Former RAF pilot reunited with training plane in Whanganui after 53 years

Vaughn Davis spent two-and-a-half years restoring the 1953 DHC-1 Chipmunk and began flying it in March last year.

There was an unlikely reunion in Whanganui as a 71-year-old aeroplane brought together former Air Force pilots from opposite sides of the world.

Auckland’s Vaughn Davis will conduct an aerobatic flight in his 1953 DHC-1 Chipmunk during the Wanganui Aero Club’s aero day this weekend.

Also in town from the United Kingdom is Bill Macleod, a 45-year aviation veteran who served in the Royal Air Force (RAF).

Macleod flew Davis' plane while training in the RAF in early 1972.

“I did two formation flights with a guy called Hector Skinner, who was the chief flying instructor, and then he sent me solo on it,” Macleod said.

“There are still a few Chipmunks flying but nothing like this.

“Having been completely rebuilt, it is an absolute work of art.”

Davis contacted Macleod through social media and asked if he had ever flown the plane and, after a check of his logbook, Macleod confirmed he had.

He and his wife Moira are still based in the UK but two of their daughters live in Whanganui.

The couple visit them every year.

Macleod said he moved on to fly Handley Page Victor bombers then Hawker Siddeley Nimrods.

“I actually came out here in 1978 for the Fincastle competition, but we lost.

“It’s an anti-submarine warfare trophy, with the Canadians, New Zealanders, Australians, and ourselves.

“That was two wonderful weeks in New Zealand. It was the only place I had been in the world where I thought I could live.”

He said the Chipmunk, a training plane, was known as the poor man’s Spitfire and flew the same as the famous RAF fighter plane - “minus a bit of the power at the front”.

Davis said it was designed immediately after World War II by De Havilland and first flew in 1946.

Vaughn Davis (left) and Bill Macleod aboard the Chipmunk at Whanganui Airport. Photo / Mike Tweed

“They wanted it to replace the Tiger Moth and it is far superior in every imaginable respect.

“The problem was there were too many cheap Tiger Moths available.

“Why would an aero club spend £1500 when they could get a Tiger Moth for £100?”

He said there were about 8000 Tiger Moths built compared to 1283 Chipmunks.

There are 16 Chipmunks in New Zealand.

Macleod eventually became a flight commander for the RAF’s Bulldog Squadron.

“The Air Force was going to promote me but that meant I’d have three years flying and six years on the ground,” he said.

“I wanted to keep flying so I left and joined British Aerospace, which had opened up a flying college in Prestwick in Scotland.”

After a stint with the Civil Aviation Authority, he retired at 63 after logging 10,500 flying hours.

Davis, a display pilot with the NZ Warbirds Association, joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force straight out of school and completed training at Wigram and Ōhakea.

“Most of my career was flying the Hercules around the world, which was good fun.”

He left the Air Force in 1996 and started an advertising agency but his passion for flying remained.

Self-employment allowed him the three things needed to fly - “the time, the money, and the medical”.

“At the tail end of Covid-19, I saw this plane for sale in Melbourne, in bits,” Davis said.

“It had been sitting in a hangar for 11 years. I spent 2.5 years restoring it and it’s been flying since March [2024].”

He said his aircraft had flown almost a million kilometres since it was built.

Macleod and Davis went for a flight in the Chipmunk on Thursday morning.

Aero day

The Wanganui Aero Club’s aero day, part of Whanganui Vintage Weekend, is on January 19.

Chief flying instructor Jonathan Mauchline said 55 aircraft would be on the ground, with 12 display flights and two “mini air shows” - one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

He said pre-Covid-19, the event would attract a few hundred people but 4500 came through last year.

“We’re still showing off what the club and general aviation is all about, but now we have the attraction of some aerial displays,” he said.

As well as the Chipmunk, planes at the event include a Venom, a Strikemaster and a Corsair.

“Legend Aviation are coming over with their Harvard and a beautifully restored Tiger Moth,” Mauchline said.

“They will be doing rides in both planes and Air Chathams are offering flights on their DC-3.”

He said food trucks would be available - “the whole shebang”.

The aero day is from 9am to 4pm at the Whanganui Airport, with air shows at 11.15am and 1.55pm.

Entry is $10 at the gate but kids are free.

Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.