RAF Chipmunks
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Again I must give due credit to Messrs H Shields, R Brown, J Goncalves and R Blievers for their help by way of their splendid book 'Chipmunk - The Poor Man's Spitfire', also B Fisher and his publication 'Chipmunk - The First Forty Years' (Published in 1986), in providing the following summaries. I have supplemented with my own research as appropriate.
OK Smudge ... This is what I've been able to put together on the 6 AEF Fleet, including WP901 (B)
WB586 (A) (C1-0038) - LN-DHC
Image Credit : Unknown
WB586 is now on the Norwegian Civil Register as LN-DHC based in Kjeller, Norway. It would appear that WB586 served with the Army Air Corps probably before joining 6 AEF ... Smudge can you help on that one (F700 memory GO !) ?
WP901 (B) (C1-0772) - G-BWNT
Image Credit : G Horne
WP901 served with East Midlands University Air Squadron (EMUAS) in the early 70's. Sadly I don't have any further service info on WP901.
WK589 (C) (C1-0613) - N589WK
Image Credit : C England
WK589 is now on the US Civil Register as N589WK. It would appear that she also served with the Army Air Corps probably before joining 6 AEF ... Smudge can you help on that one ? The pic above was probably taken in the late 60's given the Orange Day Glow colour scheme and out of sequence Tail Letter ID seen (it's quite possible this pic was taken when WK589 was on 4 AEF ... Thanks Dora-9)
WP805 (D) (C1-0699) - G-MAJR
Image Credit : Unknown
Sadly I don't have any further service info on WP805
WP914 (E) (C1-0789) - F-AZSM
Image Credit : J P Touzeau
WP914 is now on the French Civil Register as F-AZSM. Sadly I have no further service info on this airframe. However, WP914 appears to have been a long serving member of the 6 AEF Fleet.
WZ847 (F) (C1-0866) - G-CPMK
Image Credit : Unknown
Sadly I don't have any further service info on WZ847. However, she appears to have been a long serving member of the 6 AEF Fleet.
WZ877 (T) (C1-0915) - F-AZLI
Image Credit : J P Touzeau
WZ877 is now on the French Civil Register as F-AZLI. Sadly I have no further service info on this airframe. However, WZ877 appears to have been a long serving member of the 6 AEF Fleet and appears to have served with 7 AEF prior to her final retirement (7 AEF Fuselage Emblem displayed in pic) .
Smudge ... I'm not sure what happened to the sequence with Tail Letter ID (T) for WZ877 ('T' not shown in the above pic) ... any clues ?
Best regards ...
Coff.
Additional Information ...
The following airframes were the last Chipmunks to serve with 6 AEF at RAF Benson before their final retirement in 1995 and the ultimate switch to the Tutor for AEF Duty.
WB550 (C1-0002), WD331 (C1-0270) G-BXDH, WK609 (C1-0618) G-BXDN and WZ856 (C1-0880) VH-DHW
WB550 (C1-0002)
Image Credit : National Air Force Museum of Canada
WD331 (C1-0270) - G-BXDH
Image Credit : Richard Davies
WK609 (C1-0618) - G-BXDN
Image Credit : Canfield Maintenance
WZ856 (C1-0880) - VH-DHW
Image Credit : Darryl Gibbs
OK Smudge ... This is what I've been able to put together on the 6 AEF Fleet, including WP901 (B)
WB586 (A) (C1-0038) - LN-DHC
Image Credit : Unknown
WB586 is now on the Norwegian Civil Register as LN-DHC based in Kjeller, Norway. It would appear that WB586 served with the Army Air Corps probably before joining 6 AEF ... Smudge can you help on that one (F700 memory GO !) ?
WP901 (B) (C1-0772) - G-BWNT
Image Credit : G Horne
WP901 served with East Midlands University Air Squadron (EMUAS) in the early 70's. Sadly I don't have any further service info on WP901.
WK589 (C) (C1-0613) - N589WK
Image Credit : C England
WK589 is now on the US Civil Register as N589WK. It would appear that she also served with the Army Air Corps probably before joining 6 AEF ... Smudge can you help on that one ? The pic above was probably taken in the late 60's given the Orange Day Glow colour scheme and out of sequence Tail Letter ID seen (it's quite possible this pic was taken when WK589 was on 4 AEF ... Thanks Dora-9)
WP805 (D) (C1-0699) - G-MAJR
Image Credit : Unknown
Sadly I don't have any further service info on WP805
WP914 (E) (C1-0789) - F-AZSM
Image Credit : J P Touzeau
WP914 is now on the French Civil Register as F-AZSM. Sadly I have no further service info on this airframe. However, WP914 appears to have been a long serving member of the 6 AEF Fleet.
WZ847 (F) (C1-0866) - G-CPMK
Image Credit : Unknown
Sadly I don't have any further service info on WZ847. However, she appears to have been a long serving member of the 6 AEF Fleet.
