Latest / Flyer Magazine / 80 fabulous years of the deHavilland Chipmunk - The FLYER Show - 18th June 2026

Transcript

80 fabulous years of the deHavilland Chipmunk - The FLYER Show - 18th June 2026 · Flyer Magazine

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_04: Hello and welcome to the Flyer Show.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_04: I'm Ed Hicks, I'm Anna Belcook, and I'm Dave Corderwood.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_04: This week on the show we'll be joined by Ben Griffiths.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_04: He's a big chipmunk fan, pilot and journalist, and author of Chipmunk of 80, so more on that later.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_04: Plus, we've got a whole bunch of news and we've got what caught your eye.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_04: But first, it's time to say thank you to Sky Demon for sponsoring the show.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_04: We couldn't do it without them, and here is this week's top tip.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, I'm Hannah from Sky Demon, and this is this week's top tip.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: In a previous video, I've spoken about creating checklists in Sky Demon.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Once you've created some checklists as part of your aircraft profile, you might like to copy them to your other aircraft or share them with other people.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: To copy a checklist to another aircraft profile, select it and tap Copy to Aircraft.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Then select the other aircraft profile in your library and it will be copied across.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Checklists are part of your aircraft profile, so to have them on other mobile devices, tap the Sync with Cloud button at the top of the aircraft library.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Then sync again on your other devices.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: You can also share an aircraft profile containing your checklists with someone else by email.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Just tap on the aircraft in the library and choose send by email.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: The recipient of the email will just need to tap on the aircraft attachment for the option to add it to their library in Sky Demon.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: For more information, go to our website skydemon.ero.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_04: So, checklist.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_04: Have you ever shared a checklist?
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_06: I have not.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_04: I'm putting on my not sensible head, but wouldn't it be fun to share a checklist where you throw in a random item?
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_04: It's like it's like uh remove wings.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_03: I I still prefer mine to be in a bit.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_03: Are you stuck in paper?
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_03: I'm stuck on paper, yeah.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_06: You may just about remove wings, but actually, on the few occasions that I have flown big red, one of them is make really sure that that little tiny.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, check that you have two wings.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_06: Anyway, on the subject of flying big red.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_06: This is really slick, isn't it?
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_06: With the summer.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_06: It looks like summer might be on the way again, doesn't it?
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_06: Hold on.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_04: It's been once before, hasn't it?
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_04: And then went.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, and then it snuck off again and it rained.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_06: However, however, shall we go to the expert and see what Simon has to say?
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_06: Is summer coming or not?
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: Evening all.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, hope you're having a good evening.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: Looking forward to the weekend.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: It looks pretty decent for flying.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, this is how things shape up as we go through Friday.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: Slightly different charts here.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we've got the cloud forecast, we've got the pressure forecast, and we've got the rain forecast as well.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: Now, these little individual numbers tell us how much rain has fallen in the preceding three hours, and you get the time there at the top of the chart.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: So, this is the chart for six o'clock tomorrow morning, and you can see how by midday uh rain has spread across much of Scotland, uh across much of Ireland, misty, murky non-VFR conditions here, lots of cloud around, really not very pleasant.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: Now, for northwest England, for western parts of Wales and for the far southwest of England, we increasingly become non-to-marginal VFR as fog spreads in from uh off the sea.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: Elsewhere, it is fair.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: You see, there are lots of clear skies around, although just some hints here of cloud building across south-east England.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: The typical base is three to five thousand feet, tops at about ten thousand feet, but those tops could go up as high as 15 to 20,000 feet in the southeast later on, so a proper east-west split.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: Now, through the course of the night into Saturday morning, we get a fair amount of cloud through Saturday morning.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: Broken cloud it is, but you see here this chance just as this weak front moves southeastwards, and a few spots of rain across central and southern parts of England.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: Showers follow into northern and western Scotland, not that many of them, making for marginal conditions, but for most, it is gonna be a fairly decent day.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: You see that cloud breaking at 4,000 foot bases, 10,000 foot tops, and that cloud gradually clearing away as we go into the afternoon.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: Now, into Sunday, a cloudier day on Sunday, as you can see here.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: But the cloud is breaking in places, so generally it is going to be flyable.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be a very warm day, but you notice there, those little green colours just appearing, these highlighting where we see a risk of catching some showers, perhaps southern parts of Scotland over central parts of England, too, and just a warning that there could be some fog as well in the channel.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: But overall, not a bad day on Sunday either.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: Now I'm finalising dates for my next aviation weather school part one online course.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, all of the courses are full at the moment, but if you'd like your name to be added onto the uh email wait list, then just go to weatherschool.co.uk and use the contact us form, and uh you can just fill that in and just put a note on there.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me that you want me to add you onto that uh email wait list for the Aviation Weather School course, and I will make sure that you get told the moment that course is announced.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'll leave you with that for now.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: Have a great, have a safe flying weekend, and I'll see you next week.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: Bye for now.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_04: I hope so.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_04: Uh it really looks like it's gonna be Scotchio.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_06: A bit too hot for me.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_04: I know you don't like too much Scotchio, do you?
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_04: No, bring it on.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_04: Bring it on, bring it on.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_04: No, no, don't forget if you enjoy what we do, uh please help us out by uh telling us in the comments, uh hitting the subscribe button or giving us a like.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_04: It really helps.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_04: How does it help it?
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_04: Magic happens.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_04: And and good thing the algorithm does magic things.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_06: Annabelle Smiles.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_04: Annabelle Smiles.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_04: Let's go to the news, shall we?
