CHIPPY Restoringdarin LACRONE

FEBRUARY 2016

Restoring CHIPPY RestoringDARIN LACRONE

Winning a Bronze Lindy at Oshkosh by Mark Meredith

In naval aviation we called Super Chipmunk right cheek cowl- But we skipped TFOA report- it Things Falling Off Air- ing is now in a Maryland farmer’s ing. Embarrassed by my negligence craft. We had a program for it, field, somewhere over yonder. The in losing a big piece of an airplane of course, with formatted official cowling departed while rolling up- that everyone told me not to buy, reporting under the header TFOA. right from a half-Cuban, tumbling my brother, Chris, and I flew home Too often it was reporting lit- down over our heads. It missed the at low power, landed, and high- tle blue practice bombs that went tail and my brother, exposed in the tailed it for the hangar. I had maybe astray (oops), or canopies that front cockpit, but pretty much ru- 20 hours in the logbook including blew off at 40,000 feet and became ined a golden fall afternoon of gen- the ferry home from Florida, all of someone’s backyard greenhouse. tleman aerobatics. So began my it flown with trepidation because But that was then and this is now: education as the new owner of a this was clearly a project plane. Who should I report this to? My very tired air show bird. The intent had been to fly it some, www.iac.org 5 Above, Chipmunk BF370 began life in the RAF (1951-55), attached to the Chipmunk BF370 left the RAF for No. 4 Basic Flying Training School (BFTS), Sywell, Northampton. There are Australia in 1957. It was certifi- no pics of BF370, so this is a different squadron aircraft. cated as VH-BSQ and served as a civil/military trainer for the Tasmanian Aero Club, Launceston, until 1965. Below are members of the club gathered around Chippy in the late 1950s.

restore it some, then fly it some more. Okay, time for a new plan. Plan B evolved into a five-year, 5,000-hour rebuild that changed my life and the life of Super Chip- munk N7DW in some pivotal ways. During the first three years, Chippy In 1965 Chippy was converted as third SA-29 Spraymaster at Bankstown, increasingly dominated resources Australia, and recertificated as VH-GEB. Mods include forward part of and time after work and on Satur- fuselage interior and front seat removed to install a hopper, rear seat days. But now it was time to finish. raised, and single seat bubble canopy installed. It also received a dorsal I left secure, reasonable work—a fin, Scott-style tailwheel, and attachments for spray equipment and Navy career, then nine years as a controls (skin holes and doublers still very much in evidence today!) It Navy contractor—to devote full- still had the stock 145-hp Gipsy Major engine. It flew out of Tintinara, time to finish this unreasonable, Southern Australia, landed in a field and was badly damaged. Once seemingly endless project. I figured repaired, it continued to operate as a Spraymaster until 1969. I could swing the loss of income for a year or so, and surprisingly my dear wife, Martha, went along. The reality was 18 more months and all the money I had set aside for it! Rebuilding brought self-in- flicted pain and expense, but also the pleasure of challenges sur- mounted; the restoration of a classic whose beauty shined through all the dents and chipping paint. A modern-ish airplane with the look of a golden age racer. Flying once again in the spring of 2014, we now have two AirVentures and Chippy in 1969 after it was sold to the Adelaide Soaring Club, Gawler, two Sportsman aerobatic contests South Australia. Note the tow rope attached. It began its conversion to behind us (Wildwood and Warren- a Super Chipmunk soon afterward, completed in Texas in 1974. ton). At Oshkosh 2015, Chippy 6 Sport Aerobatics February 2016 won a Bronze Lindy as Champion Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy Cen- from himself and his airplane with- Custom Classic. ter, and his similarly modified out sacrificing safety.” Recipients What is the allure of an old Super N1114V hangs in the EAA Air- of the award are a who’s who of aer- Chipmunk when there are so many Venture Museum in Oshkosh. obatic performers and announcers cheaper, far more capable, ready-to- Art Scholl added grace to his fly- since 1986, the year after he died fly aerobatic birds? ing and style to his showmanship while filming Top Gun. Any story about a de Havil- that made him a crowd favorite— Art Scholl is arguably the most land DHC-1 should begin with Art like when he stepped out on the famous air show pilot of all time… Scholl and his spectacular part in wing during a low pass, or flew with or at least to those of us of a certain making a sweet little trainer fa- his little black dog, Aileron. He was age. In 1971 when he was flying his mous. His part-Canadian Chip- the first modern pilot to fly night red, white, and blue Chipmunks, I munk was so much more than de shows with pyrotechnics. And he was a 13-year-old kid on a red bike. Havilland ever imagined when it was a pro: a Ph.D. aeronautics pro- On Saturdays I would pedal miles developed it in 1945 to replace the fessor, CFI, and A&P who ran an across Riverside, California, around woefully obsolete Tiger Moth bi- FBO and aerobatic school and pro- Mount Rubidoux to dusty Flabob plane. Sporting modifications de- duced his own flying films. Airport where Art was based at the signed by renowned aerobatic pilot Art had more than 200 mov- time. Flabob was a dream airport and manufacturer “Pappy” Spinks, ies to his credit, flying in pilot fa- for a young wannabe pilot (and still Art Scholl flew one of his three vorites such as The Right Stuff, The is), especially one enamored of the Super Chippies before an esti- Great Waldo Pepper, and Top Gun. In romance and design of airplanes. mated audience of 80 million peo- the words of ICAS in describing the Flabob was and is a grassroots ple over a 20-plus year career. He Art Scholl Showmanship Award, airport, full of characters who have also competed as a member of the “His exacting, exciting and enter- contributed hugely to the history U.S. team in international compe- taining performances were a reflec- of aerobatic, experimental, and tition from 1963 through 1972. tion of the best in our industry. He sport aviation. In my favorite pho- His N13Y now hangs (inverted, of was a dedicated professional who tos of my dad, Roy, he was a steely- course) from the overhead of the practiced tirelessly to get the most eyed 19-year-old in a leather flying