WZ877 (T) (C1-0915) - F-AZLI
Image Credit : J P Touzeau
WZ877 is now on the French Civil Register as F-AZLI. Sadly I have no further service info on this airframe. However, WZ877 appears to have been a long serving member of the 6 AEF Fleet and appears to have served with 7 AEF prior to her final retirement (7 AEF Fuselage Emblem displayed in pic) .
Smudge ... I'm not sure what happened to the sequence with Tail Letter ID (T) for WZ877 ('T' not shown in the above pic) ... any clues ?
Best regards ...
Coff.
Additional Information ...
The following airframes were the last Chipmunks to serve with 6 AEF at RAF Benson before their final retirement in 1995 and the ultimate switch to the Tutor for AEF Duty.
WB550 (C1-0002), WD331 (C1-0270) G-BXDH, WK609 (C1-0618) G-BXDN and WZ856 (C1-0880) VH-DHW
WB550 (C1-0002)
Image Credit : National Air Force Museum of Canada
WD331 (C1-0270) - G-BXDH
Image Credit : Richard Davies
WK609 (C1-0618) - G-BXDN
Image Credit : Canfield Maintenance
WZ856 (C1-0880) - VH-DHW
Image Credit : Darryl Gibbs
Last edited by CoffmanStarter; 8th Oct 2015 at 15:29.
Coff
Sqn Ldr Don Gardner was prob flight commander until circa 1982.I was at ULAS
march 1980 - march 1983 ! He definitely retired before I demobbed so circa 1982 but sorry cannot remember who took over from him.
Don was a real gent (as were all the other chippie pilots) and spent much of his time in the rear seat and presumably most of the rest doing admin stuff !
Sqn Ldr Don Gardner was prob flight commander until circa 1982.I was at ULAS
march 1980 - march 1983 ! He definitely retired before I demobbed so circa 1982 but sorry cannot remember who took over from him.
Don was a real gent (as were all the other chippie pilots) and spent much of his time in the rear seat and presumably most of the rest doing admin stuff !
Coff,
What a splendid job you have done on the 6 AEF fleet. It was a long time ago that I was trusted to run the flight line over there,mans I think I left before Longer Ron arrived on ULAS (I was actually posted as Groundcrew on OUAS Ron). Likewise with T, although I'm sure that during my time there 6 AEF had only 6 Aircraft on charge, and may account for my not remembering T. We rarely manned the flying programme with more than four aircraft at a time as I recall, this may have been to accommodate servicing etc. I seem to remember that 6 AEF worked from one end of the ULAS headquarters building, but shared the pan with OUAS who had a seperate building at the other end of the pan. One thing I do recall was a cockpit section, used for giving the Air cadet passengers the abandonment briefing prior to their flying, could that have been T ?
Now, back to reading up on the history of 6 AEF, is it age that leads to one following these threads backwards ?
Best
Smudge
What a splendid job you have done on the 6 AEF fleet. It was a long time ago that I was trusted to run the flight line over there,mans I think I left before Longer Ron arrived on ULAS (I was actually posted as Groundcrew on OUAS Ron). Likewise with T, although I'm sure that during my time there 6 AEF had only 6 Aircraft on charge, and may account for my not remembering T. We rarely manned the flying programme with more than four aircraft at a time as I recall, this may have been to accommodate servicing etc. I seem to remember that 6 AEF worked from one end of the ULAS headquarters building, but shared the pan with OUAS who had a seperate building at the other end of the pan. One thing I do recall was a cockpit section, used for giving the Air cadet passengers the abandonment briefing prior to their flying, could that have been T ?
Now, back to reading up on the history of 6 AEF, is it age that leads to one following these threads backwards ?
Best
Smudge
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I was fortunate enough to fly chippies when they were fairly new.
Derby Burnaston in 1951
Came top of that course, but failed miserably when given something more difficult to fly, and was banished to be a navigator
I think that was when Philip was at Cranwell, we sometimes got notices about "purple airways" to be avoided when he was about.
I used to enoy spinning, was happily spinning down from about 8 or 9 thousand, when I saw a Bristol Freighter below me, and quickly recovered.
Derby Burnaston in 1951
Came top of that course, but failed miserably when given something more difficult to fly, and was banished to be a navigator
I think that was when Philip was at Cranwell, we sometimes got notices about "purple airways" to be avoided when he was about.
I used to enoy spinning, was happily spinning down from about 8 or 9 thousand, when I saw a Bristol Freighter below me, and quickly recovered.
Smuj
During my time with ULAS we had a nominal fleet of 7 chippies,I am approx 500 miles from my old logbook so cannot have a look at a/c numbers etc but i agree that Coff has done a great job on the potted history
edit - I do remember 877 on the fleet - istr she had a glider hook at that time ?
rgds LR
During my time with ULAS we had a nominal fleet of 7 chippies,I am approx 500 miles from my old logbook so cannot have a look at a/c numbers etc but i agree that Coff has done a great job on the potted history
edit - I do remember 877 on the fleet - istr she had a glider hook at that time ?
rgds LR
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I'm glad you chaps have found my little bit of Monday afternoon therapy interesting
Thanks for the pic Longer Ron ...
