Early in its career, the DH.80A was plagued by a series of fatal crashes, the most famous being to Australian aviator Bert Hinkler while crossing the Alps in CF-APK on 7 January 1933.

One aircraft took part in the Challenge 1934 European tourist plane contest, but dropped out because of an engine fault on one of the last stages.

Most DH.80As were used as private aircraft, though many also flew commercially with small air charter firms for passenger and mail carrying.

[2] In November 1931, the 19-year-old Peggy Salaman set out in G-ABEH named Good Hope, to beat the record for the flight from London to Cape Town.

She succeeded in arriving in Cape Town at 5.40 a.m. with Gordon Store, her co-pilot and navigator, beating the previous record set up by Glen Kidston by more than one day.

[3][4] Most famous of the record breaking Puss Moths was Jim Mollison's G-ABXY, The Heart's Content which completed the first solo east-west Atlantic crossing in August 1932 from Portmarnock Strand near Dublin to New Brunswick, Canada and the first east-west crossing of the South Atlantic from Lympne Aerodrome to Natal, Brazil in February 1933.

His wife, Amy Johnson, made record flights between England and Cape Town using G-ACAB, Desert Cloud in 1932.