In 1927 a New Zealander F D (Doug) Mill traveled to the UK buy a de Havilland Moth for his own use in NZ. Mill had trained as a pilot at the Walsh Brothers & Dexter flying school at Auckland in 1918, but had been too late for WW1 service.
Apparently Mill bought a (second hand?) Moth from de Havillands and did some local flying in this aircraft in order to become current before returning to NZ.
At this point, following further discussions with de Havillands, he acquired the New Zealand agency for de Havilland aircraft. As a result, his Moth was replaced with a brand-new DH60X Moth c/n 500. With this aircraft he returned to New Zealand in early 1928 and registered the new aircraft as G-NZAT (which became ZK-AAB under the revised registration system in 1928). Mill retained the NZ DH agency for another 10 years, until the DHNZ company was set up just prior to WW2.
Now the question has always been, which Moth did Mill buy in 1927, prior to ‘500’?
I have just stumbled on an internet note in a “Flight” magazine archive which notes the following from the issue dated 1st September 1927:
Late in the afternoon the Moths left for Stag Lane, stopping at Croydon en route, as they did on their way down. Mr. Mills, who brought his “Moth” G-EBPS down in company with Capt. S. L. F. St. Barbe, is taking it to New Zealand towards the end of the summer, but not by air. His machine will be the first light aeroplane in that country, and probably the first civil machine. He is going to be the “Moth” distributor for New Zealand, and he predicts a wide use for the light aeroplane.
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1927/1927%20-%200672.html
So this would appear to solve the query. However I note from the listing at http://www.goldenyears.ukf.net/reg_G-E3.htm that the owners of G-EBPS were de Havilland Aircraft Co Ltd >PA Wills/Stag Lane.
No mention of F D Mill.
Is anyone among the knowledgeable group here able to clarify or elaborate?
Also I now seek a photo of G-EBPS (the AJ Jackson collection does not list one). Any ideas?
DH60X G-NZAT 1928
By: paulmcmillan - 15th February 2013 at 16:40
Details of crash on 20th Jan 1920
Taken from 19 Sqn ORB and added to…
As a result of a flying accident Fg Off Edward Gordon Cayley was killed and Mr Philip Aubrey Wells seriously injured when their aircraft a de Havilland DH.60 Moth. G-EBPS, owned by Mr Wells crashed on the Aerodrome. The aeroplane wa son a flight between London and Cambridge. Cayley was flying when it became involved in spin when near the aerodrome, as a result it nose-dived and crashed head on into the ground Cayley being killed by the impact. Wills’ who received severe scalp wounds, was removed to hospital in Cambridge, in a serious condition.
By: avion ancien - 29th January 2009 at 15:06
I wonder if “P A Wills” was a member of the Wills Tobacco family, later famous as Phillip A Wills within the gliding fraternity?
I think he’s your man. The following extract is from Wikipedia:
“Philip Wills (1907—17 January 1978) was a pioneering British glider pilot.
Philip Wills was from a wealthy family and was able to buy his first aircraft, a Cirrus Moth, at the age of 21″
On the basis of that his purchase of a Cirrus Moth would have been in 1928, which ties in with the information in earlier posts as to the date of purchase of G-EBPS, a Cirrus II engined Moth.
By: John Aeroclub - 29th January 2009 at 10:59
The gentleman on the right of this picture is Philip Wills, incidently the chap on the left is John Williamson (my instructor at Moonrakers in the early 60’s) and I believe he was the son of Henry Williamson of Tarka the Otter, Chronicles of Ancient Sunlight and other books.
John
By: flyernzl - 29th January 2009 at 09:27
Thanks for the additional info and links guys.
Investigating these further, it would seem that G-EBPS was registered to the DH company on 1st December 1926. Presumably it was kept in DH ownership and used at their flying school – where Doug Mill would have met it.
I would say that he was interested in buying this machine from them at a price that would have met his budget, and used the aircraft for his cross-country work at that time.
When the dealership was accepted, this would presumably have given him access to a discount on new aircraft purchases which would seem to have put a new aircraft within the same price bracket as a year-old machine.
No doubt G-EBPS was kept on the second-hand ‘for sale’ market by DH, and as you have pointed out, P A Wills bought it in December 1928. He didn’t get to enjoy his Moth for very long as it is recorded as having crashed at Duxford on the 20th January 1929. No details of this accident (apart from place & date) are recorded at http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=24967 – can anyone help with these details?
Presumably this crash led to the cancellation of the registration on 2/7/1929.
I wonder if “P A Wills” was a member of the Wills Tobacco family, later famous as Phillip A Wills within the gliding fraternity?
By: John Aeroclub - 28th January 2009 at 10:44
According to GINFO G-EBPS wasn’t registered by Mr Wills until 23/11/1928 and struck off the register in 2/7/1929. Perhaps prior to that it was a DH owned machine and flown under some special licencing (see below). It’s construction number was 360.
John
PS, Also a note in the McKay book on the DH 60 Moth mentions G-EBPS as being displayed in Voss Motor Cars window in in Liverpool in the autumn of 1926 “both aeroplanes (refering to G-EBPR also in a Bournemouth motor showroom) later went into service with the DH School of Flying at Stag lane”. So it could be that when Mr Mill was flying it, it was still the property of deHFS. Also I realised that GINFO does not list all the CofA certs that were issued. Apparently PS crashed at Duxford in 1929.
John
By: wieesso - 28th January 2009 at 10:17
G-EBPS was registered to Wills 23.11.28
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1928/1928%20-%201134.html
also have a look here
http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/HistoricalMaterial/G-EBPS.pdf
Martin
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January 28, 2009 at 8:26 am