Vampires......Lots Of......Get Comfy

Photos of warbirds, classic jets and museum visits
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planenuts
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Vampires......Lots Of......Get Comfy

Post by planenuts »

Hi chaps,

Here is my third and final part of classic British jets, following the Hunter and Meteor. There's a few Venoms thrown in for good measure.

One notable omission, of course, is Count Dracula. Main reasons are he doesn't appear on photos, and night photography has never been my strong point.
I was hoping for one picture with cape, another in flying 'bat' mode, but he proved to be a somewhat elusive creature..... Anyway, here's some others.......

Starting off with a few ex-Swiss AF machines, in recognition of the fact they kept a fleet of them going until as late as 1990 (correct me if wrong)

First, the Vintage Aircraft Team from Cranfield at Biggin Hill 1993. VAT have folded since, but do not know where the airframes are now
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U-1216 (ZH563) at Boscombe Down 1990, now flying with the historic flight in Jordan
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J-1605 at Gatwick Museum, Charlwood in 1991
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'WR410' (J-1790) with VAT at Mildenhall 1987, now returned to J-1790, and back in Switzerland !!
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SE-DXY (J-1184) at Duxford 1991, just after it had joined the Scandinavian Historic Flight in Sweden.......a genuine surprise on the ramp
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U-1215 / XE998 at Brooklands Museum 1999, now at Southampton Museum. Really rare to see two different military serials side-by-side
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'VZ221/F-AZHJ' (J-1159) flyer at Dijon airshow, France 1994. Now at Volandia Air Museum, Malpensa, Italy, as static (strangely)
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Same machine at Chateaudun airshow, France 1999, in navy colours. Can't get rid of the Swiss, wherever you go.......
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J-1172 at Manchester Museum 1994. Really good collection that one, shame that it got scaled down more recently :sad:
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'VZ304' (J-1167) at Biggin Hill 1994, no idea who flew it then. Now at Rhami M.Koc Museum, Istanbul, as static (even more strangely)
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'XJ771/G-HELV' (U-1215) at RIAT 2001. Based at Baginton, now repainted in Jordanian markings......is it now going to Jordania ? :grin:
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'G-GONE' (J-1542) at Yeovilton 1993, now based at Air Atlantique Baginton, painted as 'WR740' (G-DHVM)
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'WE402/G-VENI' (J-1523) at Biggin Hill 1991, now at Bouremouth Airport marked as 'VV612'
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' ---- ' (J-1758) 'flying' at the former RAF Grove near Oxford. Ex-G-BLSD Aces High, and Ex-N203DM in USA.
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J-1081 in bright colours at Speyer Museum, Germany 1997......needs sunglasses :cool:
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J-1753 at Swiss AF Museum, Dubendorf 1997......looks so much bigger from above
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F-AZOO (J-1127) at Dijon airshow 1997, based at Melun-Villaroche, France........is it still flying ? :dunno:
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Lastly, and poignantly, U-1234 at North Weald 1995 before she started flying. Fatally crashed at Biggin Hill 2/6/2001
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Now some home-grown and home-operated stuff.......

XD453 at Elvington Museum 1992. Scrapped at Millom 1997
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XD515 at Newark Museum 1988, now under restoration at Cosford Museum
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XD382 at.....do you know, I really can't remember.....help (1999). Only the tail is left now, at East Midlands Aeropark, nose scrapped 2008
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WZ507 (G-VTII) at Biggin Hill 1988. Operated by Vampire Preservation Group......somewhere. Put up for sale May 2016....where is it now ?
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(Most of) XD434 at West Walton Highway. I would show you the missing but it's a sorry tail :smile: It's now re-attached
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XE920 at RIAT 1999, now based at Sioux Falls Regional Airport, USA as N920DH...... :wave: glad I caught it when I did !!
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XE982 at Dunkeswell 1999, now stored at Weston, County Kildare, Ireland.......a bit random......anyone got a photo of it there ?
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XD622 at ATC next to Sunderland Museum 1995, now just moved Sep 2016 to museum in Gutersloh, Germany
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XD534 at Barton 1998, now with wings and tails of XD382 at EMA, and marked as such
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XK624 at Flixton museum 1999......now that's what I call a jumble sale (do you think I could haggle them down to a fiver ?)
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XK637 at Royton ATC 1994, nose now at Stalybridge
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XG730 at De Havilland Museum 1994.......that's a yummy scheme
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XA129 at Yeovilton Cobham store 2004.......love that faded dayglo orange
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WW217 at Newark Museum 1988, now inside there
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Beautiful WW138 from Yeovilton Museum, at their show 1993.......
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.....and here's the wee beastie again in the Cobham store 2004
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XD506 (briefly) at Thrupp (great name !!) in Glos 1997, now at Staverton Museum
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Time for a real oldie....VF301 at Coventry Museum 1997
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XD624 at Manchester Airport 2005, now at Hooton Park Museum
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WZ515 at Carlisle Museum 1998.......really nice collection
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XD547 at Dumfries Museum 1998......another really nice collection
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'XE897/G-DHVV' (U-1214) at RIAT 1998 (whoops, ex-Swiss), now sold to South Africa 2009
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Rare camo XD542 in bits at Montrose Museum 1998, now (I think) privately owned at Beverley
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XH278 at Felton, Northumberland 2000, now at Elvington Museum......loved this one, it was in the middle of nowhere !!
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XH318 (honest !!) at Sholing, Southampton 2001. It's the owner's retirement project apparently. And yes, that tree is between the booms......
I found her back in the days when access to location info wasn't so easy to come across. He was the nicest guy, happy to show me his 'garden' (wood)
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198 (XE977) ex-Irish Air Corps, at IAC Museum, Baldonnel......but it never flew with them. Now at National Museum, Dublin
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XE979 at Birlingham 2000......most of it is still there, but the cockpit has now completely rotted away, and it's been shoved down a hill
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WZ425 at Birlingham 2000.....still there in one place, not shoved anywhere
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Special one, this.....WZ550 at Malta Museum 2003. Visited there whilst on honeymoon, before she really, really knew what I was like with planes
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XK590 at Wellesbourne Mountford 1997.......keeping the rottable bits under cover
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XK625 at Brenzett Museum 2003.......middle of nowhere, and that's good......
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Lastly, XH313 in garden at South Godstone 2007, now at Tangmere Museum. Used to be just a few miles from where I live......oh well
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More Ex-Swiss to finish. Why not.......

