Originally Posted by
Olympia 463
Talking about aerotow upsets, the worst I ever saw, which took place before neither plane had really left the ground, was at the World Championships at South Cerney in June 1965. All the towing was by Chippys provided by the RAF as the airfield being used belonged to them. There was this American pilot (of some fame as far as cross countries went) who right after the 'all out' on his tow must have thought he was having a winch launch as he hauled back on the stick (we could see his elevator full up) and lifted to towplane's tail right off the deck while he was still accelerating. The tuggy did his best to combat this, but our intrepid Yank continued hauling back, and eventually broke the back of the Chipmunk! Never heard who paid for that.
I was told that RAF Chipmunks used for aerotowing were a couple of inches longer than the rest of the fleet.
Last edited by chevvron; 27th Dec 2017 at 16:50.