Originally Posted by
megan
Those in the know say the Chippy handles the same as Spitfire, just a pity about the power to weight ratio and noise. Soloed in an ex RAF Chippy, WB622, before COVID was counting the shekels for a Spitfire ride in the UK to find out.
My father said that. He soloed on the Chippy in the same week that I did (1968) whilst doing a RNR stint at Wyton. Most of his flying was on Seafires (North Altantic, Arctic convoys and Far East) but he also flew Swordfish, Hurricane, Hellcat and the odd Oxford - as you did in those days.
One of his Oxford trips ended in farce when he had to forced-land on the highway between Nowra and Melbourne because of an engine failure. He had enough power to taxi into a pub car park and was well pi**ed before the maintainers arrived. But that is another story.
Mog