Captain de Havilland's Moth

The first flight of the DH60 Moth marked the beginning of a craze for flying that gripped a war-weary world for more than a decade. The most successful aircraft of its era, it was the one in which people had the greatest adventures. And it was the Moth which showed that flying was safe, practical and, potentially, open to all. True, many early Mothists were uber-privileged. The Prince of Wales had one, as did his brother, the Duke of Gloucester. Beryl Markham, who had affairs with both, learned to fly in a Moth. Other enthusiasts included Philip Sassoon, one of the richest commoners in the land. In this story, as entertaining as it is extraordinary, the reader is introduced to an astonishing cast of characters whose courage, determination and eccentricity is shown in the light of what it is actually like to fly these remarkable aeroplanes.