If you fly a tailwheel type, you'll need to hold the stick quite a long way forward at the start of the takeoff run in order to raise the tail. You then start to apply gentle back pressure to hold the attitude and gently increase the angle of attack. You couldn't do this in a controlled fashion with the trim wound back - generic techniques again!

Standard procedure for those I've flown calls for full back stick at the start of the take off roll, going to neutral, then fully forward to raise the tail (in a strong headwind solo in the Chippy this can be almost immediately. On a windless day with a heavy back seater it's best to wait a while before trying to raise the tail). Once the tail is up, stick is used to maintain a fuselage-level condition until it's time to lift off - with a little back stick.

For boggy field conditions, the Chippy can be dragged into the air quite early with course back stick, then flown level in ground effect until a safe climb-out speed has been achieved. All of the above entails some out-of-trim stick positions, but with the delightfully light control forces of the Chippy that's not a problem.

SSD

I bring the stick forward immediately after opening the throttle and hold it just forward of neutral. This brings the tail up very quickly in the Chipmunk. Getting the tail up as soon as possible means that you get the best view forward - there's no point in delaying the process once the power is on.

Agree you want the tail up ASAP for good forward vision and a more effective rudder (it's out of the slipstream to some extent when tail down).

But if you've a heavy back seater and little or no headwind you can be pushing the stick forward for quite a while before the tail comes fully up. This 'feels' wrong for me; I'd rather delay (it's only for a few seconds) until I've got some airspeed (don't ask what - I'm not looking at the ASI, but I know from the stick feel when she's ready to go tail-up). Once she's got that speed the tail comes up crisply. It just feels horrid staggering along holding the stick hard forward with the tail reluctanly hovering a inch or two off the ground and ever so slowly rising.

As I say, solo or in a good headwind she's ready to go tail up as soon as the power goes on.

SSD

MayorQuimby: I don't see any big problem with your practice, provided that you are giving the airplane a chance to settle down and not getting into PIOs by sawing the trim wheel back and forth. Also, I assume that you are not using the trimmer to manage the flare (which I suggest is a maneuver always better handled with the control stick / yoke).

At least you are aware of the trim: something that has not always been the case for me, probably since I started on gliders that were fitted with very rudimentary trim systems (or, in the case of the SGS 1-26, no trimmer at all). Learning to fly the Harvard was a challenge for me, in part because it involved using the trimmers (elevator and rudder) so much.

FFF: Two other light airplanes that are fitted with variable incidence tailplanes are Cessna's 180 and 185 models.

Sassenach: I agree with SSD's suggestion that you wait a bit, until there is enough speed to get the tail up relatively quickly. Going forward on the stick too soon can result in directional control problems: i.e., the tailwheel is no longer in contact with the ground, but the rudder is not high enough to provide full effect. Possibly this doesn't matter in a Chipmunk (I've never flown one, so defer to you on that), but believe me, it's asking for trouble in bigger tailwheel airplanes.