Vampire: Britain's strangest jet 

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

We learn something new every day, I had always been under the impression the vampire was developed in the late 1940's and not 1941.

Winkle Brown said that it was his favourite jet aircraft.

I was at the Mildenhall airshow in 1968 where a Vampire and a Meteor collided during their display. The Meteor’s aircrew managed to parachute safely but the Vampire crew sadly died.

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.

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.

Worked on one in 68 at Shawbury where baby ATC trained. Bird strike. Balsa and doped fabric. Ingenious.

I live in Wagga Wagga NSW and we have a vampire on a stand at 1 of our sporting fields on the hightway

Nicely done history, but nowhere does it say why the Vampire was "strange," let alone "strangest."

There used to be a video titled "RAF Early Jets" on LiveLeak and one the interviewees was a Spitfire pilot who described flying the Vampire as "absurdly simple" and it always made me laugh!

My Father was there on it's maiden flight at Hatfield, he worked for DH, Hawker Siddley etc.......from 1931 until 1982. I remember him talking about Vampires and their successors. He still prefered building Hornets at that time and don't forget, only a couple of years earlier DH and others were still producing Biplanes.

I worked with a lad in the early 80's in the RAF and had to show him the ropes on fitting Mk 3 Ejection seats to Vulcans. When I asked him what seat experience he had working on seats he told me, 3 years with the RAF's "Vintage Pair". One Vampire and one Meteor, alas they are no more after a mid-air collision in '86.

Operating a vampire off a carrier must have been fun. The RAAF found that you could not idle a Vampire engine for more than a minute or so, or, due to the downward pointing exhaust, it would melt bitumen or crack and ruin concrete. One of my work colleagues had some hours on the Vampire in his RAAF Reserve service. He said it was a death trap due to some handling quirks.

When i was chauffeuring I was privileged to have as customers a mr and mrs Monson-Fry. Mr had flown Vampires and Venoms and went on to be one of tbe few aircrew for BOAC that could sit as a P1 or a Flight Engineer. What a guy. I wish I could have known him better.

Love your content 😊

Wiso werden in englischen Dokus die Deutschen Düsenjäger ME 262 immer die vorserien Maschinen ohne Bugfahrwerk gezeigt,von denen es nur eine Handvoll gab, da ab den Prototypen schon ein Bugfahrwerk montiert war. Zu Vampire, sieht aus wie ein Ei mit P-38 Gabelschwanz.

I've gotten up close and personal with A79-637 and A79-665, the two ex-RAAF Vampire T35 trainers that were restored by HARS at Albion Park Rail in NSW. Both of these aircraft were used by the Telstars aerobatic display team at some point between 1963-1967. Wonderfully nimble airframes by many accounts but as with all such aircraft, what you gain in maneuverability you lose in static stability. So some good piloting skills were required to get the most out of the Vampire without turning it into a giant wooden lawn dart. I wish I'd had a chance to see the Telstars perform, born in the wrong era! I did get a chance to see a Roulettes display while they were still flying the Macchi though, another awesome little jet trainer. Loving the content on this channel. The production and narration are of a highly professional standard, great to see many new up-and-coming Aussie MilTube channels doing such a good job.

When it was being designed the prototype was initially known as the Spider Crab.

Why strangest? Seems like a very practical design given technology or the times! Not strange, an elegant and versatile solution in its day!

The South African Airforce also operated a number of Vampires. Some can be seen at our Airforce museum at Zwartkops airforce base.

There are 3 in the Irish Air Corp museum in Baldonnel Dublin. I can remember them flying when I was young. Facinating.

Excellent video presentation.

We had a few show up for our air races here in Nevada, and I love that little jet! Back in the late 80's and early 90's I saw several for sale, but could never afford them. One thing, they're loud, as in really loud, kind of a surprise to me as there were all sorts of early jets at the races, with a Lockheed T-33 being the pace plane, even that is quieter then the Vampire. One thing I've heard many times in aircraft circles, if it looks right, it'll fly right, and being a De Havilland plane, no doubt it was a lovely flying aircraft.

