Warbird Information Exchange

You understate the Canadian role in both the design and the naming of the Chipmunk. It was a Canadian design produced in both Canada and Britain, not a British design produced in Canada. And the Brits would never have chosen the name Chipmunk. I don't even think they know what those are.

August

Candaian name parlance as follows....

Built there bought here and imported....Canadian Name, as its ours now...and we could have built it if we had wanted to.

Canadian aircraft, built here, but desired to sell abroad...A name that the foreigners will not find worrysome....

Arrow, Buffalo, Beaver ect... All American animals...or things that indians use to kill them..

The Water tank will not be removed, it would be expensive yes, and from what I understand I think it is now a structural component of the aircraft, ie: removing it would require some major structural repair work to the aircraft. If we weren't a flying museum, I'm sure it would be removed, however the main goal of the museum is to be a flying museum. Plus it makes it rather interesting to crawl around in!

CAP flyer wrote:

The main difference between the Cosmopolitan and the Convair, is the powerplants. The Cosmo was powered by Napier Elan turobprop engine. The Napier Elan was a troublesome engine and after some time was replaced by Allison engine, like the Convair.

I saw a show regarding the Cormorant, and it said that often in Military contracts there is a requirement by the country buying the equiptment (in this case Canada buying the EH-101) that there be some industrial benefit for the buyer, and in the case of the Cormorant, a Canadian company provided the GE engines. It's very possible that I have facts mixed up, but if this is common, maybe thats the reason for different names? I'm sure this wasn't a big issue during WWII, but for other planes. Someone please fell free to educate me!

Which is why I said structurally identical. The Napier Eland required no structural modifications to be installed on the Convair 340/440 firewall (which was part of the perceived benefit of using the Eland). The conversion to the 580 standard however did require structural modifications, although they then made the aircraft structurally identical to the Convair 580. My former employer has one of the Cosmos in the fleet in addition to the "normal" 580s they operate and it performs just the same, just a bit heavier on the flight crew due to the short yoke.

I apologize then. I was told by several British aircraft enthusiasts (including 2 who own or owned Chipmunks) that the aircraft was designed on the Island and then built in Canada.

And, they certainly do have chipmunks (even if not native) in the UK just as they have squirrels. If nothing else, they've all seen at least one episode of Alvin and the Chipmunks...