LN-DHZ (U-1230) at RIAT 2011, based with Norwegian Air Force Historical Squadron, Rygge.........in Norway
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SE-DXS (J-1196) at RIAT 2011, based with........same........in Norway
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Stunning 'WK436/G-VENM' (J-1614) at RIAT 2003, based with Air Atlantique at Baginton
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.....and here she is arriving at RIAT 2011......can' t beat classic British jets in the air :yahoo:
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That's all for now, hope you enjoyed. Got a couple more posts in the pipeline, but won't be for some time later this year......cheerio for now !!

Happy snapping chaps,

Rupe
Name someone who loves you enough to die for you. I can only think of 1.......there is only 1

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tankbuster81
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Re: Vampires......Lots Of......Get Comfy

Post by tankbuster81 »

Cracking and interesting post.
Don't bother running, you'll only die tired!!

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Red Dragon
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Re: Vampires......Lots Of......Get Comfy

Post by Red Dragon »

I hope "planenuts" doesn't mind a bit of "thread hijack" but here are a few more from my wanderings around Australia

Royal Australian Air Force

RAAF Point Cook
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A79-876

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A79-616

RAAFA Perth
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A79-821

RAAF Townsville
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A79-666

Royal Australian Navy

RAN Nowra
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XG766/ 808/ NW

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WZ937/ 211/ Y

Moorabbin Museum
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N4-901
Last edited by Red Dragon on Thu 05 Jan 2017, 7:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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wallace
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Re: Vampires......Lots Of......Get Comfy

Post by wallace »

WR410 is at Shannon... or it was in 2013.
ImageWR410 Venom, Shannon by Wallace Shackleton, on Flickr

That was a lovely collection of pictures, lots of memories.

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planenuts
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Re: Vampires......Lots Of......Get Comfy

Post by planenuts »

Thanks for the feedback guys.
There are actually two WR410s, both ex-Swiss.
1) The one at Shannon is G-DHUU, original reg J-1539, and it came from Bournemouth. It's got a long pointy nose.
2) The one in my Mildenhall photo is G-BLKA, original reg J-1790. It's got a short round nose.
The confusion, I admit, is an easy one though, with the same serial.......

Thanx for the piccies btw......the more the merrier.

Cheers, Rupe
Name someone who loves you enough to die for you. I can only think of 1.......there is only 1

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wallace
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Re: Vampires......Lots Of......Get Comfy

Post by wallace »

That counts as your good deed for today. I'll change the details on my picture.
Thanks,

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Blackbird
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Re: Vampires......Lots Of......Get Comfy

Post by Blackbird »

I have just one to hand. Seen at my recent visit to the Polish Aviation museum in Kracow.(Why it's there I have no idea!)
Image

Andy :smile:

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Draken
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Re: Vampires......Lots Of......Get Comfy

Post by Draken »

Blackbird wrote:I have just one to hand. Seen at my recent visit to the Polish Aviation museum in Kracow.(Why it's there I have no idea!)
Image

Andy :smile:


It was bought by Krakow Museum in 2012 directly from Duxford Musem and arrived to Krakow in May 2013 :)
We have a swiss Vampire here as well :)
Image

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Jetnoise
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Re: Vampires......Lots Of......Get Comfy

Post by Jetnoise »

How about one in service? T.55 U-1233 at Sion in 1989. This became F-AZKF and crashed in 2006.

ImageHB_AF_U-1233_Vampire_T_LSMS_1989_1S by Ralph Lunt Photography, on Flickr


As you can see, there were many more on the field at the time.

Cheers,
Ralph
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www.jetnoise.co.uk
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duxfordhawk
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Re: Vampires......Lots Of......Get Comfy

Post by duxfordhawk »

Amazing set of photos, I remember Biggin Hill in the late 1980's to mid 1990's having lots of Vampire and Venom displays. I didn't have a decent camera then, so it's great to see some shots from that time. Makes me realise how lucky we were then as now both Vampires and Venoms are a lot rarer now.
Martin
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Re: Vampires......Lots Of......Get Comfy

Post by Roughcutter »

Betcha didn't the Jap's had them... :smile: Hamamatsu air museum
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Jetnoise
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Re: Vampires......Lots Of......Get Comfy

Post by Jetnoise »

Two Vampires captured at Marana Pinal Air Park in 1986. First off the former T.11 XD538, registered as N70877 but painted incorrectly as N77087 - this one still exists over there but painted as WD187!

ImageN70877_Vampire_R_KMHV_1986_1S by Ralph Lunt Photography, on Flickr

secondly, the former Irish Air Corps T.55 186 registered as N4861K. This one crashed last year whilst taking part in the Reno Air Races.

ImageN4861K_Vampire_R_KMHV_1986_1S by Ralph Lunt Photography, on Flickr

One or both of these may have been in the pipeline for conversion in to the MysteryJet executive jet which never came to fruition.

Cheers,
Ralph
www.ralphluntphotography.com
www.jetnoise.co.uk
There's only one way to skin a cat - with a very sharp knife.

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