DHC 1A-1 Chipmunk ZK-ARL has recently been flying at Waipukurau. Ron Day told me it is like a racehorse compared to the Auster he has also been flying. Ron was planning to fly to the First in the World flyin at Wanganui but the weather was a bit too marginal.
S/n 61 was imported by de Haviland NZ as a demonstrator for the RNZAF, who didn't adopt the type and continued on with Harvards. She was then sold to the Wellington Aeroclub as ARL. She acquired the RAF scheme while with NZ Warbirds at Ardmore, and retained it in subsequent private ownership.
I have a personal preference for aircraft wearing military schemes to not display civil registration, so applied for and was granted "Chipmunk 48".
The first Chipmunk taken on for RAF service was WB549, so it was felt appropriate as this airframe is older, to use the preceding number.
Some more information about its history and previous posts containing ZK-ARL can be found HERE
Thanks very much for the nice photos Ron.
I'm sure ZK-APN also owned by Wellington Aero Club was the first Chipmunk in NZ
ReplyDeleteYes, I believe that is the order in which it APNed. ZK-APN c/n 21 was registered on 28 Oct 1947 and I have ZK-ARL c/n 61 as first registered on 11 July 1949. Is that date, or some date in April 1949, correct? Perhaps it arrived in April 1949 and registered in July. Comments anyone?
ReplyDeleteMy records indicate that APN and ARL were registered in 1947 and 1948 respectively but curiously no month is given for either. An interesting side note regarding APN which crashed in Lyall Bay on 2/09/50. After recovery from its dunking it was found to already be showing sign of corrosion and was stored behind the hangar however the April 1953 WAC committee meeting was advised the airframe had been removed by persons unknown
ReplyDeleteBack in 1969 I responded to a request from Bill Fisher in England for information about Chipmunks from around the world for the forthcoming book. Bill Rolfe, then partner-owner of ZK-BSV with my father Athol, organised an audience for me with "Ted" Harvie at CAA. I took a day off high school, and, dressed in a suit and tie, joined Bill on a business trip to Wellington. Mr. Harvie was very accommodating with the Chippy files having firstly removed then-sensitive information.
DeleteMy information from those records are:
ZK-APN/Canada 21 registered to DHNZ 29/7/47
No info on when registered to Wellington Aero Club, but Peters' date of 28/10/47 fits.
ZK-ARL/Canada 61 registered to DHNZ 27/4/49
C of A issued to Wellington Aero Club 31/8/49
The registration ZK-ARM for a third Canadian Chipmunk was allocated but not taken up. Frank Brittain once told me that the new ex-Canada Chipmunks were very expensive to buy. Also, ARL/Canada 61 was the last of the production run of DHC-1-A1s, so perhaps, in the pause, the Wellington Aero Club reconsidered. Upon my father and I acquiring Canada 60 from India I wasted no time in reserving ZK-ARM for this aircraft since it came off the Downsview production line with ARL.
I have the "chin" cowling off ZK-APN hanging on my shed wall, in understandably poor condition.