DH Gipsy Moth – 1928

The DH60M was built by de Havilland in Middlesex, England in 1928, Aircraft #757. (Note that de Havilland Canada was established in 1928.) The plane was imported into Canada and arrived at Mount Dennis (Toronto) in March 1929 and was taken on strength by the RCAF High River Air Station as G-CYXE on April 23, 1929, presumably for pilot training. (This is in the British registration system that was in use in Canada at the time.)

The plane crashed at Demaine, Saskatchewan, on January 21, 1930 and was sent to de Havilland Canada (Toronto) in February 1930 to be repaired. The repairs were completed in May 1930. It was transferred within DND on October 4, 1934 when it was registered as CF-CEG (Canadian registration system and CofR 1470) on October 5, 1934. As such, it was loaned to the Hamilton Aero Club Ltd in Hamilton, Ontario. (Almost every city had a government sponsored aero club, once again, for pilot training.) Ownership was transferred in 1936 and it was registered to the Club on October 9, 1936. It was fitted with a Gipsy I engine in March 1939 (from G-CATH) and thus became a Gipsy Moth.

On June 1, 1940, it was registered to Leavens Bros Air Services, Toronto. It was then sold June 13, 1943 (but not registered) to W. Steele, Strathroy, Ontario and, presumably was kept in storage. It was sold in 1980 to Watt Martin, Burlington Air Park, Toronto and, during rebuild by Watt Martin at Milton, Ont. (1980-89), it was fitted with a Gipsy II engine. It was registered as CF-AAJ on May 19, 1989 to Watt T. Martin, Milton, Ontario and flown for the first time in years on May 24, 1989. It was sold on July 11, 2015 to Michael Maniatis in New York State and was registered as N60DX September 16, 2015 and based in Old Orchard, New York.

It was bought on June 6, 2022 by Garry Comber, Ottawa, Ontario and flown back to Martin Field, East Garafraxa (Grand Valley), Ont. on June 8, 2022. Further inspection, repair and maintenance work was done from July 2022 to June 2023 by Gipsy Aero Works Inc. and Andrew D. Scott Aero at Martin Airfield. The Certificate of Registration as CF-AAJ (again) was issued on May 11, 2023 and the Certificate of Airworthiness was issued on June 10, 2023. After testing and final adjustments, it was flown Dave Hadfield to Gatineau Executive Airport on August 20, 2023.