. О de Havilland Canada DHC1 Chipmunk

Type: Trainer

Dimensions: wingspan, 34 feet, 4 inches; length, 25 feet, 5 inches; height, 7 feet Weights: empty, 1,425 pounds; gross, 2,014 pounds

Power plant: 1 x 145-horsepower de Havilland Gypsy air-cooled in-line engine Performance: maximum speed, 138 miles per hour; ceiling, 15,800 feet; range, 280 miles Armament: none Service dates: 1946-1996

he famous Chipmunk was de Havilland Canada’s first product and a very successful one at that. Built in large numbers, it trained pilots in Canada, England, and countries across the world.

Even before World War II had concluded, de Havilland and its Canadian subsidiary began negoti­ating for a new postwar trainer. Such a craft would be invariably compared against the immortal Tiger Moth, one of the greatest training machines of all time. If successful, the parent company even offered help in marketing it abroad. By 1946 a design team headed by W. J. Jakimiuk created a simple, robust machine that they dubbed the Chipmunk. It was a low-wing monoplane constructed entirely of metal, save for the control surfaces, which were fabric-cov­ered. Under a braced canopy sat pupil and instruc­tor in tandem, and the craft also employed fixed landing gear. Intended as a primary trainer, the first DHC 1 Chipmunks accepted into Canadian service were not stressed and, consequently, not entirely ac­robatic. They were, however, gentle, responsive air­planes and quite popular in their intended role. By
1951 de Havilland Canada manufactured 218 Chip­munks. Many were subsequently fitted with a blown bubble canopy for better all-around vision.

In 1951 several DHC 1s were dispatched to En­gland for evaluation as a standard Royal Air Force trainer. Flight tests were successful, but the RAF in­sisted on certain modifications to bring the machine up to their more rigorous standards. These included a variable-pitch propeller, all-around stressing, land­ing lights, antispin stakes, and landing gear that were moved forward. This done, the parent de Havilland company produced an additional 740 Chipmunks for the RAF. These machines fleshed out virtually every training squadron in the service for several years. Others were taken to Germany, stripped of their rear seat, and employed as light communications aircraft. A handful were also employed in Cyprus for internal security duties during difficulties there in 1958. Thereafter, several score found markets abroad. The venerable DHC 1s remained in declining numbers until 1996, when all were officially discharged. Sev­eral hundred still fly today in private hands.