De Havilland Chipmunk in Army service, Colour Schemes?

[85sqn]

Hi Folks,

 

I am trying to do some research into Army operated chipmunks for modelling purposes but also because I am part of a group that operates WP928. She is ex-army having left the service in 1997 and was used for Army Grading at Middle Wallop coded ‘D’. That is about as much as I know of her service life. She currently wears the red and white training colour scheme which is how she left Middle Wallop. The fabric is getting tired and over the next year or so will be replaced along with a new paint job. So my question is when did the army adopt the red and white scheme and given that she was built in 1953 would she have been built and delivered in the silver with yellow bands? Also what other schemes are avilable to army chipmunks other than three I am aware of?

red and white

silver with yellow bands

camo (aka spitmunk)

 

I look forward to your help

 

Nick

 

[Harry Lime]

Nick,

 

Silver and dayglo in 1973 according to an image on the ABPic site. WP928 in 1973.

 

Regards,

 

Mark.

[85sqn]

2 minutes ago, Harry Lime said:

Nick,

 

Silver and dayglo in 1973 according to an image on the ABPic site. WP928 in 1973.

 

Regards,

 

Mark.

Despite having a look on AB I hadn’t seen that one before, thankyou.

[AMB]

I photographed this aircraft at Middle Wallop in July 1971 in silver and dayglo. Army Chipmunks were delivered in  silver with yellow training bands in the late '50s, which changed to silver with orange dayglo adhesive paper strips in the early '60s. This lasted til the mid-70s, when they adopted the RAF red/white/grey scheme.

 

pm me for a hi-res photo

 

   

[Rod Blievers]

I have little knowledge of AAC schemes, but I'd think they'd have more or less paralleled the RAF. Initially overall High Speed Silver with yellow bands, the bands were replaced in 1959, the process taking around 2 years. Initially painted DayGlo panels, fairly quickly replaced by the 3M DayGlo adhesive strips. In 1966 polyurethane Light Aircraft Grey replaced the cellulose Silver, but the first Chipmunks didn't appear in this scheme until 1969 (and in B&W photos it can be very hard to tell the difference - one clue is that a few Grey aircraft sported white canopy frames). The first permutation of the Red/LAG/White scheme (with red leading edges & wingroots, while the elevators remained in Grey) appeared in 1970, but this didn't appear on AAC Chipmunks. The second, more common permutation (with red elevators, outboard wing "blocks" and grey wingroots) was actually promulgated in 1971 but only appeared towards1974.

Edited April 1, 2019 by Rod Blievers
grammar!

[85sqn]

Thanks very much for your replies it is much appreciated!

[Paul J]

Then there was the camoflaged 'Spitmunk' in dark green and dark earth wraparound !

[Work In Progress]

Was, and is again. WP964, bless her, though I believe this is actually "WP964", a different airframe painted up as the original was in the 70s.

Edited April 5, 2019 by Work In Progress

[HAAFPhot]

Late I know but the grading and basic FW chippies did not always follow the RAF scheme. The prop striping also differed. I took many images of WD325 belonging to the HAAF at Wallop that has not changed since retirement and is due to be flown again soon. WD325 also has a different exhaust config to most and for the life of me I cannot remember whether it was standard at wallop or not.  Aircraft in Army service could embody mods that were not necessarily type typical. I recently found that the Austers and Beavers were fitted with updated cables that were configured in a way that were not able to be wrongly fitted (left to right etc). Images are on the historic Army aircraft flight's FB page under albums.