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www.iac.org 7 Chippy in its initial livery as a Super Chipmunk (1974-1988), certificated in the United States as N7DW. This photo was taken in 1984 in Texas. It flew the airshow circuit with Doug Warren and Howard Davenport (the latter flew Chippy partnered with Duane Cole). The hopper is still up front serving as a ferry tank; many of the other Spraymaster mods are still in place, but the wings are clipped and it has an IO-540 engine. helmet in his war-surplus PT-22. an air show—I never saw him per- listings stopped me cold. There In family lore he was usually up- form! But by shyly hanging around was Chippy, red, black, and stun- side down, terrorizing the jack rab- while he tinkered or dragged out a ning, looking as much like a Ryan bits around Flabob. He never really Chipmunk to practice his routine. I as a Chipmunk. He was for sale by grew up, but the Air Force still let never forgot those Chipmunks. Bruce Moore, EAA’s photoship pi- him fly tankers and Phantoms. He Though I’ve always been “bent” lot. So I sold the family Bonanza. instilled in me a love for the old as a builder, it never occurred to Feigning due diligence, I made planes and for that special airport. me I would ever rebuild and fly a an exploratory trip to Florida. A I recall many a solitary summer day Chipmunk myself. I had a 25-year knowledgeable friend and A&P also walking the lines of Wacos, Texans, Navy career as first an A-6 Intruder inspected him for me, but I ignored Ryans, and big-wing Stinsons. The bombardier-navigator and then his caution and wrote the check. To airplanes I could see were not pris- an aircraft maintenance officer the most casual observer, it was ob- tine showplanes but ragged and aboard aircraft carriers, keeping vious I was nuts. weedy. Eventually I dared to ven- the jets flying. It was a career de- So began a journey that was ture back to the hangars, where voted to achieving mission-capable so much more than I bargained I discovered another side of Fla- airplanes ready to launch off the for: a journey of discovery, meet- bob—the birthplace of the Stits pointy end; an exciting, fulfilling ing great airplane people at ev- and the Starduster (we bought the life, though far removed from the ery turn. As I suppose all rebuilds plans), EAA Chapter 1, and many old classics. Then as a 47-year-old, do, it began with years of decon- a racer, replica, or restored beauty. I regretfully took off the uniform struction. It more resembled ar- The community of pilots, build- and compensated for the loss by fi- cheology: unearthing mods on top ers, and educators at Flabob have nally becoming a pilot! After just a of mods; extracting and labeling preserved that spirit through the few years of flying very nice spam- nasty-looking bundles and wires decades—witness the recently cans, my Flabob roots took hold, to nowhere; painstakingly remov- completed art deco beauty, the and I went on the hunt for an inter- ing paint layer by layer: white, red, Waco Sky Siren. esting project. So many airplanes, blue, black, green, gold, gray. The Flabob hangars are where I so little time! Way too much of my life passed first discovered Art Scholl. Not at A casual browse of the online alone in a dark hangar, breathing 8 Sport Aerobatics February 2016 of example airplanes and best of all, homebuilder web logs. If you dial the phone number of most small airplane part vendors, the company president or other expert picks up the phone, ready to educate or even point you to the competition for a better solution. Chippy taught me about aluminum fabrication and riveting, fabric re- covering, plumbing, and electrical systems. The wind screen fairings, tailcone, strakes, and many com- plex wing/empennage fairings needed replacement. So I watched videos, built a scrap pile, and finally made friends with the English wheel and other forming tools. Bill In 1988 N7DW joined N66RP as a member of the TAG Hauer aerobatic Finagin’s Pitts S-2C in the hangar team. The aircraft were modified to open cockpit by Chuck Stockdale and next door became the firewall for- Iranian pilot Nadir Fahn who flew them together until 2000. N7DW wears ward model. the black and green scheme. The missing right cheek cowling launched a five-year saga. Su- through a fresh air respirator hose, hole but to keep digging (…wait, per Chipmunk cowling molds were lying in the belly across a spar car- that’s not how it goes!). Eventually lost over the years so it started ry-though with a can of stripper and a friend tipped me off to the wonder with making a male mold over top a toothbrush, working the crevices of water-based stripper, a garden of the engine, then having a pro- to remove paint that was like sedi- nozzle, and a Shop-Vac to suck out fessional and new friend, John Ho- mentary rock. Reskinning the fuse- the bilge water. Life was good again. gansen, fabricate female molds for lage from the bones outward would With bare metal came rebuilding the whole front end (they’ve now have been better. But shiny metal fi- and new skills. To rebuild Chippy, been used on two other Chippy re- nally revealed itself inside and out… I needed a whole new skill set. I builds). A new nosebowl presented along with cracks and corrosion to didn’t know what I didn’t know. a chance to update a clunky snout add to the fix list. No way out of this There was no kit or plan, but lots to improve cooling and drag. The racer crowd—MXs, RVs, and F-1 Rockets—offered many lessons about how to build high-perfor- mance induction and cooling systems, as did Ken Paser’s terrific book Speed With Economy. Through their knowledge and John’s skill, the beat-up glass cowling trans- formed into carbon fiber artwork almost too lovely to paint. Plus it delivers a little ram kick, perfect oil temps, and 300 degree CHTs! When I consider the extent of the “major repairs and alterations” I performed as a non-certified mechanic, I cannot take for granted the amazing freedom we have with experimental aviation in the United States. With support from the Baltimore FSDO, Chippy now Another photo of one of the many paint schemes the aircraft wore sports a new experimental exhibi- during this period. N66RP (inverted) currently lives in New Jersey looking tion airworthiness certificate with much like it did in this photo but no longer wearing cologne. minimal limitations. We success- www.iac.org 9 Over the next two years Doug completed N7DW’s Super Chipmunk mods that were finally signed off by Emile Bryson in June 1974. Modeled on Pappy Spinks’ design, they clipped the wings 19 inches on each side, enlarged and beefed up the rudder, extended the ailerons by stealing from the flaps, sheeted the wings with 0.020 aluminum, and installed a single-place bubble canopy and O-435 engine with inverted oil. The N7DW stories kept com- ing, especially after we got back in the air and could begin getting out

