Lightweight, easy to manufacture and fly, the de Havilland Tiger Moth is to English aviation what the J-3 Cub or N2S-4 Stearman is to American aviation. Based on a line of highly successful civilian aircraft, the Tiger Moth went on to be the primary basic trainer for England and the Commonwealth powers during World War II. In the 1920s, Geoffrey de Havilland designed the famous DH 60 Cirrus Moth which first flew on February 22, 1925. The Cirrus Moth was a quiet and comfortable aircraft with a relatively inexpensive price of £830 Sterling. It marked the beginning of private flying in Britain and throughout the world. The Taylor Piper Cub was still 10 years in the future.

The early Cirrus Moth was succeeded by several variants: the Genet Moth the Hermes Moth and the Gypsy Moth. The success of the de Havilland peaked due to a massive flood. Production rose from one airplane a week to more than three a day. By 1929, the price had dropped accordingly to a mere £650 Sterling, and 85 out of 100 private airplanes in Great Britain were Moths of one model or another. After His Highness, the Prince of Wales purchased a Moth, the aircraft became extremely fashionable. Society magazines were full of pictures of sports characters and "bright young lady pilots" setting out for weekends in the country flying their Moths. Any kind of private airplane in England became known as "a Moth" much like any small airplane in America was "a Cub".

All of these Moths were conventional one or two seat biplanes with un-swept, un-staggered wings. Consequently, access to the forward cockpit of the two-seat version was restricted by the centre-section struts. This shortcoming was eliminated in the Tiger Moth by moving the upper wing section forward to clear the front cockpit while sweeping both wings back to keep the aircraft's centre of gravity (C.G.) in the desired position.

The prototype DH 82 Tiger Moth first flew on October 26, 1931 and quickly aroused interest in the Royal Air Force (R.A.E). De Havilland delivered the R.A.F.'s first Tiger Moths in 1932. When World War II started, the R.A.F. had more than 1,000 Tiger Moths in service. By the end of the war, well over 4,200 Tiger Moths had been delivered and the majority of R.A.F: pilots received their elementary training in a Tiger Moth. In addition, almost 3,000 Tiger Moths were built in Australia, Canada and New Zealand for use in the Commonwealth Air Training Plan.