RESTORATION AND PRESERVATION

摘要

Worldwide there are in excess of 400 Chipmunks surviving, of which it is estimated that approximately 80 per cent are airworthy or close to being so. This total includes those in museums, private hands and what few earn their living in any sense. As already noted, the prototype was destroyed in 1953, but a number of noteworthy Canadian pre-production models have survived. The oldest is aircraft 3, LV-NRY, restored to airworthiness in Argentina during 2017. It was originally sent there as a company demonstrator. The sixth airframe, DHC's Lycoming O-435 testbed, is stored in Canada, potentially to be restored, and number 11, probably the best-known pre-production example, is discussed separately. Number 22/VH-BFT, the original Australian demonstration aircraft, survives, now as VH-MCC. Viking Aircraft in Canada, which holds the type certificate for Canadian Chipmunks, has in its custody George Neal's personal mount, CF-JAG (c/n 189-227). The first UK-built aircraft, WB549, has been restored to airworthiness in private hands and is now for sale, and the RAF's initial example, WB550 (c/n C1-0002), was donated to the National Air Force Museum of Canada in recognition of the design's origins. In Portugal, the last Chipmunk built, 1376 (c/n OGMA-66), is on static display in the Museu Industrial das OGMA in Alverca.