I'm sure there is more that 'others' will add to the 6 AEF history as is the usal case with a topic like this.
Exnomad ...
If you dig out your F414 and give me a few Serial Numbers ... you never know what might turn up ... Happy to help
I'm hoping our good friend Sycamore turns up a few Serial Numbers too
Best ...
Coff.
Thanks for the pic Longer Ron ...
I'm sure there is more that 'others' will add to the 6 AEF history as is the usal case with a topic like this.
Exnomad ...
If you dig out your F414 and give me a few Serial Numbers ... you never know what might turn up ... Happy to help
I'm hoping our good friend Sycamore turns up a few Serial Numbers too
Best ...
Coff.
Coff, PM for Yoo...
Coff, re the WK589 photo - I have this Chris England photo captioned as " 4 AEF Roborough 2nd November 1968".
Many beers owed....
Many beers owed....
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Dora ...
That's quite possible ... She could have been with 4 AEF prior to serving on 6
The debt ... I would be pleased to honour one day
Best ...
Coff.
That's quite possible ... She could have been with 4 AEF prior to serving on 6
The debt ... I would be pleased to honour one day
Best ...
Coff.
Speaking of WP901, I have this lovely Eric Wagner photo of her with the East Midlands UAS, August 1971:
We can't possibly ever get too many Chipmunk photos! Trawling through my 6 AEF photos, I've come up with the following which may be of interest:
WD331/J - Lyneham, 25.6.1994 (Ken Slade).
WP778/Y - Waltham 19.4.1970 (Andy Anderson).
WP860/Z (Brian Stainer)
WB586/A Uncredited but dated August 1984.
WZ847/F, uncredited, Bruggen June 1991. I love this photo!
WZ877/G, Binbrook 28.8.1982 (Shaun Connor).
WD331/J - Lyneham, 25.6.1994 (Ken Slade).
WP778/Y - Waltham 19.4.1970 (Andy Anderson).
WP860/Z (Brian Stainer)
WB586/A Uncredited but dated August 1984.
WZ847/F, uncredited, Bruggen June 1991. I love this photo!
WZ877/G, Binbrook 28.8.1982 (Shaun Connor).
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As one of the 6AEF's (CCF) 'passengers' out of RAF Abingdon, 83 thro 85 these pics are fantastic. Brings back many memories.Will need to go through my record book to see which one of those I flew in..I'm pretty certain its somewhere in the loft.
'My' pilot was usually Flt Lt F J Barrett who was one of our school's Geography teachers, I seem to recall he was RAFVR and pretty much always ensured he was flying when the school was invited to do so...
Thanks again.
'My' pilot was usually Flt Lt F J Barrett who was one of our school's Geography teachers, I seem to recall he was RAFVR and pretty much always ensured he was flying when the school was invited to do so...
Thanks again.
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Many thanks for the wonderful pics Dora
Mind you ... I'd love to know which other airframes are in that B&W pic of WP778/Y at White Waltham back in 70.
Smudge ...
Looks like we have a few more Tail Letter ID's ... now we have G, J, Y and Z. Not unexpected given the 30 odd years 6 AEF operated.
Best
Coff.
Mind you ... I'd love to know which other airframes are in that B&W pic of WP778/Y at White Waltham back in 70.
Smudge ...
Looks like we have a few more Tail Letter ID's ... now we have G, J, Y and Z. Not unexpected given the 30 odd years 6 AEF operated.
Best
Coff.
Last edited by CoffmanStarter; 6th Oct 2015 at 07:05.
Two more!
WK589 & WP901 over Berlin, uncredited and dated June 1990 (but I rather think it's part of the same trip that involved visiting Bruggen - so possibly June 1991).
WZ847, again not credited, December 1991. A lovely photo!
WK589 & WP901 over Berlin, uncredited and dated June 1990 (but I rather think it's part of the same trip that involved visiting Bruggen - so possibly June 1991).
WZ847, again not credited, December 1991. A lovely photo!
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Yep ... Totally agree Dora
Looks like F in those last pics had the benefit of the Cockpit Heater mod. Just as well given the snowy conditions WZ847 was enjoying above
Looks like F in those last pics had the benefit of the Cockpit Heater mod. Just as well given the snowy conditions WZ847 was enjoying above
Last edited by CoffmanStarter; 8th Oct 2015 at 08:05.
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Regarding the Bruggen trip ...
I believe the trip was to celebrate German reunification and the RAF's operations out of RAF Gatow during the Cold War (although no 6 AEF airframes were involved at RAF Gatow)
See here ...
Spy Flight : Chipmunk
Safety of Flight Not Guaranteed
Coff.
I believe the trip was to celebrate German reunification and the RAF's operations out of RAF Gatow during the Cold War (although no 6 AEF airframes were involved at RAF Gatow)
See here ...
Spy Flight : Chipmunk
Safety of Flight Not Guaranteed
Coff.
Last edited by CoffmanStarter; 6th Oct 2015 at 08:40.