Chipmunk
WK 518 was on U.L.A.S, 71/72 with yes, black prop with (eroded) yellow tips.......
#18:
"I have control."
"You have control, sir."
The solidly built 16yo I took flying at Cambridge had clearly missed that bit.
I had to raise my voice and include one or two seagoing engineer adjectives to regain control after we entered a spiral dive overhead Marshalls.
"I have control."
"You have control, sir."
The solidly built 16yo I took flying at Cambridge had clearly missed that bit.
I had to raise my voice and include one or two seagoing engineer adjectives to regain control after we entered a spiral dive overhead Marshalls.
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Chipmunks
Might be of interest for the Chipmunk drivers/enthusiasts on here. I think it is a compilation as I do not recognise most of the background. (Chipmunk fixer at 4 AEF late 80's).
https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/...cs-1950-online
https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/...cs-1950-online
Hi All, I'm writing an article about flying Tango Fox/Bumblemunk and would welcome any info on it. Does anyone know why it was only in the RAF for a few years? Also, what happened to the other Mk23s? Cheers, Dave
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Changes were if I remember correctly to make the prop strobe so you could see it when running, that black and white odd banded striped one shows it above in post 52..also at about the same time the red cross to show the location of the first aid kit was changed to green as it was against the Geneva Convention to fire on aircraft carrying the red cross, and as it was a military aircraft it was seen as not playing fair.
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DaveUnwin: It seems that WB563 left the RAF in 1956 to become G-AOTF. I believe there was a cull of the Chipmunk fleet around that time when the RAF closed the Reserve Flying Schools - the last RFS closed in July 1954.
Innominate - actually the cull was a little earlier; a great number of Chipmunks were placed in storage in 1953. Subsequently they were declared Non Effective Stock with the sales occurring in 1956.
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Trying to summarise Jeff Jefford's paper on pages 91 to 94 of https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/documen...ary-Forces.pdf - There was a review of aircrew requirements in 1953 which decided that aircrew reinforcements in time of war, would be provided from the reserves, but they needed "realistic, that is to say operational, refresher training at a level of sophistication far beyond that which could be provided by Chipmunks and Ansons at an RFS... In fact, because of the already reduced size of the VR, the Air Council had decided to start running down the RFSs, even before Baker-Carr presented his findings. In a statement to the House in December 1952 the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, George Ward, pointed out the increasing irrelevance of continuing to fly RFS Chipmunks and Ansons off grass strips in the jet age at a cost of some £2.5M per year and he announced that seven of these units were to be closed."
This evidently led to the cull in 1953 mentioned by Dora; it's not so much pre-Sandys in terms of unmanned aircraft but certainly part of some serious thinking about how the RAF and its reserves would be shaped ready for the next war. Incidentally, Sandys was appointed Minister of Defence in January 1957 and the infamous White Paper was published in April, so Sandys would have had little input. He may have wielded the axe, but it was sharpened by Macmillan (Chancellor before becoming PM in 1957) and the Treasury.
This evidently led to the cull in 1953 mentioned by Dora; it's not so much pre-Sandys in terms of unmanned aircraft but certainly part of some serious thinking about how the RAF and its reserves would be shaped ready for the next war. Incidentally, Sandys was appointed Minister of Defence in January 1957 and the infamous White Paper was published in April, so Sandys would have had little input. He may have wielded the axe, but it was sharpened by Macmillan (Chancellor before becoming PM in 1957) and the Treasury.
Innominate - thanks for posting that.
