FEBRUARY 2016 TM 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 clas- sic 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 PITTS PILOTS ARE SPECIAL And it is special to be able to fly a Pitts. It fits you like a glove, is a most honest airplane, does everything you ask it to, and with 260 hp and a +6, -5 design it does it IMMEDIATELY. Virtually telepathic. So, if you want to take one for a spin, a loop or a roll, call us. CALL 307.885.3151 OR VISIT AVIATAIRCRAFT.COM HUSKY H PITTS H EAGLE P.O. Box 1240 Afton, WY 83110 THERE’S NOTHING LIKE A PITTS ©2016 Aviat Aircraft, Inc. 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.