JIM KOEPNICK and about. After flying it in shows for a few years, in June 1978 Doug Chippy N7DW in 2008, owned and flown by Bruce Moore, EAA photoship Warren made a trade with How- pilot. This is the configuration when I bought it in 2009. ard Davenport: Chippy for a De- cathlon and some cash. Howard fully completed first flight and a ish-built Chippies, it began life in had been flying air shows with five-hour (!) test period. Next came the Royal Air Force in 1951. It then Duane Cole starting when he was paint, just in the nick of time to de- immigrated to Australia in 1956 to 17 years old in 1973. With Chippy part for AirVenture 2014. join the Tasmanian Aero Club, reg- as his new mount, he added an in- Chippy flew again thanks to the istered as VH-BSQ. With surplus verted ribbon cut to his routine, help of EAA Chapter 571, friends Chipmunks in easy supply, by 1965 similar to Art Scholl’s. But not for and mechanics at Lee Airport in both Britain and Australia began long! In 1979 he and Duane were Annapolis, especially Larry Don- converting a handful of them to in loose formation, returning to aldson, expert Chipmunk restorer crop sprayers. Chippy earned a new Houston after a show in Silver Jesse Schneider in Tulsa, and Tom moniker as an SA-29 Spraymaster, City, New Mexico, when the oil Schwietz of Aero Engines, who gave registered VH-GEB. The experi- pressure plummeted and tempera- me confidence the prop would keep ment quickly fizzled; purpose-built ture spiked. Howard could smell spinning. Kevin Burns at Scheme Cessna Agtrucks and Piper Paw- oil fumes. Designers worked patiently with nees easily outperformed 145-hp With the closest airport 30 miles me for four years as I evolved the Chipmunks. But ever the working away, he signaled to Duane and vintage paint job, and Ken Reese plane, Chippy now became a glider they landed together at a rest stop of KD Aviation in Trenton worked tug, in the process suffering multi- on Interstate 10 near El Paso. They magic with final prep and paint— ple landing accidents, including re- parked Chippy, then after a little no small feat with tape lines over placement of one wing. chat with the highway patrol, took hundreds of round-headed rivets. After its last accident in Austra- off again in Duane’s Decathlon. The vicious chipmunk on the rud- lia, it was disassembled and stored Howard later returned with a truck der is a reimagining of the leaping starting in May 1970. This was the and a mechanic. Back in the han- beast on the tails on my old A-6 heyday of Art Scholl’s Super Chip- gar, they could see that the crank- squadron, the VA-35 Black Pan- munks, so in April 1971 (I was on shaft bearings were demolished, thers. If anyone is interested, the my red bike at the time) work be- but Howard had no prospects for rebuild is documented in photos gan at Bankstown near Sydney to paying for a new engine. Doug on Chippy’s Facebook page, Super similarly convert it. Work stalled. Warren came to the rescue by tak- Chipmunk Restoration. Dean Whitaker of Marrero, Lou- ing Chippy back, swapping a Super isiana, rescued it along with two Taylorcraft for the disassembled A Working Life other Aussie Chippies that he im- pieces. After installing an IO-540, Throughout the years of build- ported to the United States in he continued air show flying until ing, in conversations with an ex- May 1972, eventually certificated he sold it again in 1987 to Irani- tensive Chipmunk appreciation N7DW, N8DW, and N13DW (all an-American pilot Nadir Fahn. society around the globe, I slowly still flying today). Dean immedi- Nadir and his air show partner uncovered stories of N7DW’s fly- ately sold N7DW and N8DW to Chuck Stockdale modified N7DW ing adventures. Like all good Brit- Doug Warren in Big Spring, Texas. to an open cockpit in 1988. They 10 Sport Aerobatics February 2016 TYSON RININGER TYSON RININGER PHOTOS Tail art Mark Meredith Cockpit removed the chemical hopper af- inverted ribbon cut by sister ship breathing new life into him by re- ter a dozen years of service as N66RP. Search YouTube and you’ll placing the engine, fuel bladders, an air show ferry tank and built find lots of fun videos, including TV and engine mount before I took the new front controls. Together with news stories of their performances. baton in 2009. Chuck’s father and brother, they Chipmunk 66RP carries on today, also modified Chipmunk N66RP to still wearing Stockdale’s red and Colorful Scars the same open-cockpit configura- black Mystery Ship scheme, now We all keep our scars, and every tion and then flew them as a two- owned and flown by Bob Rosen of piece of this Chippy has a story to ship team. Over the next 12 years, East Hampton, Long Island. tell. The 1965 ag mods were of ev- they flew the circuit with support Retired from performances in erlasting consequence to N7DW’s of several sponsors including TAG 2000, Chippy N7DW eventually future life: Chippy will be forever Heuer, developing a formation rou- made it into the capable hands of “unique” for good or ill. To make tine that included a tailslide to an Bruce Moore in 2003, who began room for the hopper, the ag com- www.iac.org 11 TYSON RININGER