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely, yeah.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_04: Good idea.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_04: Um so uh I've got the news story, and it's a bit of a surprise one for me.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_04: Um uh, and that was the surprise announcement that visitor flying could return to old Serum as soon as July.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_04: Um this is amazing.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_04: Um so speaking in an interview, exclusive interview with you, Dave Calderwood, um owner Grenville Hodge said that planning permissions are now in place, heritage approvals have been secured, and preparations are underway to begin reconstruction of the grade two listed structure.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_03: And aircraft coming in to they're waiting for their CA radio licence at the moment.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_03: Uh because they used to have one, but you have to start from scratch if you if you've given it up, as they did.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_03: Um so as soon as that's that that's in place, they'll put all the information about flying in on their website.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um and they're not gonna start off with big numbers because it's been a while since they've had uh flying in.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_03: So they're gonna work their way up and and also that at the moment they don't really have the room to put lots of aircraft.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_03: So um uh so they're working to work their way up.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_03: But hopefully they're they're they're gonna get back up to they've they've said 35,000 uh movements a year is what they're doing for.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_04: That's a great goal.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_04: Uh and that's a that's I old serum has r been really sadly missed, really, as an as an airfield in the south as somewhere to visit.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_04: So the opportunity to start operating from there again, I think is f that's fantastic.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_04: It is fantastic, yeah.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_04: Um and I've so this is uh so this announcement is part of a significant milestone um of the long uh it's been a long-running battle, hasn't it?
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, I think.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_04: Um it's because it is one of Britain's oldest airfields.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yep, and and Yep, and there's a lot of pressure on on Wil Wiltshire County Council.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_03: There's a lot of pressure to build houses because it's behind on its targets.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_03: So um there's all sorts of threats that could happen here.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_03: Unfortunately they haven't.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, in other words, they're not they're not covering the earth in houses or anything like that.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, well, hopefully, I know as soon as they're open, I'm sure we'll be down there.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_04: Fantastic.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_04: Who's next?
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_06: It's me.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_06: And I have a question.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_06: How many gyros is enough gyros?
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_06: Because a new record has been set for the number of autogyros in one place, with 88 flying into Old Warden last Saturday, smashing the previous record of 71 sets.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, that's a big increase.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_06: That is a big increase.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_06: Um set just actually in 2022.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, the British Rotocraft Association has confirmed the record, um, and that the record is officially for gyrocopters landing at a UK airfield in an eight-hour window.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_04: And I I think they had uh so they had some some big help because some gyro guys came in from the continent, didn't they?
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_06: They did, yeah, they had 19 aircraft from France, um, eleven different aircraft types represented overall.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_06: Um, and the person who travelled the furthest in the UK was a chap called Paul Kerry who flew down from Perth, which feels like a very long way.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_04: That is a long way in a gyro.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_04: So um, looking at the photos, it looks like they've absolutely smashed it.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_04: And it looks fabulous.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_04: It looks so much fun.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_04: And it does, I I all aeroplanes look great, but you just see you see a massive amount of gyrocopters, and it's like it's like seeing a big swathe of motorbikes or something, isn't it?
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_04: It's just it just looks fabulous.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_04: But uh anyway, well well done, uh British Radographic Association.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_04: That is um that's really, really good.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_03: So tickets today have gone on sale for this year's Aviator's Ball.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_05: Woo!
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_03: Uh it's on Saturday, the 21st of November.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_03: Uh this is a big event uh for airability.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_03: It's a dinner and fundraiser, it's a port of the charity.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_03: It's held at the Fairmont Windsor Park uh hotel, which is swish, apparently.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_06: It's been it's very, very swish.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_06: It's it's glam.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_04: Is that the third year it's been a good thing?
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_04: It's been there.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's right.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_03: It's apparently it gets you into the Christmas mood.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_03: But it's only November.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_04: What?
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_04: And also it's June weekend.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_04: You can't say the Christmas word.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_06: They have giant trees with baubles and tints on.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_06: I don't know why.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_03: No, no.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_03: Apparently it's got a it's also got an auction um of items that money can't buy.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_03: So how do you buy them if it's they can't be bought?
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_03: Anyway, it's an auction of items you can't buy, including the including the opportunity to be a guest on the flyer show.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_03: Oh no, surely not.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_04: That'll go really high.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_04: Second prize, two opportunities.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_03: The price for a ticket is£180.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_03: Sounds quite a lot, but it includes dinner, wine with a meal, a whole lot of entertainment, and the chance the chance to see Annabelle in a dress.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_04: No, I don't believe that for a second.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_04: No, no, no.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_04: Never happened will it?
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_03: Once a year.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_03: Just once.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_04: Uh the link to where you can get tickets is in the description.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_03: We'll put yep, that's right.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_03: We'll put it in the description.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_03: Fantastic.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_03: It looks a terrific event, actually.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_06: I've already got my ticket.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_03: Good.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_03: Love news.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yes.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_06: Yes.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_06: Since we are still in June, we have some freeling fees we can still use this month.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_06: We have Easter, Kingsmure, Eschot, and Yatesbury.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, but Yatesbury excludes the 24th and 28th of June.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_06: They've got events on and they just haven't got the space.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_06: Um if you used all of those, you'd save£35.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_06: And because we've had the first six months of the year and I've done some sums.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_06: Were they hard sums?
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_06: They were really I used Excel.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_06: Um the total savings so far this year, for the first six months, um,£310.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_04: And that is knowing my basic maths, that's like five times the flyer club membership.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_06: For the year.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_06: Already.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, yeah, for just half a year.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_06: Um and breaking news, I can bring the first announcement for July landing fees.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_06: Not all of them, I'm still working, but I can confirm we have Tibinham and Longside.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_06: Nice.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_06: Um and just a reminder, please, if if you're a member and you've used those, please could you get us some photos and videos?
