Chipmunk retractable undercarriage

[alvin-sfc]

As a lover of all things De haviland I want to ask you experts out there; is it possible for a Chippie to have a retractable undercart? I know we have to consider where the wheels would go and perhaps even any extra weight penalty but I was thinking along the lines of the legs folding back turning through ninety degrees to leave the wheels and legs lying flat against the underside of the wings(in a recess if possible) similar to the way a Grumman Hellcat's would. I think a Chippie would look great in this configuration, what do you guys think?:ok:

['India-Mike]

Weight and space make this a total non-starter. The only benefit would be aesthetic, not performance and even then as a DHC-1 pilot I'd argue that aesthetically it would look like a dog turd on a hot summer's day. And there would be maintenance issues - the thing is expensive enough to maintain without spoiling it in this way

The only tangible benefit might be for ditching - the FRC's suggest 'abandon' rather than 'ditch' for obvious reasons.

Ps my son is also a Chipmunk pilot - has just told me that he thinks Art Scholl might have done such a conversion. Ugh:yuk:

[Sting8]

totally nuts a chipmunk does not deserve this

[Jucky]

Famous display pilot Art Scholl (killed filming aerial sequences for the film Top Gun in 1985) did it with his highly modified Super Chipmunk N13Y. It is now displayed in the Washington National Air and Space Museum. See link below for pics.

Air-Britain : N13Y (http://www.abpic.co.uk/search.php?q=N13Y&u=reg)


Regards,

Jucky

[Squeegee Longtail]

Yeah, and maybe a turbine and de-ice boots and and and...

It is what it is.

[Charles Sierra]

and It's name begins with a lower case 'd' :ok:

[FlyingOfficerKite]

Yes G-ATTS the Turbo Chipmunk. So that's the turbine taken care of;

Art Scholl with the retract gear with the Super Chipmunk;

So why not add a twist and combine the two?!

Super Turbo Chipmunk my a**e!

India Mike, good point, well made!

KR

FOK

[stevef]

Super Chipmunk?. You don't mess with the fin and then lay claim to any DH lineage. Horrible-looking adaptation in my opinion.

It's like filling Felicity Kendall full of Botox and silicon.

[eharding]

It's like filling Felicity Kendall full of Botox and silicon.


To be fair, the Super Chipmunk was built at the same stage in the Chipmunk's career as a bit of Botox and silicon might have livened up Felicity Kendall's career.

[TheGorrilla]

Utterly pointless. You would be far better starting with a clean sheet of paper and designing a brand new aeroplane. Poor old Chippie would never get off the ground with the extra weight and complexity. Just think how much fun you would have redesigning that brake system!

If you want a two seat, retractable, aerobatic, basic training aircraft you would do well to look at the alternatives that have already been built.

[Human Factor]

In that case, can we convert ours to a 52TD? Go on, you know it makes sense.:}

[boguing]

Don't know how much the game has changed, but a/c designer Dad told me that the weight of retract gear was about 25% of empty weight. That's gonna make your Chippie good fun. In a dive.

[TheGorrilla]

Just gettin me spanners HF.... I'm sure nobody will notice... :E

[eharding]

In that case, can we convert ours to a 52TD? Go on, you know it makes sense.


Continuing the Felicity Kendal analogy, converting a Yak-52 to a 52TD is a bit like taking a Terry's Chocolate Orange away from Dawn French; she's still a big lass, but now she's pissed off, prone to random acts of revenge and likely to be even more high-maintenance as a result.

[TheGorrilla]

"Hot of the press!"
YAK 52 nosewheel for sale! A bargain at £3000!!! PM me for details. :E

[alvin-sfc]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I'm terribly sorry if you thought the idea was stupid. As it happens, I love the Chipmunk as it is too, it is to me a classic. I'm only sorry that I wasn't born with your perfect wit and wisdom. Lighten up guys:rolleyes:

[matspart3]

Not retractable, but highly modified nevertheless

SUPER CHIPMUNK (http://www.acf.clara.net/scale/scale-pics-1/high-wing/superchip/super-chipmunk.html)

260Hp engine and fuel tank in the front cockpit if I recall. I remember the late Nigel Brendish demonstrating breathtaking aerobatics in it at Southend in the 80's.

[alvin-sfc]

Hi cjboy, I learned to fly in,"Alvin" back in 1977 when she was with the Sherwood Flying Club at Tollerton. A couple of years ago I got a letter from a Dutch gentleman called, (wait for it)......... Frank de Munck.A smashing bloke, he told me how he had purchased the Chipmunk(WP843) at Booker in the ,"early nineties". He said that the Chippie was involved in a ground incident when she ran into a barn causing shock loading to the engine and heavy damage to the wing. He sold,"Alvin" on and the last I heard he owned another Chippie(WP925) (g-bxha). "Alvin" or WP843 is now in S Africa. Last picture I saw, she was awaiting an engine( Google demobbed aircraft)

[Jackboot]

Anythings doable - how much money and time have you got to produce such an unsaleable runt?

