Added: 4 years ago
From: Bomberguy
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  • This is hands down one of the coolest little aircraft designs.

  • Got a drop tank in my garage..hehe...my dads helping restore a vampire.

  • Can I buy one of these plane without motor for my garden?

  • They would have done better to build ME 262s.

  • See the horizontal stabilizer aft ?

    Think about bailing out, (sorry, no ejection seat)

    Can you say " Cheese knife" ?

  • @agwhitaker I figure it'd be like the P38, where the pilot goes under the wing (assuming, of course, he or she slides down the wing instead of jumping).

  • How would you like to strap your butt to one of these!

  • In January 1965, as officer cadets, we were were watching a ground attack exercise in the dunes west of Ohakea (NZ). One fellow in his Vampire got ground fixation and pulled out of his strafing dive very late, saving himself by steering between two dunes. The flight director standing beside me almost had a fit and ordered him home immediately. The plane's wings were found to be corrugated by the g-forces, according to a friend in service at the base.

  • Sadly the test pilot Geoffrey de Havilland was killed later when one broke up in flight over the Thames estuary.

  • @freebeerfordworkers wasn't a vampire he was flying when he died

  • @pramboy09 I read his aircraft broke up as a result of metal fatigue which was not fully understood then & I thought they said it was in a vampire. Out of curiosity what was it?

  • @freebeerfordworkers he was flying DH 108 which was a small delta winged aircraft which used the fuselage off a vampire but had a single fin and swept wings. there were two variants one used for low speed handling and de havillands variant was for high speed research, his aircraft broke up over gravesend.

  • @freebeerfordworkers Geoffrey de Havilland jnr was killed flying the de Havilland Swollow not the Vampire.

  • These babies would have feasted on ME-262s, while they escorted B-29s. Wanker armpit exposers howl, but those are the facts.

  • @whizbang47 absolutely, and the other german contenders.

  • Imagine if the British had this plane in during the war years.

  • @walkenshaw2000 they did, first flight 1943. Developed less hastily and with none of the serious bugs german jets had. The allies also had 4 Lockheed p80s in Europe during ww2, the allies were much more careful about keeping their technological advantages secret for as long as possible, and would seem to have exploited the nazi 'only WE have this' way of thinking in many areas.

  • @MrTrescojones The maidenflight was in -43, but it was not put into operation before april -45, to late to see action. The only British jet to see action during WW2 was the Gloster Meteor.

  • @LarS1963 this is indeed true, but its development was slowed down 18months by giving the prototypes engine to lockheed to develop the p80. It is probably fair to say that it would have seen action if this had not occured. In comparisons between sides in a race of technology and knowhow, people often get enthusiastic about one side having an overwhelming advantage but they often actually kept close pace with each other.

  • Switzerland have also Vampires , what a beautiful Aircraft !!!!!

  • I saw a dismantled Vampire at Carlisle airport. It had no engine. Sticking out of the back of the cockpit module were 4 fairly small bolts about 6" to 9" long, which I suppose was all that held the engine in place. I was not impressed. However I saw loads of these little planes at RAE Farnborough in the early 1950's and they were well liked.

  • 0:55 that sounded like they were initiating the death star :P

  • MEXICO use this kind of jet against the GUATEMALAN P51 MUSTANGS,seeing this dissadvantage the president of GUATEMALA ask for peace talks.CANADA was the only country that offer MEXICO this vampires this happen in 1959.

  • Dominican Republic was the first Latin American country to get the first jet planes and they happen to be vampires.

  • I've seen vampires under resto. Same ply/balsa/ply construction (fuselage pod) as the Mosquito and Hornet. Force landing one was dangerous as the fuselage usually broke up. Also, with no ejector seat (Swiss ver. had them) getting out of one in flight was dicey. Still, well liked for it's handling and reliability. RAF fighter versions didn't even have a battery (for restart)!

  • today I'd make it out of carbon /resins

  • The commentator refers to the Vampire as being the "fastest aircraft in the world" yet the Gloster Meteor had broken the world's speed record in 1945 at 606 mph, which shows (as usual) that he "media guys" talk nonsense. The Vampire never held the speed record, although an extended wing version (and DH Ghost powered instead of Goblin), did hold the altitude record at one time.

  • this is the first jet aircraft to land at raaf base Amberly

  • My father is in the RAAF at Williamtown NSW in the mid 1960s. There were a number of Vampires stationed at the base at that time and I can him once being flown to Laverton for the day in one of them. Memories

  • @snipershot520 - and I saw one at the airshow there in 2008! Plus a meteor that did not even sound like a jet. Awesome!