DARIN LACRONE TYSON RININGER pany mechanics ripped out the fu- patching the scars, removing cor- per movie, but that’s not the real selage guts, including many parts roded doublers, and fabricating reason. Chuck Stockdale wanted of the flight control system such structural and flight control parts to fly the press up front, but the as the rudder bars and much of the more closely resembling de Havil- de Havilland two-seat canopy and support structure. The pilot was land originals. rails were long gone, transplanted moved to the rear, in a seat jacked Why does Chippy have open to some needy Aussie Chipmunk. up under a high ag-style bub- cockpits today, when Doug War- Open cockpit just made sense. ble canopy. Hopper controls and ren’s little Mustang bubble would (Though a few in the Chipmunk In- spray bars sprouted from the fu- feel so cozy on a cold winter day? quisition loathe the look—“That’s selage side and wings. Fifty years Well, it does look like the Skiles just wrong!”) after its ag mods, I found myself Skystreak in the Great Waldo Pep- Why the big turtledeck aft of 12 Sport Aerobatics February 2016 the rear seat? My neighbor Mike Barron and I formed it to hide a new steel rollover bar/harness mount, a stand-in for the beefy head protection once provided by the stock de Havilland windscreen. Yeah, and it gives Chippy the look of a 1930s racer when the front cockpit is covered! Early in the rebuild, I discovered steel fin spar doublers from tip to base of the aft fuselage bulkhead. I wondered, is this a typical Super Chipmunk mod? Chuck filled me in; the fin spar mounting broke…he tip- toed home with the whole vertical stabilizer flopping! I’ve learned to be curious—and cautious—as Chippy re- veals his secrets. I’ve now added a few chapters of my own to Chip- py’s adventures with many more to come…though no more disastrophies, please! With a fourth rebuild completed, retirement is nowhere in sight for this hard wor- kin’ Chippy. Or for me either. I now instruct full-time at Navy Annapolis Flight Center and take my students up for a fun flight every now and then in Chippy. He’s read- ily convertible between the single-seat racer look I pre- fer and a tandem we can share with friends. I’ve been careful and incremental about opening up the enve- lope, both the plane’s and my own. With a bit of expert coaching from Bill Finagin, Chippy and I are improving our Sportsman performances. One day he may even get to relive some of his old glory in local shows. Gently, though; Chippy is an old bird. IAC

