"You would not want to replace the Chipmunk just the outdated piece of junk that pulls it along and covers the airframe in oil !
the Chipmunk is about the nicest aircraft I have ever flown attached to the worst engine that I have ever worked on."
Ditto from me.
I have quite a few DH types in my books and, without question and from a pilot's perspective, they have all been superior aircraft with a decided "house" character. Least favourite were the DH82A and the DH114. The DH 89 was quite fun but prone to wing-tip stall on occasions. Lots of others were somewhere in between but in terms of being a pleasure to fly and having the best harmonised controls of
any aircraft I have flown, the DHC1 stands head and shoulders above all others of my acquaintance.
An American sawmill engine has never appealed in this context - it seems alien to the ethos of this aircraft - but years ago, I had to give up the notion of fitting a Blackburn Bombadier. This would at a stroke have provided more power and rid me of the incontinence of Major Halford's child but the red tape (50 years ago) proved insurmountable and it never happened.
I have affection for a lot of aircraft but nothing like the fondness I have for the viceless and delightfully responsive Chippie. OK, so you had to be careful of the number of turns in a spin but so what?
Regardless of how well I flew the kite, it would always fly better than me and provided a constant encouragement to better airmanship.
Sadly, few of today's pilots have any understanding of the type of flying afforded by this type of machine, one which was expressly designed to do those things which are expressly designed out of modern tinware. Pity.
GQ.