The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 4 letter word TIGER MOTH
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
T
I
G
E
R
M
O
T
H
More clues leading to the result TIGER MOTH
- He got trim woven for a producer of woolly bears
- Insect resorted to this mostly, swallowing bug
- What was a woolly bear’s extraordinary girth to me!
- Chap briefly shown round German plane
- Old-time flyer flying hotter MiG
- Insect, little one on horse carrying current source of infection
- Rock to hit sheltering bug or insect
- 2 It reverts to seed with awfully hot and gaudy flier
- Flying beast got hermit agitated
- Plane, one with brightly coloured wings
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "plane" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case plane = tiger moth.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.