Vampire: Britain's strangest jet

Designed during World War 2, the de Havilland Vampire would go on to become a strange looking but effective single engine jet. A multirole aircraft, it would eventually serve with the RAAF, produced at home by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation

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[rileyernst]

To me the vamp will always hold the mantle of the cutest jet fighter ever put into production.

[triman]

My father worked for Rolls back then. He eventually ended up as a service rep seconded to the Venezuela air force in the 1950's ( when they were considered to be friendly) they had Vampires, Venoms, and Canberra's . We left Venezuela in the early 60's when it became unstable to remain. In his career he worked on the whole range of Rolls engines from Merlin, through Nene, Conway, Tyne olympus etc. What an interesting career spanning piston engines through to jets with such a well respected engine manufacturer.

[FrankP]

Two years ago I saw a demonstration by a Vampire at the Millville New Jersey airshow. Registration shows that it was built in 1959, Airworthiness Classification Experimental, with a Dehaviland Goblin Mk. 35 engine. My nephew, who worked at the airfield, made a minor repair on it prior to the demonstration.

[q.e.d.]

I was five years old in 1949 and enjoying the first seaside holiday of my life. Dad took my older brother for a joyride in a DH Dragon Rapide, while Mum and I watched and waved from the ground. After a while they disappeared from our sight so Mum entertained me. Suddenly, I heard a high pitched whistling sound and this strange little plane went down the runway at perhaps 50’ agl and far, far faster than anything I had ever seen in my life. These were the first two aircraft I’d ever seen close up. I’ve been a DH fan, ever since.

[bigpuppy]

My dad was one of the top RAAF Test Pilots in the late 50's & early 60's. He flew the Vampire, the F-86, the Canberra, etc .. going on to eventually test fly the F-111's in America.
As soon as the big photo of all the airmen at 7:30 minutes came up .. I spotted him straight away in the front row. Ha.

[FrankyBoy]

In 1969 I was standing on a mountain top in Switzerland when two vampires flew over very low, almost hugging the mountain.
Very impressive!

[vkpe]

My father was an RAAF Photographer and was in the passenger seat of a Vampire when the first flight of Sabres arrived at RAAF Williamtown. The pilot got so low that the aircraft was 'sucked' into the taller grass beside the runway. The aircraft came to a stop, the pilot cut the engine, and the two of them got out and stamped around to put out the small fire in the grass caused by the jet exhaust. The squadron brought in air bags, raised the aircraft, dropped the landing gear, and towed it to the flight line, checked it over, and declared it airworthy. It was flown again, later that day. The pilot: Flight Lieutenant James Rowland, later Air Marshall, and Governor of New South Wales 1981-89.

[CZtuner]

My late father was an airframe fitter on Vampires for RAF 249 Squadron, Suez Canal zone, Egypt from 1950 to 1952. One had to have the whole port wing replaced after an Arab sniper, outside the airfield perimeter on the runway approach end, shot a musket at a Vampire II as it came into land. My father & his team could see the 1 inch hole where the 1 pound lead musket ball had entered the underside of the port wing, but no exit hole. The ball was rolling about loose inside the wing, which necessitated a complete port wing removal and replacement.

[alejandrayalanbowman]

The Vampire was a fabulous aircraft and was one of the first to use wings held together by epoxy resin - glue, I remember visiting the factory at Hawarden near Chester in 1955.

[friendlyfireisnt]

The Swedish air force also operated the Vampire, designated the J28, from 1946 to 1967. It's always been one of my favorite planes for its distinctive shape.

[byronbailey]

I trained on the Vampire before going onto the wonderful Avon Sabre. Shook like shit when 4 x20 mm cannons fired and went berserk at M.83 in a Mach dive with a scary violent recovery with the speed brakes. Also my skinny arse ached after 20 minutes on that rock hard early Martin Baker ejection seat.

[Steven-pj]

I saw one of these at the Laverton Air Show well over 50 years ago, there was also a F-86 Sabre & an F-5 Phantom. What a thrill, but I must confess that I was unaware that it went back as far as 1941 for its initial development.

[paddlesmcbean]

When I was a little boy I remember walking along one of the rear fuselages at Wagga Wagga. It was used for training RAAF tech. Dad had not long been commissioned and was running maintenance. Fond memories. One of my favourite aircraft.

[BigAl]

It’s funny to me to read these comments, because when I was a kid in the 60’s Vampires were still in service in the RNZAF. The only other jet fighters I saw were Mirages and Phantoms, etc, at air shows. Best memory is seeing a Vulcan bomber at the opening of the new International Airport in Auckland in 1969.

[martentrudeau]

Amazingly advanced for a WW2 airplane. Brits were cutting edge tech. And a long service record!

[catjudo]

There is a neat short story by Frederick Forsyth called "The Shepherd" that focuses on a pilot and his de Haviland Vampire. There exists an illustrated version of the story (which I happened on a few years ago) and it's a fun and interesting read for any aviation enthusiast. Neat plane and neat story.

[artmcteagle]

Very interesting. They were also in service with the RNZAF until 1972. For us children, they were our favourite aircraft and we would sometimes see them flying over the Wigram airbase. So long ago, a distant but wonderful memory.

[kccvh]

Like the P-38 Lightning, it is a beautiful ship.

[chrisaskin]

Back in day I used to be in the RAF ('71 to '93), in the late 70's I was at RAF Coningsby, and during the winter months hard frosts and ice (depending on how low the temperature fell) accumulated on the runway - not a problem that our Aussie friends would encounter I imagine, but then again... The solution was the MRD - Main (or Mechanical, never knew which) Runway De-icer. This comprised of a metal framework/chassis on wheels. In the centre was a small cabin with a seat and controls, and on either side of the cabin was an aircraft jet engine. And I'm fairly certain it was a pair of ex Vampire engines. The engine exhausts were connected to a pair of elongated fan shaped metal nozzles and you you raised or lowered the nozzles by controls in the cabin. The engines were also operated from inside the cabin (starting/shutdown etc). At the rear of this rig was a coupling attachment, and that connected to a coupling on the front of a fuel bowser - the type that turned up to refuel an aircraft after it had returned from a sortie - the bowser also provided the jet fuel source to power the engines. Then, coupled to a tanker you'd trundle up and down the runway de-icing it. This duty only came around during the winter months and was the responsibility of those in aircraft trades only, and me being an armourer meant I was fair game too. You spent your entire week's duty praying there'd be no snow or ice.

[perrydowd]

When I was a child in Perth there were two vampires used for roadside advertising. They were basically left to rot.

Thankfully the Vampire at The Airforce Museum in Jandakot is treated like royalty.