  • I flew in a Vampire Trainer some years ago... I will never forget this souvenir and this amazing machine!!!

  • My dad flew them in the RAF- thanks for posting this.

  • I always liked the look of the Vampire.

  • The Hawker Sea Hawk with its blended curves was really stealthy. Reortedly, it wasn't visible on approach radar until the undercarriage came down!

  • what a bullcrap! the sea hawk and vampire were FAR FROM stealth! that is a myth!

  • You ever tested them?

  • no need to, what aspect of these aircraft makes them stealth? just the fact that they look cool? what a nonsense!

  • I know, right? Just like the F-22.

    Shape is a major contributor in the stealth properties of a vehicle, and the De Havilland Vampire is of a shape that would make it hard to detect on radar, for instance, few right angles, smooth curves...

  • your lack of intelligence is amusing, it really is!

    for the last time, the "composite materials" you mention do NOT make an aircraft stealth. same with smooth shapes, boeing 747 has smooth shapes and is far from stealth. your ignorance has truely no limits...

  • Umm...I didn't mention composite materials.

    A 747 is simply too big to be properly stealthed.

    Neither of us are aircraft engineers. I didn't insult you.

    Two B's for you:

    Bye

    Blocked

  • Nice film. Does anyone know at which airfield(s) this was filmed at?

  • If you ever go to Baginton Air Museum in Coventry - they have one. It's so tiny close up :)

  • I'm old enough to have seen the real thing fly operationally... as trainers in the RSwAF! I won't mention that I have two built, but not very well, it's an ongoing project trying to restore them to something a bit better! The project is currently on hold though.. If I ever see a new kit, I'll try again! The kits were commonplace before Airfix went bust, now there's none to be seen.. It's a nice little plane, originally known as the Spidercrab, it's easy to see why!! :) :)

  • Were they loud?

  • I can't remember the noice, only seeing these twin-boomed planes up in the sky.. I always used to think they were Saab J21 R's, but a check gave to hand that they stopped using them in 1957, well before I was born.. whereas the Vampires where used until 1968, which fits the bill.. I would have been about 3 or 4, when I saw them, they must have made a big impression.. or scared the living daylight out of me, either way I haven't forgotten them.. :)

  • The SAAB J21R is really something every swede should be proud of!

  • Indeed.. the second ever Jet to be converted from a piston-engined fighter.. :) I wish they could, and would, restore both a J21 and a J21R to airworthy condition.. what a great display pair that would be..

  • we used to have a venom fly here in nz at airshow's, had a quite whistle as it flewby them a bit of a roar after

  • It is a very tiny plane up close :0

  • Did you know the fuselage is made of wood but the wings are metal. Similar to the mosquito.

  • Wooden jet fighter? That is unusual ;)

  • not really, it was tried and tested with the de havilland mosquito and hornet

  • not with jets surely?

  • check it out yourself, the fuselage is made of wood, the wings are metal. Both the vampire and venom.

  • No what I meant was, this was the FIRST time they made wooden JET fighters right?

  • All metal construction only became the norm in the 1950s

  • @GerbilEssences

    The German Heinkel Arado in WW2, was mostly wood too despite being a jet bomber

    Seeing as Germany was seriously short on raw material from 1943 onwards, it's not strange at all they used wood.

  • IS PART TWO OF THIS VIDEO AVAILABLE?

  • much more advanced than the german equivilant as all the german jets were just differant airframes with the same power unit strapped on.

  • Children!...Behave....or its the naughty step!...you have been warned!;)

  • I've been doing some work for an old guy and he told me that his brother led a squadron of these to the USA in 1948 and they had to make 4 fuel stops. they also fitted them with drop tanks. he showed me the photo of them in flite on the first leg of the trip

  • first jet to land on a carrier and first to hop skip and jump the atlantic puddle !

  • it WAS the fastest until the meteor F.8 came along

  • ithink the me 262 and teh he162 were faster

  • also the Kommet but strictly speeking that was a rocket.

  • he 163 that is, and it was a rocket.

    but why compare, the dh 100 is a post war fighter.

  • sorry, , i'm a diklesxik mutherfokker and i cant remember a p3p38d from a bf109 or c130 from a f14

  • also the comparison is important as the kommet is a one of a kind never repeated post ww2, no?

  • bullshit! absolute crap

  • house number and street? i will be over there sometime in the next few months, don't make me track you down Errol !

  • Well Junkyard,outcome? I think not.

  • dosn't that "saturday night fever" guy got one?

  • realy, wots is name?...John travolta, seriously he has a vamp? a lot of buisinessyuppies take out shit to make a second seat.

  • wonderful aircraft!

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