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_06: Because we we would really love to see them.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_06: The airfields really want to um, they want to share the love as well.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_06: So yeah, pop those over to us any way that you like, but we'd love to see that.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_04: Fantastic.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_04: It's the best bargain in aviation, we think.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_04: It's£62 a year or£6 a month, and it's flyer.co.uk forward slash membership.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, this week we're joined by journalist, pilot, and chipmunk fan, uh mega chipmunk fan, in fact, Ben Griffith, who's written a book, Chipmunk at 80.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, Ben, welcome to the Flyer Show.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, so the question is: why are pilots still misty-eyed about the chipmunk after 80 years?
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks, Edge.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's a really good question.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_02: I think anybody who's ever either flown in a chipmunk once, uh, maintained it, or even just admired them from afar, just has this kind of fascination with the aeroplane.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_02: But really, um, it's a primary trainer that was designed for military air arms right around the world, and it is really, really good at that job.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, if you get to fly one, it's about the harmonisation of controls.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_02: People talk about it um in many ways being a better handling aircraft than even the Spitfire, which I've been lucky enough to have a sample of from the back seat.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_02: But it is, it's completely frictionless when you're moving the controls around, and it's just a beautiful aircraft to fly.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_02: It has a bit of that kind of nostalgic charm about it.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, anybody who sticks their head in and just inhales that aroma, uh, it will take you back to being a 15-year-old air cadet again.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_02: In fact, I had that recently with a good with a guy who came to see us up at Halney Green.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, it's partly the nostalgia, but partly it's just a flipping brilliant airplane to fly.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_04: And after, and here we are at 80 years, Ian, you've had uh there's been a couple of fantastic events this year, haven't there?
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_04: The Duxford and uh most recently at Happenney Green.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_04: Um the the chipmunk brings so much heritage, and I guess is that being the catalyst for writing the book?
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I believe so.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, um we knew the 80th year was coming up.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_02: As an ex-journalist, I always kind of thought, you know, at some point I'll uh I'll write a book.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_02: We all think we've got a book in us.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_02: And uh a good mate of mine is the air-to-air photographer uh Ian Black, who of course famously flew the English electric lightning.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um and we were just sitting down for I think a beer one day in the RAF Club, and I was talking about how when you fly a chipmunk, you turn up at an airfield, and almost before you've shut down and unstrapped, somebody's coming over to kind of tell you their story.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I flew in one of those once, or my first experience was in that.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_02: I was relaying that story to Ian, and he said, Well, there's your book, you should be doing a book about it.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_02: And I kind of had it in the back burner, but uh this year being the 80th anniversary, it had to be this year that it it uh it finally came to fruition.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_06: So, from those conversations that you've had at Airfields, which is there one that really stands out the most for you?
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_02: That's a really straight in at the deep end.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean actually, it when I talked to Ian, the thing um that I've really found about this, and and I've actually got a chapter kind of trying to bring this uh idea to life.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_02: It's called The Common Thread.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um I was talking to Ian, he described how you know he'd joined the Air Force as a navigator, he'd flown in the back seat of the F 4 Phantom in the kind of low-level air defence role in Germany, did about 800 hours and then wanted to fly as a pilot.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_02: So he went to Flying Selection Squadron, got chosen to go forward to do his uh to do his training.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_02: And then he got put on uh hold, you know, where they have to wait basically to go into the next stage of training.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_02: So having been on a fast jet aircraft, he thought, well, most people will say, I'll go and do that, because then I'll get to fly around and all these fancy things.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_02: But he knew that you'd probably only get one flight in that whole holding period if you went to the Phantom or the Tornado or whatever.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_02: So he said, Oh I know, I'll go to one of the air experience flights and fly the chipmunk.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_02: So he went to six air experience flight where his dad, George Black, who was one of the early lightning pilots, uh, was flying by that point in retirement.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_02: And the guy who was running that unit was called Mike Neal, who was a very famous chipmunk pilot.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_02: He flew the chipmunk as a spy plane, which I'm sure um some of the viewers will be aware of, uh, in Berlin during the Cold War.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but yeah, Mike Neal was the uh was was known as Mr.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_02: Chipmunk in the Air Force.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_02: So he said, Yeah, come down and hold with me.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_02: He trained Ian to solo standard, um, and in fact sent him solo in the chipmunk before he had his RF wings, which was a big no-no.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_02: Ian flew the chipmunk at six air experience flight, and then of course went on to fly the uh the tornado and other airplanes as well and the lightning.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_04: So, in the book, and you've just that's a bombshell to me.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_04: The chipmunk play.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_04: Um that sounds like I'm guessing that might feature in the book.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_02: That does feature in the book.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_02: So I went to see Mike Neal, uh, who's now in his 90s, he still lives near what was RF Abingdon, absolutely fantastic chap, really energetic.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_02: He got all his logbooks out and photographs and all these kind of mementos of his time in the Air Force.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_02: So he'd had the classic kind of single seat uh route through his training.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, he did fly multi-engine aircraft for a while, but he was really good as an instructor.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_02: So he went to Central Flying School, and in fact, he was training instructors to instruct.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_02: But he spent loads of hours flying the Chipmunk, and then he got sent out to RF Germany and at Gatau, uh, which was inside the Berlin control zone.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, without going into too much of the history, you'll have to read the book.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_02: You have to buy the book.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_02: You'll have to read the book.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_02: But what they used to do, they used to get um into the aircraft and he would fly it from the rear seat with uh effectively an MI6 officer in the front because he can open the canopy in flight, and then that that uh spy would point a camera out into the airflow and would be photographing Soviet kind of positions and armour uh inside um East Germany over the over the wire, as it were.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, this went on for many years.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_02: And in fact, when I interviewed him, he was talking about how uh some of the uh intelligence service people were saying that was some of the best intelligence they got about so Soviet kind of uh weaponry and displacement in East Germany uh was coming from the front seat of a chipmunk.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_06: Our minds are blown.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_06: Genuinely.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so he's uh he's an amazing guy, Mike Neal.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, you know, he still flies occasionally, um, and in fact, there was a really good story as well about him, which I loved, which talks about this, you know, this common thread.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so there was a former boss of the Battle Britain Memorial flight called Ian Smith or Smithy, a lot of people know him as ex-Red Arrows pilot.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and he had his very first flight in the Air Force in a chipmunk with Mike Neil.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_02: So fast forward many years, he flies for red arrows, he flies fast jets, blah blah blah, and then he becomes boss of BBMF.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_02: So his very last flight in the Royal Air Force was in, guess what?
