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It was a successor to the DH.80 Puss Moth and replaced it on the company's Stag Lane and later Hatfield production lines. It was similar in configuration to the earlier aircraft, but instead of a fuselage with tubular steel framework, a lighter all-plywood structure was used which allowed a substantial improvement in range, performance and capacity on the same type of engine. The pilot is seated centrally in front of two side-by-side passengers and the wings can be folded for hangarage.
The prototype first flew on 27 May 1933 and in July won the King's Cup Race at an average speed of 224.5 km/h, piloted by Geoffrey de Havilland. A total of 133 aircraft were built, including 71 for owners in the British Isles, and 10 for Australia. Other examples were exported to France, Germany, India, South Africa and Switzerland. Production of the Leopard Moth ended in 1936.
44 Leopard Moths were impressed into military service in Britain and others in Australia during World War II, mostly as communications aircraft. Only a few managed to survive six years of hard usage although a small number were still airworthy seventy years after the last was completed. Six remained operational in the U.K. in 2009.

Zeuzera Pyrina’ — Leopard Moth
De Havilland’s Leopard Moth was bound to succeed — it was a comfortable aerial saloon car.            WINGSPAN March 1991


BY 1933, the de HaviUand company was an experienced and successful builder of light aircraft, thanks to such machines as the famous DH 60 Moth series of biplanes and the DH80A Puss Moth. The firms three-seater DH 85 Leopard Moth was a logical development of the Puss Moth and, although generaUy similar in appearance, the Leopard Moth had elegantly tapered wings which made it easy to tel1 both aircraft apart from the ground.
The prototype Leopard Moth (G-ACHD) first flew on 27 May 1933, and six weeks later three of them competed in the King’s Cup Race, with the prototype winning the event on 8 July in the hands of Captain Geoffrey de Havilland  asplendid advertisement for the type. Like many of its contemporaries, the Leopard Moth was a wooden aircraft, a form of construction much used by de Havilland. However, metal was coming into use at that time, especially in the USA, and some people might ha ve regarded the use of a wooden fuselage frame in the Leopard Moth as a retrograde step after the earlier Puss Moth’s welded Steel tube frame. This was the main structural difference between the two types, and the reversion to wood for the fuselage frame was said to give a lighter and cheaper structure. The Leopard Moth’s fuselage had a spruce frame, and the first 30 aircraft had flat plywood-covered sides, but raised stringers were added to the remaining aircraft and the sides were given fabric covering.
As with numerous high-wing light aircraft built since the 'twenties, the Leopard Moth’s wings were braced by extemal struts, which, on the de Havilland machine, were of streamlined section steel tube. A divided undercarriage with wheel brakes was fitted, with combined spring and damper legs anchored to the fuselage just behind the engine; the undercarriage leg fairings could be tumed edge on to act as airbrakes, the effectiveness of which was demonstrated by their ability to increase the gliding angle from 1 in 12 to 1 in 9. the 130 hp 6.12 litre de Havilland Gipsy Major engine was gravity-fed from wing- mounted tanks, and an oil tank was installed behind this inverted, dry-sump engine. A long exhaust pipe was normally fitted which discharged behind the cabin, and, although there wras no silencer, the long pipe certainly made a welcome reduction in exhaust noise, and the gentle puttering of the engine was (and still is) testimony to the value of this feature. The Leopard Moth had a maximum weight of 2,225 Ib, a range of 715 miles and a maximum speed of 137 mph at 5,000 ft. Incidentally, present day drivers of high-performance cars might envy the Leopard Moth's top speed, and they would certainly approve of its cruising petrol consumption of nearly 20 mpg at a very reason- able 120 mph, especially as this was achieved with three-up! It was hardly surprising that the Leopard Moth sold well, with de HaviUand’s reputation behind it and the fact that it was an up-to-date aircraft, yet one with conservative and proven design features. There was a considerable market for a comfortable, reliable and enclosed machine with good performance and economy, and de Havilland had, with its usual flair, provided what was wanted; no less than 132 aircraft were built during the three years the Leopard Moth was in production. Among numerous private owners were Captain Geoffrey de Havilland himself (G-ACKP) and his company’s Chairman, Alan S. Butler; Leopard Moths also went to William L. Everard, President of the Leicestershire Aero Club, and to Alex Henshaw, whose flights in his Percival Mew Gull were to become so well known later on.
There were also several commercial users,three of them being Air Taxis which had been founded by Walter L. Hope (G-ADWY), George Birketts company Birkett Air Services, and Olley Air Services (G-ACLM and ’PK) which had been founded by Gordon P. Olley, who, like Walter Hope, had flown with the Royal Flying Corps. About half the Leopard Moths produced went for export; I well remember a Leopard Moth based at Geneva Airport during the 'fities, possibly one of those sold new to Swiss owners during the 'thirties, and about which a local person said  with endearing awe that it came from the company which built the Comet airliner ! Incidentally, this Leopard Moth had a stable- mate at Geneva in the form of a Moth Minor, a later de Havilland product.
Like its Puss Moth predecessor, the Leopard Moth made a number of notable long distance flights. For instance Bernard Rubin and Ken Waller flew G-ACLX to Australia to survey the route for Rubin’s entry (Comet) for the Mac-Robertson England-Australia Race of 1934. Harry (‘Jimmy’) Broadbent, no stranger to epic flights, flew a Leopard Moth with extra tankage (VH-AHB) from Darwin to Lympne in 6 days 8 hours and 25 minutes, arriving on 3 May 1937. Happily, we shall be able to celebrate the Leopard Moth’s sixtieth birthday because some examples have survived to this day. I was de- lighted to hear, once agin, the puttering noise of a Leopard Moth passing over Famham, Surrey, on 3 June last year  a reminder that survivors are in good hands and likely to be with us for many more years yet.