During World War II, de Havilland set up a facility in Canada to build its high performance “Wooden Wonder” bomber, the Mosquito. Later the factory was tasked to design a new elementary trainer to replace the Tiger Moth biplane that was used throughout the war, and trained most of the Spitfire pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain. Thus the DHC1 Chipmunk, de Havilland Canada’s first indigenous aircraft design, was born. Design work started in Autumn 1945 led by a Polish engineer Wsiewolod Jakimuik, and the first prototype took to the air in May 1946 at Downsview, Toronto.

The Chipmunk is of stressed-skin aluminium alloy construction, with fabric covering on part of the wings and control surfaces, and is powered by a 145 HP de Havilland Gipsy Major engine. It has a two-seat tandem configuration cockpit, where the student pilot sits in front with the instructor behind. Its tail-wheel undercarriage, basic cockpit instrumentation, and aerobatic capability with superbly harmonized controls are reminiscent of the famous fighter aircraft of World War II, and today the Royal Air Force still uses two Chipmunks to convert specially selected pilots to fly the Battle of Britain Memorial flight’s Spitfires and Hurricanes.

A total of 1,291 Chipmunks were build; 1014 in Chester in the UK, 217 in Canada, and 60 built under license in Portugal, and in addition to the Royal Air Force, British Army and Royal Navy, RCAF and Portuguese Air Force, it was used by air forces as far afield as Burma, Chile and Saudi Arabia. The first Chipmunk was delivered to the Oxford University Air Squadron in 1950, and they were used by all the University Air Squadrons until replaced by the Bulldog in the early 70s, as well as the Central Flying School for initial pilot grading. The Royal Air Force used Chipmunks until the late 80s to give air cadets flying experience trips, but eventually all but two were disposed of, most ending up in the hands of private pilots.

There are currently over 100 airworthy Chipmunks in the United Kingdom, most of which were formerly Royal Air Force machines. The Civil Aviation Authority demanded certain modifications, including fitting an electric starter in place of the original cartridge starter system. Some have also been modified with a Lycoming engine replacing the Gipsy Major, and are used mainly for glider towing. Perhaps the ultimate Chipmunk modification was Art Scholl’s aerobatic championship winning machine in the 70s, with a 260 HP engine, single bubble-canopied cockpit, shortened metal-clad wings and retractable undercarriage.

The Airborne Classics DHC-1 Chipmunk Mk 22 was built in Chester, United Kingdom in 1951, and was given manufacturer’s serial number C1/0280. It was one of a batch of ten aircraft destined for the Portuguese Air Force where it was assigned the code number 1304, and put to work training air force pilots. An additional 60 Chipmunks were built under license in Portugal, and served until the early nineties until they were gradually phased out of the training role. However, several were retained and are still used for glider towing duties.

Chipmunk 1304 was declared surplus to requirement by the Portuguese Air Force in 1998 and was transferred to the civilian flying club at Madeira, where it was given the registration marks CS-DAE. At Madeira the aircraft was extensively overhauled, including replacement of the original fabric covering with Dacron, and a full re-paint. The yellow colour scheme was apparently chosen to represent the Madeira region’s primary produce …bananas! Yet the Portuguese Air Force insignia and 1304 code was retained on the wings and tail. At this time CS-DAE also acquired its dramatic nose-art.

CS-DAE was then bought by a UK-based pilot and imported in 2003, where is was put on the British civil register with registration marks G-HDAE. After only two months it was transferred to Belgium, but remained on the UK register.

Chipmunk G-HDAE has benefited from very low utilization, and high quality maintenance throughout its life, and now has just over 3,000 airframe hours, making it one of the lowest hour Chipmunks in the country. With its low-houred engine, and recent replacement of critical load bearing wing and fuselage components with new uprated parts, and other extensive refurbishment, at the age of 65 years, it is almost “new” in Chipmunk terms. With its new Army Air Corps colour scheme, it’s safe to say that there is not another Chipmunk like it!

Airborne Classics is a small group of pilots who are privileged to experience the joys of flight in this classic machine, which with its fine handling has become a firm favourite with pilots young and old. Indeed, some of our pilots experienced their first flight in a Chipmunk with the Air Cadets during their teens, and now relive those first sensations of taking to the skies.