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_02: One of the BBMF chipmunks, and it was the very aircraft that Mike Neal had flown out at various uh stages in Berlin.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_02: He invited Mike to come and fly with him for his last flight in the Air Force.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, it's that common thread.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_03: So, how did you get involved with a chipmunk then?
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, again, that's a really good question.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_02: So uh I'd learned to fly at the uh much missed Panshanger Aerodrome, if you remember in Hertfordshire, just down the road from where I was living.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then you know, learned to fly on the PA28, was looking for something else to do, and I got introduced to a mutual friend called Carol DeSolt Atkin, who uh I think you know from the chipmunk, uh well dead.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_02: And um, anyway, uh this friend of mine said, Go and fly with Carol, she has a chipmunk, it's different to anything else you'll have flown.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_02: So, anyway, we we go out one uh Saturday afternoon, one July, it was a beautiful summer's day, as you'd expect.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_02: We landed at three grass airfields around the southeast of England.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_02: By the time we got back, I was absolutely smitten with the chipmunk.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_02: A funny old thing, they had a share going.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, who'd have thought it?
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I ended up uh buying a share in that aeroplane.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I was converted onto type uh by a guy called Dennis Neville, who had a chipmunk at RF Henlow, Captain Neville's Flying Circus, you may remember that.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_02: And Dennis was brilliant, you know, uh taught me to fly the Chippy, signed me off, and then I I bought a share uh in Carol's Chipmunk.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um and then fast forward a few years, I took a good mate of mine flying in the Chippy.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_02: He was flying um PA28s at Denham, and again he said, This is the kind of flying that I'd like to do.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_02: If I get one of these, will you join the group with me?
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_02: Which is what I've done.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm now now in that group.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_04: Have you tried other chipmunks?
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_04: So obviously you've got share in one.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_04: What other chipmunks have you had a go in?
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I think I've flown, it must be coming up to nine or ten by now.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_02: So uh one of my favourites though is the Royal Chipmunk.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_02: Uh again, there's a chapter in the book on the Royal Chipmunks, WP903.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_02: Is that the red one?
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_02: It is the bright red one, yeah.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_02: So it's instantly recognisable anywhere you go.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_02: People now will say, Is that the King's Chipmunk?
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I've got a couple of mates that are in the group that operate that one.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and yeah, it is your as uh my mate Bob Brinkley, who displays that airplane, says you were literally sitting on the king's chair when you are so yeah.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_02: Sitting on the throne.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you are sitting on the throne.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_02: So uh yeah, Charles soloed it in um Bassingbourne in uh 1969.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_02: I think he did most of his training at Tangmere, but the weather apparently at that point uh was out of limits, I think.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_02: The wind was out of limits, so they moved him to Bassingbourne to get to get him solo uh with squadron leader Philip Pinney, who was his instructor.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um and there's photographs in the book of him going off and flying and stuff.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, that that's a fantastic airplane.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_02: The thing about the chipmunk, uh, these things are 80 years old, so they look the same, but they're all slightly different.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I've interviewed uh James Gilmore, who's at the aircraft restoration company at Daxford, he looks after our chipmunk, he's one of the engineers.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and he says, you know, every single chipmunk is really like a person, it's got a personality, certain quirks and things, but they're all sort of the same, but they're all behave-sided.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_06: I'm not sure the king the king is quite famous, but are there any other really well-known chipmunk pilots?
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, so maybe some that might surprise us.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so uh Michael Turner, the aviation artist, who sadly passed away fairly recently, he had a chipmunk for about 25 years, also looked after at Duxford.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and James Gilmore uh became very friendly with uh with Michael throughout his his period of ownership, and that's now um changed hands.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_02: But again, James is uh back looking after that aeroplane uh again now.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_02: So he's probably one of the best known in our in our sort of community.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um there was one of the MPs as well, Gerald Howarth I think in the Farm Brah Chipmunks.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_06: Yes, which yeah, I'm I'm part of the Farnborough Aero Club, so I see that chipmunk weekly.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's funny actually.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_02: The um I mean another guy who uh I've kind of got to know uh uh in this world as well is Bill Perrins, who uh used to display the Vulcan.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_02: His book's just come out.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_05: Yep.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and actually I was I was giggling to myself when I was reading the book because he says in there of all these things I've flown chipmunks is my favourite airplane.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_02: So even Vulcan display pilots.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_06: And you are sat in the same seat that Bill Perrins.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_04: Bill was here just before Christmas, wasn't he, to to talk about the book.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, he's great.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_04: It's a very funny book, actually.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_04: It is, it's really good.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but Apparently it's not quite as easy to straightforward to get started and going in a chipmunk.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_03: You have to.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_03: What's this about tickling the car better?
