I've done exactly that on a PA28 fuel cap and (can't be bothered to search but...) posted on here, too. There's no chain (you're probably thinking of Cessnas though in my experience they are often broken).
My then five or six year old son prodded me just after rotation and said 'Daddy! Daddy!' I told him to shut up but luckily he ignored me.
I'd left the fuel cap on the wing; ATC recovered it from the threshold a little less well painted but otherwise in good nick.
Tim