DH Chipmunk Birthday Celebration at Ardmore

The 22nd of May 2024 was the 78th birthday of the first flight of the DHC-1 Chipmunk at Downsview, Ontario in Canada.  Each year this anniversary is celebrated with gatherings of Chipmunks and the 75th birthday was a big one, especially in England.  But any birthday will do for a gathering of Chipmunks and that is what Vaughn Davis organized at Ardmore on Saturday 25th of May.  The weather was not helpful for Chipmunks to attend from long distance but four Auckland based examples gathered outside the Warbirds main hangar:

The line up - Vaughn Davis' ZH-CHP3 (callsign Chipmunk 65), the NZ Warbirds ZK-RFS, Doug Sinclair's recently acquired ZK-LOM and the Chipmunk Syndicate's ZK-SAX.

Later on in the day the four Chipmunks went for a formation flight.  This photo is from ZK-LOM.

It is only two years until the Chipmunk's 80th birthday and that will no doubt be another big one.  We have 15 Chipmunks currently on the NZ Register plus there is N861WP with Bevan Dewes in Masterton.

Thanks to Vaughn Davis for supplying the photos.