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, is that this is I'll try not to do the hand motions.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, so um unlike a lot of aircraft, so we're we're lucky in a way in that they now largely have electric starters, so there's no kind of you know firing this uh effectively a shotgun cartridge to get the engine going.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um but you do have to feed some fuel into the engine uh to start with, so it's a question of opening uh the cowling up, um, and in there you you basically have to uh wobble um a lever on the fuel pump to get some uh to get some fuel in.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um and then you um turn the prop uh on our one sort of five or six times, depending on you know if is it hot or cold or you know what a day of the week it is sometimes to get it going.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, it's a bit of a faff, but when you're used to it, um you know you know what to do.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_02: Particularly important to try and stand a bit further back and use the full length of your arms because it it almost weeze uh petrol onto your toes if you're not.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_04: This is it's I think this is this is kind of part of the romance of the chipmunk, isn't it?
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_04: It's just one of the things that is disappointing.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_02: Well, people always you know, people from outside the world sometimes take the Mickey out of chipmunk pilots for wearing flying suits or baby growers or whatever.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_02: It's absolutely essential because you're gonna get fuel on you, you're gonna get oil on you, you're gonna lean on something that's greasy, and you're just gonna destroy your clothes.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_02: So people mainly wear that, but also it has a flight safety thing for loose articles.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_03: And I read somewhere that taxiing it is a three-hand job.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_03: It is definitely a hand job, Doug.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_03: Well, you need a left hand on the brake.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_03: Well, you tell us how you taxi it.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_02: So it's kind of it has these uh Annabel's.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_02: Annabelle's off.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_02: She's off.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_02: That's all right.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_04: Annabelle will she'll be with us soon.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_02: This happens.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, it basically has on the on the right hand side of the uh cockpit, there's a big lever, which is a flap lever, which looks like the handbrake on a Rootmaster bus.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_02: And on the opposite side of the cockpit is this big lever, which is the handbrake, and it has a sort of ratchet on so you can set you know a certain amount of pressure for differential braking.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_02: So basically, it's a taxi.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_02: You would you would normally I'd set two or three clicks on the handbrake, and uh, and then that's going to give you the amount of uh differential braking.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_02: But you might want to pull a little bit harder on the on the um on the brake lever, depending on you know how tightly you need to turn.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, your throttle um is set, pull the control column back, and sometimes you're holding it between your knees whilst you're you're juggling the throttle and moving everything else around.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, sometimes you need three hands, three hands.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_03: And also you're using your feet as well, obviously.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_02: Using your feet a lot, yeah.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'm quite lucky because I'm fairly tall, so I can see reasonably well over the cowling of the chipmunk.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but certainly when you're when you're taxing around, it's exactly like a bigger war bird.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_02: You want to be looking to where you're taxing into, so you're not gonna bump into anything or you know go down a pothole or something like that.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_03: Is it takeoff?
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_03: After all that, is a takeoff straightforward?
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I well I think it is now.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_02: I remember learning to fly when uh Dennis Neville was converting one to the airplane, and it takes a while when you're used to a you know um triscale undercarriage.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_02: You you're basically trying to um there's a whole load of uh you know gyroscopic effects and wind drift and all the rest of it, and it's more pronounced than a tail dragger, and you can very easily ground loop the airplane if you're not careful.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I was kind of obsessing about you know, was you using the right techniques and all the rest of it?
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_02: And it just clicked when somebody said to me, just look out the front and use the rudder to keep straight on the runway.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, oh yeah, that makes sense, right?
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_02: After that, it kind of demystified it a bit.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, certainly it's got a bit of um uh a bit of a reputation for being a bit skittish on the ground, particularly on a hard runway.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_02: When you're landing on a hard runway, you need to be on your feet.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, but have you flown one with a different engine?
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_04: Because obviously a few of them have been modified.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, I haven't.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um I've seen the Lycoming ones that are quite often used as glider tugs, and actually, when the Portuguese Air Force brought three over to Duxford for the event in May, um they've got a continental engine in them.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and they're they're pretty they seem pretty powerful.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_02: They're very sprightly in uh aerobatics display that they put on.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_02: Because that's the one thing about the chipmunk, it's you know, four cylinders, it's only 145 horsepower.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_02: So aerobatics, it you know, you you bleed energy if you're not careful.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_02: So you've got to manage that very carefully.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_04: And and talking of modified chipmunks, because there's been some very famous ones like Arts Scholl's aerobatic one, does that feature at all in the book?
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_02: Uh this one, I'm trying to focus more on the kind of nostalgic, particularly the British end of things.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_02: There's a few sort of overseas photos in there, but yeah, I think there's probably gonna be a second volume of the book which we'll have more photographs in uh because the the the catalyst really for doing it, having thought I should do this book, yeah, um uh a mate of Ian Black's uh runs the aviation bookshop, a guy called Simon Watson, and he sells secondhand books as well as new, and he does things like house clearances and estate sales, and he said, Look, I've found this estate sale, it's got a massive amount of chipmunk photographs, so I don't know what to do with them.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_02: And Ian said, Uh oh, my mate Ben is thinking about writing a book.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_02: So Simon sent me these photographs, and it's an absolute gold mine.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, there are copies of publicity photographs from like the 1940s and 50s, some of them are absolutely stunning, you know, silver gelatin prints.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, some of them are um from later uh, you know, when the chipmunk was in uh service within the UK military, but also overseas as well.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_02: And then uh this enormous box full of five Leverarch folders was uh you know turned up on my uh on my doorstep.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_02: And there was a guy called Peter Green who had been collecting chipmunk photographs, taking them and purchasing them for about 50 years.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_02: So I know I now own that collection of photographs, which is absolutely unbelievable.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_02: So any chipmunk flying, chances are I'll have at least one photograph of it.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_02: Question I've got though is what am I gonna do with all these photographs?
