Chipmunk 75 - Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Chipmunk Pair

The RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight's two British built de Havilland Chipmunk T.10s, visiting Old Warden Airfield during the de Havilland Chipmunk 75th anniversary fly-in on 22nd May 2021, commemorating the first flight of the de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk on 22nd May 1946.

De Havilland Chipmunk T.10s WG486 and WK518 were delivered, brand new, to the Royal Air Force during January 1952. Just two of the 735 Chipmunks built for military use, these are now the last and only ‘Chippies’ still in RAF service and, far from being ‘pensioned off’, they are still an important and active part of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight's historic aircraft fleet.

Both Chipmunks were built at the de Havilland plant at Hawarden, Broughton, near Chester.

Chipmunk WG486 has served with various units as a training aircraft, but has also had two unusual operational ‘postings’. In December 1958, the aircraft was issued to No 114 Squadron in Cyprus, where it was used in operations against the EOKA terrorists, flying low-level reconnaissance patrols and convoy escort missions from Famagusta, Xeros and Akrotiri airfields, with British Army officers in the rear seat. In 1987 WG486 was moved to Germany to operate as part of the Gatow Station Flight in Berlin, which was then surrounded by Soviet Communist Block territory. For the next two years the Chipmunk was flown on what were then highly secret ‘Cold War’ covert photographic reconnaissance ‘spying’ flights in and around Berlin. WG486 joined The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight in 1995. It is painted in the scheme of the Bristol University Air Squadron based at Filton.

WK518 has been with the Flight longest of the two, since April 1983. It has spent its entire life as a training aircraft. There must be hundreds of RAF flying instructors and student pilots who have delighted in the lightness and sensitivity of the Chipmunk’s controls, and perhaps some students who struggled to master the tail-wheel landing idiosyncrasies, flying WK518.

The Flight's Chipmunks are used year-round, primarily for the conversion and continuation training of pilots on the vintage tail-wheel aircraft, Spitfire, Hurricane, Dakota and Lancaster. Other functions of the Chipmunks include the reconnaissance of new venues, the delivery or collection of pilots and, occasionally, the delivery of small spare parts.

Since October 2020 WK518 has worn the colours she had when flying for the University of London Air Squadron - ULAS in the 1970s.


Both aircraft are powered by a single de Havilland Gipsy Major 8 engine.

Video and Audio content is
Copyright © High Flight

This video and audio material may not be reproduced in any form (except as the videos Youtube embedded video option on any other website), without written permission.