Two still flying in Aotearoa/New Zealand. I got to see one of them fly over a few years ago. A seriously unmistakable plane.

Did some of my final engine trade training on two seater Vampires at Wagga NSW. We had two with clipped wings and one complete.

I always liked the look of the early British twin-boom jets; to me they seemed like something out of an old 'Flash Gordon' episode.

The Vampire did not have hydraulic powered flight controls like the Avon Sabre so the ailerons became ‘ heavy ‘ above 500 kts. The cramped cockpit was designed for small men and the instrument panel was a dog’s breakfast. Was fun though.

I saw one at a great yarmouth airshow around 5 years ago..a nice jet

Circa 1969 I was on a school trip to Interlaken Switzerland, on one of our excursions we visited a nearby lake where boats were travelling, when two Hawker Hunters, and two Vampires came in and strafed a target tethered in the middle of the lake, none of the residents batted an eyelid as this was a regular occurrence, but it was exciting for us kids.

Thanks for covering these early, relatively unknown aircraft.

I like your short informative videos

In July 1943, one of the two H-1s then available (actually the spare engine intended as a backup for the one installed in the Vampire prototype) was sent to the United States, where it was selected to become the primary engine of the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star. This engine was fitted to the prototype P-80, which first flew on 9 January 1944. The engine was later accidentally destroyed in ground testing, and was replaced by the only remaining H-1 from the prototype Vampire.[5] Allis-Chalmers was selected to produce the engine in the US as the J36, but ran into lengthy delays. Instead, the Allison J33, developed by General Electric as the I-40 (their greatly improved 4,000 lbf (18 kN) version of the J31, itself based on Whittle's W.1), was selected for the production P-80A.

Specs Specs Specs!! We want Specs!!!!.

I grew up 3 miles from the end the Hatfield runway and often saw a Vampire along with other aircraft. It was easy to tell a Vampire by the shear volume of it's single engine, which seemed far noisier that the Trident with 3 engines.

For a first generation jet the Vampire was a great little plane. I don't see it as so strange considering nobody really what the jet age would bting and twin boom was already used in various forms across the industry. Its rhomboid wing shape might have looked odd but even that has been tried at various times. Australia deserves credit for having the foresight to invest in the new tech. as it was.

Beautiful design

I saw a Swiss Air Force example purchased for very low price and zero time engines for $5000, complete with cartridge start system. The aircraft was typical Swiss pristine! I’m sure several are flying.

Irish Aer Corp flew very low over O’Connell St. during an Easter parade. What a noise they made

Such a beautiful aircraft, simple with not a whole lot in the way of vices just about every pilot that I have read about that flew it liked it

in 1991 a small team of RAAF Aircraft and Avionics Technicians at RAAF East Sale refurbished a T-33 to engine run/taxi state. I was surprised to see that most of the fuselage forward of the intakes was wood!

I really liked that jet when it won jet races at the Reno air races. Sorry to see those come to an end.

There’s one of these mounted in the car park of my local shopping centre, built on the former RAAF Tottenham site.

Great clip, very nicely put together. Is the narrator AI generated? If so, where do you get this from?

That's one scary looking airplane, both good & bad. 👍

I am curious - I had thought that the long sloping tail fins were a feature of the Venom, anyway that's what I have been using to differentiate..?? (have always wondered how the Vampire would have done against the 262, possibly down to which was more agile as they have very similar performance - at least the second generation Vampires did..?)

I’d have to say given some of Britains other jets at the time and later, the Vampire being the strangest is probably a little harsh on the little one.

I remember seeing these at Thornhill air force base of the Rhodesian Air Force.

Good job they chose the Halford's engine over the Pound Shop equivalent.

Where I live in Essex we have an almost daily irritation of Spitfires hired for pleasure flights, some filmed from a helicopter and some filmed from a Hurricane, these are quite irritating!, recently we have had a real treat, a Vampire and occasionally a Meteor flying quite low, but what a sound they make between them!!

