The De Havilland Moth, first flown in 1925, was the successful attempt at a cheap, easy to operate private plane and was the precursor to the famous Tiger Moth trainer. VH-ULJ served with Guinea Airways (later to become Airlines of South Australia) in New Guinea until 1942 when the School of Mines (now the University of SA) purchased it as an instructional airframe. Along with a similar Moth VH-ULO both aircraft belong to the History Trust of South Australia, and are part of the state's historical collection.

TYPE: DH 60G Gipsy Moth, Constructors number 1074.

ENGINE: 100 hp DH Gipsy 1.

SPAN: 30 ft. 0in.

LENGTH: 32 ft. 11 in.

HEIGHT: 8 ft. 9 1/2 in.

TARE WEIGHT: 920 lb.

ALL UP WEIGHT: 1.650 lb.

MAXIMUM SPEED: 102 mph.

CRUISING SPEED: 85 mph.

INITIAL CLIMB: 500 ft./min.

CEILING: 14,500 ft.

RANGE: 320 miles.

HISTORY: The DH60 was the highly successful answer to Geoffrey de Havilland's dream of an affordable, easy to fly aeroplane. It was an open cockpit biplane, designed with a plywood box fuselage, and straight unstaggered wings. Differential ailerons were a de Havilland patent, and the Moth was the first aeroplane to use them.

The first Moth engine was the 'Cirrus', a four cylinder, inline, upright engine, using cylinders, pistons, valves and other components from the wartime Airdisco V8 engine, The Cirrus Moth was so successful that the Airdisco engine parts became scarce, and so in 1928 a new engine, the 'Gipsy' engine was designed specifically for the Moth, with this light reliable and powerful engine, the DH 60G Gipsy Moth was created.

The Gipsy Moth was the predecessor to the Tiger Moth, and was a famous aircraft in its own right. The Moth is generally considered to be the plane that, in its various forms, laid the foundations for the de Havilland's success. The plane was used in a number of record breaking flights.

Gipsy Moths were also built in a metal tube and fabric version, the DH 60M metal Moth.