All ...
Pardon my lack of manners in not providing an earlier reply to some of the posts to my thread here ... Mrs Coff has had me landscaping the garden by hand last week !
First of all I would thoroughly recommend the book DHC-1 Chipmunk "The Poor Man's Spitfire" ... it is the veritable King James Bible for this wonderful little aeroplane ... all 440 pages of it ... along with a considerable number of B&W/colour photos. The UK Military Chapters are particularly good
Ex FSO GRIFFO
Many thanks for your post ... great to hear WB728/VH-RWI is still flying. Deep respect and appreciation to you and chaps like you that have the commitment and resources to keep the old girls flying.
I was last in touch with Rod before Christmas ... he pops up here occasionally on PPRuNe.
Please do keep us posted on WB728
Clicker
Thanks again for more stunning pictures ! Still working through a lookup of the serials in the aforementioned Bible
WG308 seemingly "Armed" makes an interesting image ... I'd love to have knocked up a couple of 1/2 scale sidewinders/pylons and done a temporary under wing mount job way back when ... it would have made a few heads turn
BTW ... I think I'm right in saying that WK585, based a Shoreham, has now one of the lowest time airframes following an extensive/costly rebuild.
Dora-9
Thanks for sharing your stunning pictures from down-under ... again deep respect to everyone involved in keep them airworthy
Zetec2
I understand that G-ATTS (Ex WP895) was used as the test airframe for the turbine conversion. During testing it was found that the turbine had too much throttle lag ... and possibly underpowered. The project was abandoned when BL took over Rover in 1967. The airframe was sold to the USA in 1969 and subsequently fitted with a 200 hp Ranger engine.
The Rover turbine, as you say, was an Argosy APU.
The Bonner conversion you refer to was, I understand, G-ARWB fitted with a Ford Bonner Super Sapphire V6 Aero Engine ... water cooled by an under wing rad similar to the P51 Mustang. I believe the airframe still remains airworth as WK611 but has been reverted to a standard Chipmunk "look" and engine i.e. minus the air scoop and rounded nose cowl ... quite a stunner in the Bonner modded state.
BEagle, Idle Stop, Skua and FireFlyBob
Thanks guys for the Log Book lookups
For us here in the Northern Hemisphere there are quite a few Chipmunk events ... but sadly there doesn't appear to be a Chipmeet this year ... usually held in Belgium.
Chipmeet
Best regards ...
Coff.
PS. Bu99er it's stopped raining ... now where is the Ibuprofen for my back
