When I was airborne again recently, an old vampire actually came along for a short while.
The De Havilland DH.100/113/115 Vampire was a single-engine combat aircraft manufactured by the British company de Havilland Aircraft Company. Although it was operational in the final phase of the Second World War, but it took not part in combat operations. A total of 4400 aircraft were built for numerous customers, of which about 1100 were built under licence. Vampires remained in service in Great Britain until 1955 and as a training aircraft until 1966 (in Switzerland until 1990).
Because the aircraft had a tendency to roll over in tight turns, the Swiss Air Force suffered several fatal accidents. For this reason, all aircraft were gradually given an ejection seat. With the "Vampires" not yet converted, only unmarried pilots were allowed to fly with. From 1960, all vampires were equipped with an ejection seat. The maximum combat weight had been increased compared to the first Vampire series and the maximum speed had been slightly raised to 820 km/h. The fuselage, however, was still made of pressed wood. Armament continued to be cannon, bombs or rockets.
This Vampire J-1197 with the serial number 706 was auctioned on 23.01.1991. The purchase price was 20'000 CHF which was about 8000 £.
Its maiden flight was on 08.10.1952 and it was in service with the Swiss Air Force from 22.11.1952 to 04.01.1991 with a total of 1654 flying hours.
Since August 1993 the plane is registered as HB-RVN.
1DIV7389 by Patrik Scheidegger, auf Flickr
1DIV7414 by Patrik Scheidegger, auf Flickr
D1X_5256 by Patrik Scheidegger, auf Flickr
1DIV7405 by Patrik Scheidegger, auf Flickr
D1X_5570 by Patrik Scheidegger, auf Flickr
Thanks for looking
Patrik
Swiss Vampire
Re: Swiss Vampire
Fantastic pictures Patrik!
Very surprised to see a formation shot with Vampire and An-2, possibly a world first??
Thank you for sharing these.
Very surprised to see a formation shot with Vampire and An-2, possibly a world first??
Thank you for sharing these.
Re: Swiss Vampire
Hi Ant,
In fact, there will probably not have been many of these formations. Maybe this was really the very first one so far.
Regards
Patrik
In fact, there will probably not have been many of these formations. Maybe this was really the very first one so far.
Regards
Patrik
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Re: Swiss Vampire
Lovely shots of a great subject. Appreciate the background info on the aircraft too.
Silver and day-glo orange go together so well, I wish we could have a Gnat flying in those colours.
Silver and day-glo orange go together so well, I wish we could have a Gnat flying in those colours.
"You really are an oafish philistine at times!"