UK Chip formatie1 640Chipmunk 75 formation flypast

The first flight of the DeHavilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk on 22 May 1946 is an event that Chipmunk owners want to cherish.

Following the celebration on 22 May 2021 of the 75th anniversary of the prototype’s first flight (on which Scramble Magazine reported on 24 May 2021) another event was organised this year.

On 24 September 2021, no less than 21 Chipmunks performed a large 75 in the air to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the first flight of prototype CF-DIO-X. The gathering and flypast was organised at Leicester airport (UK).

The DHC-1 Chipmunk is a tandem, two-seat, single-engined primary trainer aircraft designed and developed by Canadian aircraft manufacturer deHavilland Canada. The prototype of the Chipmunk (CF-DIO-X) made its first flight, flown by test pilot Pat Fillingham, on 22 May 1946.

During the 1940s and 1950s deHavilland Canada produced a total of 217 Chipmunks at its factory in Downsview, Toronto (Ont.) In addition, a total of 1,000 Chipmunks were produced under licence in the United Kingdom by British aircraft manufacturer de Havilland at Hatfield Aerodrome, Hertfordshire. The production was later transferred to another of its plants, located at Hawarden Aerodrome, Broughton near Chester.

  

Participants were:

G-ALWB Chipmunk 22A
G-APLO Chipmunk 22A ex RAF WB696
G-BARS Chipmunk 22 ex RAF WK520, as AFP 1377
G-BBMN Chipmunk 22 ex RAF WD359
G-BBMO Chipmunk 22 ex RAF WK514
G-BBND Chipmunk 22 ex RAF WD286
G-BCEY Chipmunk 22 ex RAF WK465
G-BCGC Chipmunk 22 ex RAF WP903
G-BCIH Chipmunk 22 ex RAF WD363/5
G-BCYM Chipmunk 22 ex RAF WK577
G-BVTX Chipmunk 22A ex FAA WP809/78
G-BWMX Chipmunk 22 ex RAF WG647/67
G-BWUN Chipmunk 22 ex RAF WD310/B
G-BWUT Chipmunk 22 ex RAF WZ879
G-BXDN Chipmunk 22 ex RAF WK609/93
G-BXGL Chipmunk 22 ex RAF WZ884
G-BXGM Chipmunk 22 ex AAC WP928/D
G-CGAO DHC-1-200 ex AFP 1350
G-DHCC Chipmunk 22 ex AAC WG321/G
G-HDAE DHC-1-200 ex AFP 1304, as AAC WP964
G-PVET Chipmunk 22 ex AAC WB565/X
G-BHXA Bulldog 120 ex Botswana AF OD1

Photos: Jacqueline van der Laarse (air to air) and David Fry

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