Hi. The Brits had no qualms selling the RR Nene engine to the Soviets, because they knew its centrifugal compressor was inferior to the axial flow compressor, and its developmental potential was "maxxed out". Yes, the decision had a tactical military disadvantage to the West which came to light when the Soviets produced their MIG 15 which performed so well. However it's possible the long-term strategy was to lock much Soviet production into an inferior design and give Nato time to perfect technically superior axial-flow jets, like the RR Avon. As Granddad said, "Aye laddie, and you set a sprat to catch a mackerel". (The "RED herring" ploy.) No paper trail will exist, but I'd say the sale would have had the top-secret agreement of the Americans. At the time the sale was made (late 40's), the British were ahead of the US in jet research and would have deeply respected RR's technical advice. Cheers, P.R.

Israel flew Vampires in the mid 1950s. They have some on display at the Israel Airforce museum south of Beersheba. When I first saw them I was shocked at how small they were. There are Remote Control aircraft models bigger than the Vampire.

Am I correct in thinking the Nene powered version would have had a better climb rate and probably energy retention?

My Grandfather Norman Nash was a LAME for DeHavilland and worked on these jets at Bankstown. And later the Drover. Don't know much more about him. I remember my father saying something about tropicalising

Seriously dangerous aircraft.

One of the most recognizable jet fighters ever built? huh?

Quite shocked by that altitude record!

Saw one flying over my house crumpsall Manchester 😍 in the 80s 😍

1:05 the P-80 shooting star was also in active use by the allies at the end of WWII in Italy. Was used mostly in a recon role and to show the Germans that the Americans had jets now too

Here in Mexico during the 60s and 70s when it was in active service it was nicknamed 'The Flying Avocado' due to the shape of the front of the plane

You should watch the tribute to Burt, Sheriff Buford was there.

Who was the ning who added the loud music - loud enough towards the end to drown out the commentary?

I got to sit in one many years ago. I twas truly scary that you could close the lid and go 500 MPH. You'd feel safer in an Austin Healy with the top down. Had all the security of a ME-163.

*It WASN'T 'remembered fondly' by anyone who ever had to bail out of one, risking being guillotined by the tail fin between its booms*

I serviced Vampire T11s at RAF Valley in 1960……

I saw these and Hunters at Que Que in Rhodesia in the seventies.

I saw Vampires flying over Switzerland in 1977.

Surely the Flying Bedstead was the strangest jet aircraft from any nation.

High Flight 1957 ray milland

2.23 "plywood"

As I understand it the Vampire had no ejector seat so wasn't too pilot friendly.

Why no performance figures apart from an altitude record by a modified example?

Did a vampire ever shoot down another aircraft?

Newzealand also flew them too I did my gas turbine training on the H1 engine

Cool photo with the saberjets in the background. I thinky the Australian Sabers had a more powerful larger engine, and thus the fuselage was modified to accommodate.

офигенный ролик

Hard core. 4 x 20mm cannon centerline mounted is chainsaw capable, not to be taken lightly.

I wonder if spars and primary structure is wood or aluminum? If wood, airframe life can be extremely long

Good video let down with some very sloppy research. No RAN Vampire was carrier capable. The T22 was the Sea Vampire, six were purchased directly from Royal Navy stocks and I would very much like to see anybody jam 2 seats into a single seater cockpit. Do better next time.

@maxdavies ... you also invented the UFO i believe.

Only the engine was built by CAC, the rest by de Havilland.

They were used in Rhodesia

Anyone spot Winkle? He's in there!

My father found the fault with the goblin turbine. He did spectrographic analysis . Turbine blades were welded in with faulty welding rods. They didn't have enough molybidimin. He got a handshake from the big boss that's all. Same as what I got for inventing the tweel which was given away by my father while I was at work. It was hard losing my father. He taught me so much & ruined my life over a little argument - now the lawn. Gave away a billion dollar design. I have been being robbed ever since I qualified as a tradesman in fabrication. All my best inventions / designs were stolen ,it wasn't just my father. Quad copters. Hydrogen plasma turbine. Quantum ai logic chip. Just have to be content with little or u go mad.