What's a Chipmunk?

This week I've noticed a blitz in the printed news and on talk radio stating that the cause of high food prices is biofuels, of all things! For some commentators ethanol in our gasoline is evidently the root of all evil.

It seems that every time the farmers have a good year, as last year evidently was, there arises a veil of indignity against all things agrarian. Never mind that a huge contributing factor of increasing food prices is directly related to the ever rising cost of fuel powering transportation. Never mind that the environmentalists, now called "greens," have successfully lobbied against any expansion of nuclear power, any improvement in oil refining capacity, any expansion in production of oil from the Arctic wastes all of which have a direct and dynamic impact on the cost of the gasoline and diesel oil. The environmental movement is directly hampering the source of power that we need to produce and move ag products. Oh no it is all the fault of the farmer who sells corn to the producers of ethanol instead of using it directly for human food. When was the last time the greens ate grits or cornbread? Heaven forbid that a farmer ever makes a profit and in turn passes those monetary funds into powering the economies of small town Nebraska or actually the majority of the United States.

Earlier this year while visiting in Florida, I was introduced to a gentleman who had also been an Air Force tanker pilot. Andy Kopelwitz was stationed at Minot AFB North Dakota and our paths never crossed on active duty. I knew that I liked him immediately when he asked me to go for a ride next morning in his Chipmunk.

At a safe altitude Andy put the nose a little below the horizon to increase the airspeed. Then nose about twenty degrees high, stick full left and around we go, a nice aileron roll. From my perspective the earth just did a full circle out in front of us rather than appearing that we in the airplane did the roll. Ah that was fun so Andy did another roll to the right to unwind the first one and make everything plumb in the world again. Andy then gave me a tour of the Ocala local area, flying over "The Villages" now home to George and Doris Rainbolt and over John Travolta's current digs. He also let me fly his airplane a little to get the feel of one of the world's best training aircraft. He capped it off with perfect landing back at Leeward Air Ranch.

I found the Chipmunk, properly the DHC-1, to be a wonderful little airplane to fly. It has quite a history. Typical of military trainers of that day it was designed and first flown in 1946 by the de Havilland Aircraft Company Canada. Built with strong fixed conventional (tail dragger) landing gear mounted on a low wing, with two place tandem cockpit and a 145 hp de Havilland Gypsy Major engine. After 200+ aircraft were built production moved to England where they built over a thousand airframes and even more were produced in Portugal and Australia. It was the primary trainer for the Royal Air Force plus the air forces of most of the "colonies" until well into the jet age.

Andy's Chipmunk had quite a colorful history. It seems that a friend of a friend was flying Boeing 747 freighters all over the world. In out of the way Kenya, Africa he spotted several derelict Chipmunks abandoned at an unnamed airport. The seven four pilot somehow negotiated a sale and loaded several of the Chipmunk wings and fuselages to take back home. In my own experience I have seen some mighty strange cargo riding in the big empty spaces inside large cargo airplanes. Probably the company that owned the big freighter wasn't consulted as to carrying such obvious airplane "junk" as there is no use asking the question if you can't stand the answer.

Over many years Andy's friend resurrected the derelict parts into a modern version of a now popular aerobatic airplane. There are presently over 500 Chipmunks still flying and a few, like Andy's have been tweaked to become pretty fine acrobatic aircraft. The inverted four cylinder engine was always a bit weak for a good aerobatic airplane though fine for a trainer, so Andy's friend substituted a modern more powerful engine and a constant speed propeller. The rebuilder was a fine craftsman and though from a distance it looks like a Chipmunk and is painted like a RAF aircraft it is actually a better airplane in every way.

When doing aerobatics in an aircraft the perspective for me is that the earth turns and the airplane appears to be flying level. To do a loop you get the airspeed you want and then gently pull back and the world disappears below your nose. Look to the left and you can see the wing tip perpendicular to the earth. Then when as it passes 45 degrees you look "up" through the top of the windshield and here comes the earth again. Flying straight down with the airspeed rapidly building and the g load increasing as you keep pulling and voila the earth is again below the nose where it belongs. During a roll the earth just goes up and over your head and appears again coming up on the other side.

Back in the days when I flew T-33's, the Air Force jet trainer of the time, we would do aerobatics in formation. Paramount when flying formation the pilot on the wing never takes his eyes off the lead aircraft. I found it quite surprising to see the earth slide by out beyond the leader as we went up around and over while I had no idea which way was up. Fantastic!

Ann complains severely when I do any acro with her in the airplane so to scratch the occasional itch I will go up solo and get the three dimensional maneuvering out of my system. To be prudent I don't do aerobatics in other people's airplanes without their permission. Maneuvering in the three dimensions is something I've found comparable only while swimming and that is probably why the astronauts practice weightlessness in a swimming pool. Flying aerobatics correctly in a suitable aircraft is a wonderful challenge and besides it is just plain fun. I wonder what I'll be if I ever grow up?

That is the way I see it.