Chipmunk Cockpit Interior
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Awww - lovely pics of one of the nicest places I have ever been. The Chipmunk is lovely to fly in, lovely to fly, and lovely to watch, whether live or on youtube, some of the best aerobatic displays are careful energy management in Chippies, and that engine sound is a glorious reminder of hot summer days on grassy airfields.
My recollection of interior cockpit colour is all black in RAF aircraft of the 1957-61 era. I guess this might be linked with daytime night-flying practice, using orange cockpit panels combined with blue goggles.
The green colour mentioned would be zinc chromate primer which protected the aluminium airframe from corrosion. This is nominally a pale green but was often modified by additives, as here:
Everything You Need To Know About Zinc Chromate
There is quite a lot of information about zinc chromate colour on model-makers' sites.
My recollection of interior cockpit colour is all black in RAF aircraft of the 1957-61 era. I guess this might be linked with daytime night-flying practice, using orange cockpit panels combined with blue goggles.
The green colour mentioned would be zinc chromate primer which protected the aluminium airframe from corrosion. This is nominally a pale green but was often modified by additives, as here:
Everything You Need To Know About Zinc Chromate
There is quite a lot of information about zinc chromate colour on model-makers' sites.
Is that the 8-track stereo bottom/left of the main instrument panel?
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Hello WIWOC. My top tips:
1) Find the person who originally told you there was a possibility they were green and ask them if they can show an example.
2) As your concern is visibility, ensure the lighting is sufficient in/on the cockpit.
All the Chipmunks I've seen have been black. The colours the engine casings are painted have been both black and green. Maybe that's where the memory is from.
1) Find the person who originally told you there was a possibility they were green and ask them if they can show an example.
2) As your concern is visibility, ensure the lighting is sufficient in/on the cockpit.
All the Chipmunks I've seen have been black. The colours the engine casings are painted have been both black and green. Maybe that's where the memory is from.
WIWOC
Try this link WWW for black and white pictures for an original cockpit - in these the dial rings look a different colour but look at the colour picture and you'll see why the black and white looks different but actually isn't. So from this I expect the T10s to come straight from DHC with black cockpits.
All of the Chippies I've ever been in have black cockpits. If you want to see some of the finest preserved ones there are no less than 4 on Halton's airfield (1 being a Supermunk) - give the Airfield Manager a call to come and have a look. He can also contact their owners if you want to take detailed photographs.
All the best
LJ
Try this link WWW for black and white pictures for an original cockpit - in these the dial rings look a different colour but look at the colour picture and you'll see why the black and white looks different but actually isn't. So from this I expect the T10s to come straight from DHC with black cockpits.
All of the Chippies I've ever been in have black cockpits. If you want to see some of the finest preserved ones there are no less than 4 on Halton's airfield (1 being a Supermunk) - give the Airfield Manager a call to come and have a look. He can also contact their owners if you want to take detailed photographs.
All the best
LJ
Join Date: Feb 2008
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Hi aviate1138 ...
Interesting picture you have there ... A Mk22 Chipmunk whose airframe number is, I believe, C1/0902 which never served with the RAF. Note the Turn-and-Slip is reversed with the VSI compared to the RAF instrument configuration seen in my pic and yes ... modern accouterments have been added. I believe this example still lives in Denmark
I'll get my anorak ...
Best regards ...
Coff.
Interesting picture you have there ... A Mk22 Chipmunk whose airframe number is, I believe, C1/0902 which never served with the RAF. Note the Turn-and-Slip is reversed with the VSI compared to the RAF instrument configuration seen in my pic and yes ... modern accouterments have been added. I believe this example still lives in Denmark
I'll get my anorak ...
Best regards ...
Coff.
And your point is?
I agree with everyone else that Chippies' cockpits (well in the early 60's) were finished in matt black. The OP's use of the phrase cockpit green is beguiling though. Were not Tiger Moth cockpits so finished, with any necessary signage in white on a black background? Would that green have been merely primer or a finish coat?
Last edited by Chugalug2; 30th Sep 2012 at 17:10.
Ah, well done Wilson. I wondered who'd be first to spot that!
WIWOC, please check your PMs
WIWOC, please check your PMs
And it's a nice picture aviate, but not the original AH or DI. Coffman's pic has the authenic instruments. The AH shopuld be a Mk1B or Mk1E (Cof's pic in the latter). Although I can see the benfits of fitting a caging gyro. The Mk1s toppled quickly and then required 15 minutes to re-errect - which invariably meant a letdown on the T and S and the DI if aerobatting above cloud.
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DW
"And it's a nice picture aviate, but not the original AH or DI. Coffman's pic has the authenic instruments."
Agreed about the pic - I sent it as it was in colour - [ for Coff] the Danish Reg is visible and I looked for ages for an RAF version [in colour] and drew a blank.
"And it's a nice picture aviate, but not the original AH or DI. Coffman's pic has the authenic instruments."
Agreed about the pic - I sent it as it was in colour - [ for Coff] the Danish Reg is visible and I looked for ages for an RAF version [in colour] and drew a blank.
Dan Winterland is correct (as usual) on both counts. All UK-built Chipmunks had black cockpits (the "coal hole" black was painted over zinc-chromate green primer) plus, apart from the oil temp gauge and the taco, all the instruments in Aviate1138's cockpit are distinctly non-standard, whereas Coffman Starter's cockpit is close to bog-standard.
As an aside, I'm told that the MoD supplied DH with the instruments to be fitted in the Chipmunk.
There, MB in Hong Kong, will that do?
As an aside, I'm told that the MoD supplied DH with the instruments to be fitted in the Chipmunk.
There, MB in Hong Kong, will that do?
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Hi just spoken to father he only ever remembers black and his first Chipmunk flight in his log book dates from 1950 last Chipmunk flight 1994
Last edited by gpugh; 1st Oct 2012 at 07:18.
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Ours (G-BCSL which I flew for well over 30 years) dates from 1951 and is black (it's black outside these days, too).
Most engines we've had in SL over the years have been black, but we've had green, and even a red one once (that didn't last long as one of our members - not me! - taxied her into a hangar and shock-loaded the engine).
Most engines we've had in SL over the years have been black, but we've had green, and even a red one once (that didn't last long as one of our members - not me! - taxied her into a hangar and shock-loaded the engine).