Tiger moth finds new home at WW2 airfield museum

Tiger Moth N6635 on a lorry trailer. t has a grey body with a bright yellow underbelly but its two wings are missing. It has 25 and N-6635 written on its side. Behind it can be seen a field and sky.Image source, Bottisham Airfield Museum
Image caption,

The biplanes were stationed at RAF Bottisham throughout its wartime career

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A Tiger Moth has found a new home at an airfield where dozens of the aeroplanes were used to train pilots during World War Two.

The biplane has been donated to the Bottisham Airfield Museum, near Cambridge, by the Imperial War Museum in Duxford.

Jason Webb, chair of the airfield's trustees, said he was delighted about the donation, adding Tiger Moths were "top of our wanted list of exhibits".

This type of aircraft was "the first to land at Bottisham in 1940 and the last to take off in 1946", he said. It will go on display at the museum for the first time on Sunday.

Mr Webb said: "We became aware about six months ago that the Imperial War Museum was disposing of it as part of its reorganisation and put a bid in for it - alongside other museums - and they kindly selected ourselves out of all the others."

Tiger Moth N6635 on a lorry trailer in front of a hangar at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford. t has a grey body with a bright yellow underbelly. Its two wings have been removed and are resting on the trailer in front of its nose. The lorry cab is bright blue. Image source, Bottisham Airfield Museum
Image caption,

The aeroplane has been donated to Bottisham Airfield Museum by the Imperial War Museum at Duxford (above)

The grass airfield at Bottisham was built in 1940 as a satellite for RAF Waterbeach and was initially used by Cambridge-based Tiger Moths from Marshalls (airfield) as a relief landing ground.

The aircraft remained a regular sight in the skies over RAF Bottisham until 1946, serving with the RAF, the USAAF and the RAF Belgian section.

Tiger Moth N6635 in a hangar. It has a grey body with  a bright yellow underbelly and two sets of bright yellow wings. Other aeroplanes can be seen behind it. Image source, Bottisham Airfield Museum
Image caption,

RAF Bottisham was home to 20 to 30 Tiger Moths at any one time during the war, said Jason Webb

Mr Webb said: "De Havilland Tiger Moths were elementary training aircraft, used to teach tens of thousands of pilots to fly, before they went on to fly Lancaster [bombers] or Spitfire [fighter aeroplanes].

"We want to put it on display to tell the story of pilots who flew them."

In particular, he said he wanted to focus on the Tiger Moth's little-known role in Operation Banquet Lights, where the aircrafts were fitted with bombs just in case the Germans invaded England in 1940.

"Luckily, this was not needed as it would have been a one-way trip for the pilots against modern German fighters," he added.

Tiger Moth N6635 in a hangar. It has a grey body with  a bright yellow underbelly but its two wings are missing.Image source, Bottisham Airfield Museum
Image caption,

Pilots from the RAF, USAAF and the RAF Belgian section all learnt how to fly from Bottisham

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