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um if anyone's got a suggestion, I know I need to let my wife know because they're clutching up.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_06: Have you generally have you thought about the National Aerospace Library at Farmberg?
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_02: I have, yeah.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna go and have a uh discussion with them.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um museums uh and archives have been really generous.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_02: So BA Systems in particular, which obviously it's the lineage of De Havilland, in the black sheds at Farmberg, you know, the famous black sheds, they have their high uh archive and sort of heritage centre.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_02: So I was invited to go down there, they pulled out all the chipmunk material that uh they had, and some of the photograph albums, there were literally the photographs which are in the book of uh the test pilot Pat filling him sitting in the cockpit with people talking to him, and I've got to say, he looks quite terrified before the first flight, and then he kind of goes off, and then there's a picture of it when he comes back and he's unhappy.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_02: The airplane's intact and the rest of it.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_02: But those photographs they've they've uh kindly given me access to for the book.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_02: So uh there's quite a few pictures in there that I think have never been seen before.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_02: There's others that are more familiar, you know, the king flying, all that kind of stuff, which hats go in.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_02: And then we've got a whole load of contemporary imagery that's been taken by some younger uh photographers who I'm kind of supporting and and helping them make their way on the scene.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_02: Uh one guy in particular called Oliver Stevenson, who's taken a load of really amazing photographs of the city.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_02: He's an amazing aviation artist as well, isn't he?
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_02: He is, yeah, absolutely.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_02: Really talented young guy.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_02: Uh he also designed the cover, um, uh, and he's just finished his degree course, which I think was in marketing and design.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, the book may well form part of his um his neck his master's or something.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's amazing.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_03: Um the chip room is it a British aircraft or a Canadian aircraft?
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_02: That's a really good question.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_02: Ooh, controversial.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_02: Or is it a Polish aircraft?
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_02: Because the designer was a Pole.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_02: Polish guy who'd um pitched up a to Havland in Canada.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um and to Havland, of course, you know, great old British uh aerospace engineering name, but during the wartime had started manufacturing Canada as well, uh largely the mosquito.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um but then you know the uh industry was looking for replacement for the tiger moth as we're moving towards a jet age, you know, something that was more metal in construction with a enclosed cockpit and just preparing people to go forward to those sort of future at the at the at the time cutting-edge aircraft.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_02: And that's where the chipmunk came in.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_02: So this guy had uh designed it.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_02: When they built the prototype, and there's a bit of this in the book, they were literally pulling things from the shelves in at uh de Havland in Downsview in Canada.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_02: And there were things like um one of them has uh tiger moth throttle, uh tiger moth stick, a few other bits and bobs that were just on the shelf, yeah, and one of them had the airspeed indicator off a mosquito, which I think goes up to about 450 knots.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_02: So it moves about two inches, you know, as you as you as you fly around.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_02: I wonder if test pilot looks like it looks like it's a little bit.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_02: This goes really fast.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, so um Canadian um prototype and designed by a poll, but most of the aircraft were manufactured in in uh in the UK.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_02: So I think there were 1283 built in total, um, about a thousand of those were in the UK, uh, some in Canada and then a few in other places of the world as well, and 735 operated by the Royal Air Force.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_04: What was your in in terms of uh working on the boat, what was your biggest surprise?
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_04: Was there a big surprise?
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um I think it was you know I'd always known there was this kind of nostalgia for the airplane.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_02: It goes back to what I was saying about people wanting to tell you their chipmunk story, but I didn't quite appreciate how big that was and globally.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um there are a whole load of pilots uh on the continent, places like France and Belgium and uh the you know, Holland, the Low Countries, um, as well as in the US.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_02: And then when we all came together for that big event at Halfpenny Green or Hate Me Green, uh the passion was unbelievable.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_02: And there were people coming out of the woodwork from all over the place.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_02: Two guys had come over from the US just to fly at Hate Me Green on the 80th.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, one of those was Steve.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Steve Randall.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_02: Steve Randall, yeah, fantastic bloke.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_02: So I've I you know I've been sort of friends with him on social media.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, uh, he turned up, and then there's another guy, uh Charlie De Havland, or also known as Richard Wilshire, who turned up, and those two guys went flying together in the formation, and I think they are taking more shit amongst the Oshkosh.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_02: So look out for them Oshkosh as well.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, there seems to be there's just an amazing global community around it.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_02: And I think I I I didn't really appreciate that that was uh as big as it was.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, well fantastic.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_04: I think it sounds like everyone's got something to learn from the book.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_04: When is it out?
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I'm in the very final stages of production at the moment.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um it's basically putting some photo captions in and then preparing it for printing.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_02: Uh the aim at the moment it's going to be printed in the first week of July, which is not long off now, and then we'll be sending out for the first 200 people that have ordered it, it comes with a special founding supporters patch, uh, which is basically a copy of the RF flying badge, which is like the round all with the chipmunk on the top.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_02: And whereas it used to say chipmunk or sometimes a thousand hours chipmunk, this says founding supporter, chipmunk at 80.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_02: So the first 200 people to pre-order the book, uh the reason we've done that is because that will help offset the printing cost, because it's£10 per copy just to print a book these days.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um and then everybody else after that, and unfortunately there isn't a founding supporter patch, but the first 200 get that.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um and they'll be posted out immediately, and then the book will be on um wide wide-scale um sale after that.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm expecting it to go into museum shops.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_02: I had various various conversations already, you know, you can you can imagine the kind of places.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um it's being sold via the aviation bookshop as well.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_02: I'm probably not going to put it on Amazon, but you know, I'm we'll we'll see how we go.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_02: How do you pre-order?