De Havilland Canada’s DHC-1 Chipmunk first “build it and they will come.” With no military took to the skies in May 1946. Its Ontario plant specs or negotiations to slow them down, they needed to fill the void after wartime production worked fast through design and prototyping. In of Mosquito, a project to retain some of its 7,000 seven months they created a rugged, all-metal highly skilled employees. Even with the shrink- aerobatic monoplane trainer suitable to the de- ing demand for military aircraft, it was obvi- mands of northern flying. The design team built ous the British Commonwealth nations needed it around the same 145-hp Gipsy Major engine a new primary, aerobatic trainer to replace the used in the Tiger Moth because they were dura- obsolete de Havilland Tiger Moth biplane. De- ble and available, with all the needed squadron spite no contracts or outside funding, it gam- maintenance skills already in place. They also bled on a clean sheet design. It was a gamble economized by using Tiger Moth cockpit fittings that richly paid off! From the same fertile minds and flight controls. would soon spring the DHC-2 Beaver, DHC-3 Ot- Chippy became a graceful blending of the ter, and many other iconic north country critters past and the present: tandem taildragger still in great demand today. meets modern metal construction; fabric con- The lead design engineer was Wsiewolod J. trol surfaces and Mosquito-like DH tail meets Jakimiuk (sounds a bit like “Chipmunk”), a Pol- cantilevered wing and semi-monocoque oval ish émigré who fled his homeland at the start fuselage. Because it was a trainer, the new Chip- of the war after designing two successful World munk also took a “wide stance,” with rugged War II Polish fighters. With war’s end, he and landing gear and a long tail to protect against de Havilland management adopted the idea of ground loops. IAC