Page 4 - August 2018

An easy fix, but was very surprising to learn, that
with one failed flap, the airplane did not roll over as
we, and many other people expected. This was a
very good demonstration of what a superb handling
aircraft the Chipmunk is and gave me enormous
faith in it.
We flew KDN for the rest of the summer, learning
how to fly it well. There is a saying that, the
Chipmunk is easy to fly, but hard to fly well. I agree.
I found it much like the Pitts. It did everything you
asked of it with the controls. So if you were rough,
or over controlled, it flew rough and was all over
De Havilland Canada Chipmunk DHC-1 G- the sky. If you were smooth and precise, it followed
AKDN — 2016 United Kingdom Tour Pt 6 your every move, and was a delight to fly. The trick

By Dave Gillespie was to relax, and not force it. We mastered it in a
short time.

We needed more time to master its Gipsy Major
It was very exciting, to open up that container and see
engine peculiarities. It would shake and burp for no
KDN sitting in there, undamaged, and safe and sound on real reason and give us mini heart attacks every
the ramp at Saskatoon Airport. Many friends wanted a
time it did. But we learned how to operate it and
quick peek at what we had, but we needed to get busy.
over the years, it has proven itself over thousands
We had another 5-hour adventure unloading it but were of miles of Canadian wilderness. It has always got us
soon secure in a rented hangar. We would spend another
home. We have had to do much more preventative
week putting it back together, with Tom Coates coaching.
maintenance on the engine than any other type of
We finished assembly just in time to make an appearance engine we have flown, but that is part of the cost
at the Canada Remembers Air Show held at Saskatoon
and charm of owning a vintage aircraft.
airport. KDN received a lot of attention and questions. It
looked so different from all the standard RCAF yellow, Although designed in Downsview, Ontario, Canada,
bubble canopy Chipmunks. With its strange looking UK the Chipmunk could have been designed on the
registration, civilian aerobatic style paint job, and original other side of the world, where they drive on the
deHavilland Canada designed canopy, it had a lot of other side of the road. The engine turns the
people scratching their heads. Most people opposite direction from North American engines.
understandably thought it was a UK built Chipmunk. This makes the aircraft swing to the right on take-
off, opposite to the direction we are used to. This
On an early test flight, I was on approach to land with full creates much amusement to the audience as they
flap. At about 500 feet I heard and felt a loud bang on the watch new pilots trying to fly it. Many of the
right wing. I looked around and saw the right hand flap controls are also backwards. Lean the fuel mixture,
had retracted. I immediately thought the flap handle had by moving the control forward. We normally lean
come unlocked and retracted the flaps. I was surprised to aircraft by pulling the control knob back. Fly with
look down and see the handle was still in full flap carburetor heat on - we fly with it off. The master
position. Looking left, I was stunned to see I still had full switch for electric power is a giant light switch, but
left flap! Everyone, including me, thought a split flap down is on and up is off – opposite to our switches.
configuration would cause an uncontrolled roll. But here I I experienced a dead battery more then once
was, with what should have been an emergency, and the because of this. And the engine is installed in the
airplane continued to handle normally and I completed airframe upside down! Similar to the Tiger Moth,
an uneventful landing. We found the right flap cable that this configuration gets the propeller up high, out of
makes multiple turns had broken at a pulley. harm’s way, which is good, but also positions the
cylinder valve covers facing down.