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I've got a website which I can uh give you the link for.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, we'll make sure that goes in the video description.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that'd be really good.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_02: And it gives you a bit of a description about what's in the book, a bit of the content on there, and I'm now starting to add a few pages on there as well just to show what it actually looks and reads like.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, the one thing to emphasise though, this is not an exhaustive history of the chipmunk, nor is it a technical manual.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_02: People have done that before.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_02: I think Rod Brown's big manual on that was the Mr.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_02: Chipmunk.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_02: One of the Mr.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_02: Chipmunk.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but I think it was about 20 years ago, maybe it came out.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_02: This isn't replicating that, it's not trying to replace that.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_02: This is about the people and the stories behind this aircraft that was such a brilliant basic trainer and continues to be really popular today.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, fantastic.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_04: Well, Ben, best of luck with sales.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_04: I'm sure it's going to be a fantastic success.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_04: And thank you for taking the time to come and join over later.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for inviting me.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_02: Good to see you.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_06: Is it time for what caught your eye?
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_06: Yes.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_06: Woohoo! Because something did catch my eye.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_06: Um, I have had a brilliant weekend away at this year's Costford Air Show.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_06: And what caught my eye there was the Belgian-based North American Rockwell OV-10 Bronco.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_04: I love this.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_04: This is a great looking airplane.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it's absolutely stunning.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_06: Um flown, of course, by Tony De Brun.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_06: Um, the Bronco is a, if you don't know, it's Twin Boom, light attack, and observation aircraft developed in the 60s, powered by two Garrett turboprops that make it sound absolutely amazing.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, they s they certainly have a really distinct noise, don't they?
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_06: Yes, you hear you sort of hear it and you go, ooh, what the heck is that?
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_06: And you yeah, you look up and you see this coming flying past.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_06: Um the Bronco has a maximum speed of about 245 knots and a range of 500 nautical miles, was armed with an assortment of rockets, guns, and missiles.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_06: Um, and I used to actually see, I was talking with Tony about this because when I walked at North Wild 20 years ago, there was a Bronco, and it was this one.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, wow.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_06: And it always stood out to me then as looking a little bit special.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_06: Um, but I can't, I couldn't remember when the last time it was I've seen it display, and it is just awesome.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_06: Um and if you want to see it, it has got two more trips to the UK this year.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_06: It's going to be at the Ducksford Summer Air Show on the 4th and 5th of July, and then at the International Air Show.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_06: At Air.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_06: On the 4th and 5th of September.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_06: See what you did there.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_04: But it look it has uh an incredibly tough looking undercarriage.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_06: It well I don't know where to go with that one.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_04: I've seen video that's uh in the in the in the deep dark recesses of YouTube, you can see um someone taxiing one of these over like speed bumps.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_04: It was designed, it was designed to be it's like a real rough surface aeroplane.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_04: The other cool thing the Bronco does is you see that um you see the little uh clear section at the rear of the fuselage.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_04: You can uh if you're an air-to-air photographer, it's it's removable.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_04: So you can shoot.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_04: It's like a B-25, you can shoot looking aft.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_03: Haven't you got that blinking great big thing at the back in the way?
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_04: Well, there's a tower plane, but that's above you.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_04: So um so that's all good.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_04: So it's a it's a good good photo platform too.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_04: But yeah, what what a magnificent machine.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_06: It's awesome.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_03: Dave, what caught your eye?
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_03: What caught my eye was uh the build-up to uh Oshkosh and the EAA, the the uh association that uh the Experimental Aircraft Association that uh organises the show and runs the show.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_03: Before there they're gonna have Sim Venture.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_03: It's um it's they call it Sim Venture, the ultimate virtual flying.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_04: Uh is it Sim Venture?
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_04: Is it like do you do you walk around as a little avatar at the event?
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_04: Not that kind of sim.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_04: Not that sims.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_03: You can put you can practice flying into the actual air venture.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_03: Uh following the actual no terms that will be in place.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um you can you get you can fly the legendary Fisk Arrival.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_03: Which we've got a video of some ones.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_04: We have, yeah, that's that's in our in our catalogue of things.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_04: I'm seeing a lot of rocking of wings.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, anyway, so you can I think this is in uh Microsoft Flying, this one.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_04: This is Microsoft Flight Sim, isn't it?
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_03: Flight Sims are available.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, X Plane is the other one they do it in.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_03: Um you can land on the dot with Oshkosh air traffic controllers and work the real event.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and uh it features the non-standard procedures and radio communication that they have at Oshkosh during the event.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_04: Um to be fair, that some of the some of the procedures are they require some some pretty good flying.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_04: So it's an opportunity to practice is a good one.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, that's really good.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_03: So the only thing is missing here really is all the other aircraft.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_04: Is all the other aircraft I was thinking it looked very quiet.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_04: And also, is there um is there an someone on ATC going um keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going, runway down or runway?
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_03: I think you'll get something like you land on the green dot.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_03: That sort of thing.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_04: That does look really exciting though.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_04: And I flight sims just look amazing nowadays.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_04: I know that that my first experience with Microsoft Flight Sim was literally it looked like someone someone drew Chicago out of uh using a crayon on a black s on a black surface.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_04: It was like wireframe, yeah.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_03: Famously used uh meat fields.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_04: But now I mean it just looks like the real thing.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_04: So fantastic.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_04: Which just leaves me.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_06: What caught your eye?
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_04: Well can you be well it just so happens.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_04: Uh so this week there's a group there's a group campaigning to save what is widely considered to be uh the world's first purpose-built business jet.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, and definitely one of the coolest jets you've ever seen.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, it's this, the McDonnell 220.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_04: Check that out.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_04: Design-wise, this thing looks like it's just flown straight out of an episode of The Thunderbird.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_06: It does.
