Hi M14
Yep, I have ratings in the chippy, tiger and harvard.
I did the tiger first and spin recovery certainly was gentle. The procedure for the chippy is the same (full opp rudder, pause 1 second, smoothly push forward, rotate stop, centre rudder, ease out of dive, blah, blah.)
What did surprise me with the chippy was the real push that was required. At the end I was using both hands and really shoving her, and then having to go close to vertical to get a good recovery. In the RAF handling notes, there is a comment that in some cases, spin recovery is not possible - maybe a really aft c of g?
My tiger has the spin stakes fitted. These were fitted during the war, when it was discovered that in some cases the tiger didnt want to recover. Apparently it was really to do with the bomb racks that were fitted to some of them at the time. I have left them on for originality, but have never had any concerns)
Watching Dave Phillps routine in the tiger - there is a pilot who can spin a tiger well!!