Chipmeet 2009
A hot and sunny Friday afternoon. The birds are singing, the people are laughing, the sound of running engines is in the air.. (don’t worry, I'm not reinventing the sound of music). The grass is dry and the dust is moved by the brisk wind. Everybody relaxes at the terrace with a refreshing drink. Pilots are telling their greatest stories, spotters are sharing their best photos. Suddenly a loud roar is heard. Conversations are stopped. Everybody turns their heads upwards. From behind the trees a metallic-blue plane with an unmistakable look appears. Red Russian star, radial engine, curved rudder. It roars over the terrace. All the tele-lenses are useless, so low is the plane. It gains some height and performs barrel rolls. Do I still need to tell you it was a Yak?
Welcome at the Chipmeet in Zoersel, an event were all this is still possible! When you arrive, you immediately notice the open and personal character. No tall fences, no closed gates. The visiting pilots are sitting on the same terrace as the public. A small flyer informs us that after registration spotters can walk on the airport terrain between the airplanes. A good opportunity to get some nice static shots without annoying obstacles. Since the taxiways were also within reach, photos with a nice propblur were possible as well.
To see the activity up close was a great experience, thanks to the good organisation.
Of course the most visitors were deHavilland Chipmunks, where the name Chipmeet is derived from. The Canadian- and British-built Chipmunk is, believe it or not, the direct successor to the Tiger Moth as the RCAF/RAF tandem two-seat primary trainer. After the British had squeezed all the service they possibly could out of the hopelessly dated mess of wire and fittings that was the Tiger Moth, they skipped directly to the Chipmunk, an airplane decades away from the Tiger Moth in design. Where the Tiger Moth was possessed of every trick of the bridge-building trade circa 1925, the Chipmunk was state of the art aircraft design for its day, circa 1946. Most people think of the Chipmunk as only a trainer, but during the Cold War Royal Air Force Chipmunks carried also reconnaissance missions out over the Berlin area.
Normally the Chipmunk is equipped with a deHavilland Gipsy Major “8” 145hp engine, but aerobatic and movie-pilot Art Scholl proved that it is possible to turn the Chipmunk into a real aerobatic airplane by replacing the original engine with a 260hp Lycoming. Although some aerobatic moves, e.g. four point rolls, are also possible with the standard version, when you keep the low G-resistance in mind.
I asked some pilots about there experience with the Chipmunk. Flying the Chipmunk is of course enjoyable, but the systems can be tricky. There are no separate brake pedals; instead there is a brake lever on the left side of the cockpit. The correct method of taxiing the Chipmunk is to use differential braking, control the throttle with your left hand and use the right hand to control the stick as required depending on the wind direction and strength. As with all tailwheel aircraft, the view during taxiing is not good. Therefore pilots zigzag along the taxiway to see what is in front of them.
The moment the Chipmunk is off the ground it climbs at 700-800 fpm. It is notable that only 145 horses can make this plane perform as well as it does. Everything about the stick and rudder is smooth and light. However, to give the pilot a chance at precision control without too much sensitivity, the stick ratios are fairly long; you have to move the stick a reasonable amount to effect the change you desire.
Landing a taildragger is not something you learn quickly. At the moment of touchdown, its downward inertia pulls the tail down (since the centre of gravity is behind the main landing gear), thus increasing the pitch of the wings so the airplane becomes airborne again, or seems to bounce. There are two ways to deal with this. The first is to make sure the tailwheel touches at the same time, or a few inches before the main wheels. This is called a three-point landing. The second way is to make a wheel landing, which is where you make your touchdown on the main wheels as smoothly as possible so the centre of gravity has little downward inertia. You also anticipate the moment the main wheels touch and push forward a little on the stick to obtain a zero or slightly negative angle of attack with the wings so you're really ‘stuck’ down to the ground.
Beside the Chipmunks, two Yaks were present from the Yakkes Foundation. A Yak-50 named ‘Sacha’ (the one that roared my glass out of my hands) and a Yak-18. The Yak-18 arrived with a spectacular low pass right over my head! It is a two-seat primary trainer. It has a 160hp radial engine and pneumatic operated main landing gear. The Yak-50 emerged from the Yak-18, but has more power, a smaller, lighter airframe, a wing section designed to enhance inverted flight, and a semi-monocoque metal-skinned construction. Although the Yak 50 is now outclassed at World level competitions, it stays a charismatic aircraft; having the looks, performance and sound of a Second World War fighter, yet with affordable operating costs.
One last special visitor was a deHavilland Canada DH-83 Fox Moth, which came over from Great Britain. The aircraft was designed late in 1931 as a very cheap and economical light passenger aircraft. Many components including the engine, undercarriage and wings were identical to those being used for the de Havilland Tiger Moth then being built in large quantities as a military trainer, which were fitted to the purpose-built wooden, plywood covered fuselage. The pilot sat in a raised cockpit behind the small enclosed passenger cabin, which was usually fitted with four seats for short range hops or three for longer range uses.
You might think now: “That’s it?” But saying that only big and popular airshows are worth visiting isn’t correct. Watching from the sideline with thousands of other people is totally different than the experience you get on smaller meetings or fly-ins, although the number of aircraft is smaller. You just learn something when you talk with the pilots and other photographers.