• 38:38
  unknown: It does.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely mad.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_06: It's gonna be gonna have to start doing the hand movements again.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, exactly.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_04: There we go.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, partly because it's got these crazy four engines uh in underwing pods.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_04: I think if you crossed a Boeing 707 hustler and then put it in front of a shrinking ray, you would get this.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_04: Because it's quite small.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_04: Um but uh basically an American enthusiast, a guy called Tony West, posted on the Airplanes and Coffee Facebook group to say he'd spotted that the city of El Paso recently became the registered owner of the only uh McDonald 220.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_04: It's registered uh November for AlphaZulu.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_04: Um and he's been in contact with the airport there um where the aircraft has been parked for many, many years, um, and is basically trying to put together uh a package to rescue the aeroplane because clearly no one wants to see it broken up and scrapped.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_04: Uh this is a brilliant bit of history, and apparently he's he's his campaign is to get as much information together so they can hopefully take the aeroplane apart, find it at home, uh, and I just think this is brilliant because that would be brilliant to see in a museum.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_04: It's just fabulous.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_04: I don't think it's ever going to fly again.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_04: Uh but that needs saving.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_04: Um if you fancy joining in the campaign to save the the McDonald 220, then email Tony on save the 220 at gmail.com.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_04: But um, yeah, what a fantastic thing.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_04: I I I d I was a big Thunderbirds fan.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_06: And that really surprises me.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_04: I know.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_04: And d did you know when they did Thunderbirds that whenever they were making the fantastical aeroplanes, that they would take lots of different like air fix and model kits of the time for all sorts of different aeroplanes.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_04: They they would just stick all sorts of different aeroplanes together.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_06: That actually is really interesting.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_06: There we go.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_06: See?
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_04: Useful fact that you have learned from what caught your eye.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_03: Events.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, this is going to be one of the busiest weekends of the year.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_04: Hold on to your hats.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_04: Is this is this the weekend?
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_03: The event I'm most looking forward to is the real Stollfest at Britain.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_03: Oh uh, we've just heard that the real Stollfest at Britain at the weekend, that's Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, has been cancelled.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_04: This promises to be one of the most exciting fly-in weekends, I think, in the UK's gonna have.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that they've got all sorts of aircraft competing.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_03: Things that you might not expect to be in a stall contest.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_03: There's a Miles a Miles Messenger.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_03: There's a Miles Messenger.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah, everything from a Sky Ranger Ninja, 600 kg micro light to a Miles Messenger, and all the typical big tied aeroplanes in between, isn't it?
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's right.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_03: So that looks like a great event.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_03: And they really know how to put a party on at Breaton.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_06: And also, can I just say ten out of ten for saying Britain?
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_06: Wait on.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_03: You've beat me up enough on that one, but uh I've now known it.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_03: So moving on.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_03: Um Festival Flight and Flynn at Tibbonham.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_03: Dracot fly in at Wilts.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, I was going to say this is um this is one I think I might try and get to.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_04: Dracot's five miles south of Swindon, and it's located in the Wiltshire Downs and adjacent to the famous Ridgeway.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_04: It's a beautiful spot for a fly-in, and I know the guys there are really friendly.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_04: And uh the people who went to the fly in uh the year before last, everyone raved about it.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_03: Wow, okay.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_03: We also, this is all these events are all at the moment on Friday to Sunday, 19th to the 21st.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_03: So there's also on this period of wheels and wings and wheels flying at St.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_03: Michael's near Preston.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_03: That's mainly a micro light strip, that's right.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, check before you go.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_03: Saturday the 20th, there's the longest day flying at Easter.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_03: Uh-huh.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, and I you know Easter, big friends of ours.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_06: Um, and so a little bit of information about this.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_06: Landings are free.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_06: Um, and I'm told there's going to be a catering truck on site.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_06: And some say that the reason Ian isn't here this week is because he's already on his way.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_04: Uh I I don't think that is true.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_04: I think that might be a myth.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, Ian might be on a secret squirrel mission somewhere in the world.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_04: He is.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_06: But let's pretend he's going to Easter.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_03: So carrying on for Saturday the 20th, there's the faraway flying uh near Sidmouth in Devon.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um, the Purbeck Flying Festival at Dorset, Flying Club near Puddletown, which is going to be another one of my favourite events just because I like saying Puddletown.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_03: Puddletown.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_03: Puddletown.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_03: We all have a go.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_03: Midsummer flying at Shobden, Saturday and Sunday, 20th and 21st.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_03: The air race at uh this is one of the Royal Aero Club races in Fishburne.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_03: A Cumbernault flying in Scotland, Sunday the 21st, there's a Father's Day flying at Priory Farm in Norfolk.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_04: Yep, always a good welcome there.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_04: Great guys.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_03: So that's it.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_03: Busy weekend.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_04: Fantastic.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_04: Well, um uh obviously if you've enjoyed watching the show, please give us a like.
• 43:21
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• 43:23
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• 43:26
  SPEAKER_04: Um like, comment, or subscribe on our content.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_04: And don't forget, the Flyer Club, it's six pounds a month,£62 a year.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_04: It is the best bargain in aviation, we think.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_04: Flyer.co.uk forward slash membership.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_04: Um Annabelle, thank you for filling in for Ian.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_04: Dave, thank you as always.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_04: Great to have you back.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_04: Um Ben, thank you.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_04: Brilliant guest, and Sky Demon, we couldn't do it without you.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_04: So um I guess all that remains to say is see you next week and fly safe, everybody.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_04: Bye.
• 43:57
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• 44:02
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