnamulla in 1937 who was able to fly it throughout the years of World War II.

The last owner of the plane, Jim Robinson, a businessman from Western Australia, used the Gipsy Moth to visit rural properties. While in Winning Pool, Western Australia, the plane was caught outside during a cyclone and badly damaged.

ONE MAN’S TREASURE

Written off by the insurer, the Moth bounced about from place to place for its parts until it was discovered by Ed Field in a large shed in Trayning, Western Australia. By that time, all that was left of the aircraft was the fuselage.  It literally was a wreck, broken and discarded.  But not to Ed Field.  To him it was a treasure.  He saw its potential.  

Ed, a commercial pilot for Ansett and Cathay Pacific, and a flight simulator instructor and examiner for Boeing, is an aviation enthusiast with a real passion for early planes.  He saw what the little old Gipsy Moth could become if the missing and broken parts were restored.  He purchased the dismantled plane and had it transported to Caboolture in Queensland, via Melbourne, where restoration began.  There he lovingly and painstakingly fully restored the plane to its original condition. 

And, in its pristine, like-new state, it was issued a certificate of airworthiness in April 2019. A few days later the restored plane with the original marking of G-ABHY, was flown to Archerfield airfield, exactly 88 years after it first arrived from England. 

On board during the history-making flight was C.W.A Scott’s grandson. Today the Gipsy Moth is housed at the Caboolture Warplane and Flight Heritage Museum, in hangar 101 at the Caboolture Airfield.  Ed Field is devoted to its care and maintenance, and still takes the Gypsy Moth to the skies to experience the thrill of open cockpit flying.   

The stories of Charles Scott, Amy Johnson, Bert Hinkler and Charles Kingsford Smith and the other aviation pioneers are filled with elements of courage, bravery and faith. It would have taken a lot of faith for them to take to the skies during what was still the pioneering era of air travel. 

Added to all this is the story of Scott’s restored Gipsy Moth, which is a perfect example of how something considered only good for the scrap heap can actually be a diamond in the rough, a long-forgotten piece of history which turned out to be a treasure. 

FAITH AND RESTORATION

The Bible has a lot to say about both faith and restoration. It is filled with examples of men and women whose lives seemed to be broken beyond repair; relegated to the scrap heap of society until Jesus walked in and turned them around.

One of the best examples of faith and restoration is the heartbreaking story of an unnamed woman recorded in John 8:1-11. 

In an attempt to discredit Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman to him. Jesus had spent the night on the Mount of Olives and had come down to the temple in the cool of the early morning. 

The stillness was shattered by angry shouts. Glancing up Jesus spotted a rowdy mob making their way towards him. In the midst of the gesturing and shouting men was a woman, small and terrified, dragged along the dusty cobblestones in Jerusalem by rough hands. 

Jesus watched the procession quietly, until they came to a stop right before him and threw down the trembling woman at his feet. 

“Teacher” they said, “this woman has been taken in the very act of committing adultery.” 

Jesus’ gaze moved from the indignant men, down to the trembling woman, awash in shame and guilt – broken. Immediately he sized up the situation. How could they have caught her in the very act of adultery unless they themselves had planned for it?

“Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women” they continued, their faces turning smug “What then do you say?” The Bible goes on to say that they asked Jesus this question to test him so that they could have grounds for accusing him.