Happy Birthday Chipmunk

My first flight and first aerobatic experience was as a spotty 13 year old in a DHC-1 Chipmunk too. I have many happy memories from my time in the UK's Air Training Corps (RAF Cadet Force) with stick time in the Chippy and two different gliders too.

Happy days and Happy Birthday Chippy.

šŸ°:birthday:šŸ°
 
Normb, I wish I could tell you from a pilot's perspective, but I was only ever a passenger, with brief moments on controls.

My Chipmunk flights were:-

1. October 1971 - WK591 - RAF Newton.
2. December 1971 - WK604 - RAF Newton.
3. July 1972 - WG417 - RAF Shawbury.
4. November 1972 - WK640 - RAF Newton.
5. July 1973 - WP370 - RAF Weston.
6. July 1973 - WP962 - RAF Weston.
7. July 1974 - WK586 - RAF Abingdon.
8. April 1994 - C-FBNH - Tilsonburg, Ontario.

I would love to fly in the Chipmunk again, and this time really pilot it.

- Kenneth
 
I can't tell you when my flights were as I don't know where my logbook is currently located but they would have been between 1970 and 1973. I shared one location with Kenneth which was RAF Shawbury which was my local field (although I lived 35 miles or 56 km away) and where I had most of my powered flights but I also flew from RAF Coltishall, RAF Chivenor and RAF Machrihanish during the week long 'Annual Camps' where you would spend an entire week on a RAF base somewhere in the UK.

I also flew gliders from RAF Ternhill which was a satellite station to RAF Shawbury and I probably have more stick-time in gliders as I did my glider training course at Ternhill in January during snow squalls in open cockpit gliders and man was it cold! I built a FSX/P3D model of the glider I took my course in (a Slingsby T31 Tandem Tutor known to the ATC as a Cadet TX Mk.3) but I never got around to releasing it as I felt it was a bit 'niche' and nobody would be interested in an open cockpit, wood and canvas glider from the old days even though it was a very nice model (if I say so myself) and it flew very much like I remembered. It's still in my FSX and P3D hangars and I still dig it out and fly it from time to time.
 
Hi Larry.

My glider training was on the Kirby Cadet Mk 3 as well, and in winter, from RAF Spittalgate beside Grantham. I remember taking snowballs up with me, and dropping them on a field from 1000ft. Then, later in the day, an irate farmer appeared shouting, "Who's dropping snowballs on my bloody cows?" I stayed quiet!
 
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