Service history

1948

This was the last year that the DH82A would fly, albeit briefly, in military operations.

During the summer only 603 was in flying order, and registered around 25 hours in Boiso Lanza up to the end of March.

Of the remaining aircraft, 601, 604, 606 and 611 were submitted for a major calendar inspection becoming released to service from April, whilst 602 was also declared airworthy after spending 21 months in the workshop due to repairs necessary after the accident of July 1946.

A new and final task was reserved for the Tiger Moth: contraband control.

Common practice in the course of the country's history, the transit of undeclared cattle across the dry frontier with Brazil was at this time a preoccupying problem for the government, who decided on a series of prevention and control measures. Amongst these, Military Aeronautics was assigned the task of putting up an aerial patrol of the zone in question, using the Tiger Moths for this purpose in the first instance, with 2nd Lieut. Mario W. Parallada Military Aerodrome at Durazno as operational base.

Shortly after the beginning of operations, the first of three accidents occurred.

On May 15, on attempting to take off from the Tacuarembo Aero Club field, 602, piloted by Corporal Roberto Lopez and Private Leandro Gomez, got caught in the wire fence causing minor damage but with no injury to its occupants.

No 602 (c/n 3310) with evident damage to the propeller and engine after the take-off accident at the Tacuarembo Aero Club

on 15th May, 1948  -  Photo FAU Archive

On June 2nd 611 overturned at the Río Branco Aerodrome when it lost power on take-off. Her pilot, Sgt. Edgardo Aramburu and Private Artigas Noble, the observer, escaped without injuries but the machine suffered serious structural damage.

The last accident took place on June 12th, about 300 metres into Brazilian territory, bordering the 7th Police Section of Rivera and near the village of Guaviyu. After landing obviously in the wrong place and unluckily hitting an anthill with one wheel, 603 ended her career with serious damage to the undercarriage, wings and propeller. Pilot, Corporal Marcelino García and the observer, once again Private Leandro Gómez, were unharmed.

No 603 (c/n 3618) resting on a wing after losing part of the main undercarriage on her last landing, June 12, 1948

Photo  FAU Archive.

Although the damage caused by these accidents was not excessive it was enough for the authorities to decide to withdraw them from service for good.

At the end of November, by order of the DGAM, DH82As 602, 603 and 611 together with the Waco JHD 301, which had an accident in Durazno in June 1947, were withdrawn from service.

For the Tiger Moths 601, 604 and 606 the anti-smuggling patrols continued until the end of June when they were replaced by PT-19s. They had flown a total of 160 hours between the three and in common with the fumigation tasks of the previous year, they were flown by Sub Officer Pilots.

After their return flight to Boiso Lanza, 604 with 918.6 hours and 606 with 1,723.6 hours, these two aircraft were withdrawn from use. It has not been possible to identify the exact date and other details of these flights since both aeroplanes were operated with responsibilities divided between the DGTAG&S and A.B. No 2, and details were not recorded in their respective log books although the facts can be verified in the Monthly Reports of the DGAM.

In the meantime, at the beginning of July, 601 made a short technical flight to the nearby Aeronautical Base No 2, where she was confined to her hangar since symmetry checks had revealed deformation of the rigging and she would not fly again for the rest of the year.

Thus the Tiger Moth fleet was reduced to only three aeroplanes, all confined to their hangars and with the clear prospect of being withdrawn from service.

To this effect, on August 8, the DGTAG&S received a hand-written note from Mr. Charles Chalking of Paysandu requesting data on the history and condition of the aircraft in the event that the grounded DH82As were put up for sale. A few days later he was answered with the information that the DGAM would not offer the redundant Tiger Moths for sale.

However, just before the end of the year, an initiative from the General Director of Military Aeronautics resulted in a document that following various administrative procedures would end up as a delightful bureaucratic comedy that would last one year.

On December 15, 1948, Col. Oscar M. Sanchez proposed that the General Inspector of the Army should cede the already deactivated Tiger Moths 600, 604 and 606 for use in civilian Aero Clubs. As a result of this initiative there began a project “Ruling for the Delivery of Tiger Moth Planes of Military Aeronautics to Civilian Aeronautical Institutions”, determining the conditions to be accepted by the latter upon receipt of the aircraft. 

The Chief of Army Staff, Col. Cipriano Oliveira, took the document to the General Inspector on January 26, 1949, informing him that he could accede to the request, but that it would be advisable to solicit the opinion of the Aeronautical Arms Superintendent. Upon being consulted, the Superintendent of Arms firmly opposed the proposal, alleging ethical reasons and principals and above all the possible legal ramifications that the Army may be liable for after donating obsolete material for civilian use.

Due to this unexpected turn of events, on February 5th and from a purely technical angle on the matter, the General Inspector of the Army declared that he was unable to give a final opinion and asked the Civil Aviation Command to express a view on the subject.

The number of documents associated with the case was thus mounting with the Technical Assessor of the Civil Aviation Command also being consulted together with Chiefs of Personnel and Operations, who on May 17th declared that they were logically and decidedly in favour of the project to sell the aircraft.

On June 3rd it was decided to consult the sporting institutions about their interest on the subject, and not surprisingly no less than 22 aero clubs replied positively.

Evidently the balloon had been blown up too much, and in order to avoid major complications, the same bureaucratic mechanism burst it just in time.

On October 15, in Solomonic fashion, the Ministry of Defence, counting on the prestige of Col. Gestido, took his opinion and ordered the General Superintendent of the Army to effect the disposal of the three aeroplanes without offering them to other institutions.

The curtain fell on November 8th when the General Director of Military Aeronautics ordered DGTAG&S to dismantle Tiger Moths 600, 604 and 606 and send them for scrap.

                      Bank and Pitch Indicator

With regard to the results of 1948, the DH82As flew 190 hours and ended with only three aeroplanes on the inventory. Of these, 604 and 606 were simply waiting under cover at the DGTAG&S for their already announced withdrawal, whilst at Durazno, inside the hangar of Aeronautical Base No 2, 601 awaited the decision on her eventual fate.

The position of the lower wing prevents positive identification of this DH82A, which also lacks the digit on the red diagonal on its tail. The aircraft has navigation lights on the upper wings and on the rudder. In the front cockpit, Lieut. Gualberto Trelles receives instruction during the Pilot Course at the Military School of Aviation.

Capt. Boiso Lanza Military Aerodrome, August 1935. -  Photo Gualberto Trelles (jr) via Julio Salvo