As anybody who knows whats involved in a minor mod application to the CAA, a major mod of this nature would slay a rain forest.

You can do anything on the N Experimental but thats where the deviants remain.

Chipmunk? Sweeeeeeet-handling, big AD issues, crap range, no luggage capacity whatsoever. Why make it into something even worse?

If you like the idea of a gear-less Chipmunk, go and buy an old Zlin. It will cost you less than the conversion.

JB

[FlyingOfficerKite]

Jackboot

Agreed - and smelly too!

I remember taking my wife, on one rare occasion, flying in the Chipmunk and she took a book to read during the flight and a hair brush! - along with the chocks they filled the luggage space!

KR

FOK :)

[Chipmunk Janie]

As a lover of all things De haviland May I refer you to the facebook group called "de Havilland Aircraft".

Login | Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=22068568603)

If you can correct your first post in this thread, I promise you will not be mentioned on that website group! :)

Here are some pics of Art Scholl's Chipmunks:

At the Smithsonian, Washington Dulles Airport:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v718/Aviatrix/USA%20Virginia%20to%20Sun%20n%20Fun%20Apr%2008/RIMG0545.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v718/Aviatrix/USA%20Virginia%20to%20Sun%20n%20Fun%20Apr%2008/RIMG0547.jpg

At the utterly fabulous EAA Museum, Oshkosh:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v718/Aviatrix/Oshkosh%202008/SuperChipmunk.jpg

[Charles Sierra]

Stunning pics :ok:

[FlyingOfficerKite]

One Chipmunk which proved not so aerobatic was the one featured in the film 'The Great Waldo Pepper'! :eek:

FOK :)

[Wide-Body]

If you look at your Chipmunk when it is "up on Jacks" at leg x-ray time. You will see it does look good.

['India-Mike]

Appearance, practicality and maintenance aside I just wonder if a retractable gear could cope with groundloops.

Here's one I prepared earlier.....tyre tracks cross just off to the right. Had to play with my Airfix Chipmunk afterwards to figure that out.

I don't think retractable gear could take much of that.

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll121/602fan/CHIPMUNK21-03004.jpg

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

I think you lot are a load of wussies! Of course it would't be pratical to fit retract to a Chippy... but. It's a very impractical aeroplane:

No luggage space

Not much fuel capacity

No heater

Noisy

Draughty (see: no heater)

Covers you in oil during pre and post flight stuff

Expensive to maintain

.....BUT

It is absolutely LOVELY to fly! (So I forgive it all the above, hence my 30-year love affair with one. I was unfaithful once - left her for a Yak 52 - but since returned to my first love).

And yes. It wouldn't half look good in flight with the mains retracted. They don't call it the poor man's Spitfire for nothing!

SSD

[FlyingOfficerKite]

Yes, it really is a delightful aeroplane to fly.

But, as has been said, not the type you can roll up to fly in your best designer jeans and expect not to get dirty. One of the few aeroplanes where it is de rigueur to wear a flying suit (or two!) in order to be fully integrated into the spirit of the machine.

No chance either of just going for a 'quick spin'. The flying experience is a half day undertaking by the time it has been prepared, flown and put to bed.

Those were the days - Austers, Chipmunks and Tiger Moths. I wonder if we'll look back through rose-tinted spectacles with the same affection for the current Cessna and Piper types. Probably!?

KR

FOK :)

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

You might as well ask will we look back on Mondeos, Vectras, and Accords with rose-tinted affection? I doubt it, capable vehicles though they are. There's a vital ingredient missing - Character!

SSD

[India Four Two]

SSD

I absolutely agree with you on all counts. A wonderful aircraft. I've had the opportunity to fly both the RAF and the RCAF versions. The Canadian one has that wonderful bubble canopy, which makes it even more the "poor man's Spitfire" and of more practical use, it has a HEATER. It also has a throttle with a large horizontal handgrip that looks like it came out of a Mustang, rather than the wussie little throttle in the T10 - see here http://www.courtesyaircraft.com/images/88BA%20Super%20Chipmunk%20Images/88BA%20LARGE%20Images/88BA%20Left%20Cockpit_lrg.jpg

I have to say that I don't like the lack of "trousers" on the gear legs - makes it look quite naked.

Speaking of Art Scholl, I had an opportunity to see his retractable Super Chipmunk up-close at Springbank in the 1970s, when he was performing at the Calgary Stampede. Certainly the change in the fin caused a loss of the "dh" character, but still a very impressive aircraft. He flew it from what would have been the back seat, presumably for Cof G considerations and it had full-span ailerons (no flaps).

[Edited to say, after looking at the pictures in Post 22, that the flaps had been removed and the aileron span increased.]

His performance at the Stampede consisted of a low-level night aerobatic display up and down the finishing stretch of the Stampede horse-race track (half a mile from the centre of the city), in pitch darkness, with flares on the wingtips, synchronized with the performance on the stage in front of the grandstand! The lights on the backstretch of the track were illuminated to provide a 400 yard long emergency strip. I cannot imagine trying to get permission to do that these days, even in Canada, never mind the UK!