DH Vampire

[NeilCP]

Hiya Guys n Gals,i was just wondering if any of you have any old photos or stories you can share concerning the DH Vampire,It was the first airframe i worked on,a t11 at St Albans colledge,and have loved them ever since.Many thanks.....Neil.

[dakkg651]

I remember the fire section at Cosford being given an F5 a fair few years ago.

The look on their faces the first time they set light to it and discovered the fuselage was made of plywood and balsa, was a picture.

I did discover that the teleflex end fitting on the HP fuel cock was exactly the same as the missing airbrake fitting on the Slingsby Prefect I was re-building at the time. So although this was a sad end to a lovely aircraft, at least its demise gave new life to another aircraft. WE992 is still flying with Al Stacey at Keevil by the way (see the Air Cadet Gliding thread.

Dak

[Herod]

I lived under the Vampire circuit at RAAF Pearce from age 11 to 17. One of the big factors leading to a career in aviation lasting 39 years. So yes, the Vampire has a place in my affections.

[jindabyne]

Linton on Ouse '63 --far too long ago. But still quite recollective, especially the very nice young lady in the Three Tuns who I hope had a good life :)

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb59/malgrosse/40.jpg

[Centaurus]

Hiya Guys n Gals,

How about "Ladies and gentlemen" rather than "Guys n Gals"? Sounds more professional and certainly better grammar:D

[John Farley]

How about Google images and DH Vampire

Literally thousands of pictures.

(830,000 if you miss out the DH)

[NeilCP]

Hello Mr Farley,
yup am fully aware of Google images,just thought somebody may have some old photos stashed away in a box some ware that they may like share.By the way,are you the Mr John Farley of Harrier fame.If so you have just made my day.:).
Regards.....Neil

[India Four Two]

NeilCP,

I have a fond memory of the Vampire. My one and only ride on an ejection seat was in a T11 at Shawbury. My flight included practice PARs for the radar trainees and I remember being surprised that I needed 45° of bank for a Rate 1 turn and that I didn't need to use the rudders.

I was also suitably impressed by the ejection seat briefing before the flight, being told that the seats were the same as in Valiants and that I would probably have a back injury if I had to use it. Sitting on a live seat for the first time certainly focuses the mind.

Yes, JF is "Mr. Harrier".

[India Four Two]

When I was in UBAS (late 60s), I remember seeing a training film, that included a sequence of a T11 on approach at Shawbury, taken from the No. 2 close formation position. The final film cut away abruptly when the T11 was just short of the threshold.

The story at Shawbury was that the pilot was formating on the camera aircraft and therefore looking over his shoulder, more than he should have and as a consequence, touched down in a cloud of dust and gravel in the undershoot! :)

Has anyone seen the original clip, before it was edited?

[NeilCP]

We had a T11 appear at work last year ,she was immaculate,i had the piss taken out of me big time by the rest of the guys as i was drooling lol.

[India Four Two]

the fuselage was made of plywood and balsa

dakkg651,

I've only just noticed your comment. I get very strange looks from people when I tell them I flew in a wooden jet fighter!

[Fareastdriver]

being told that the seats were the same as in Valiants

Not quite. Tha Valiant had the Mk4 seat that had three cartridges and left an eight foot telescopic gun at 80ft/sec so that the pilot would clear the tailplane. It was rated at 90 kts/0ft although the canopy would not jettison cleanly below 120 knots.
The Vampire's was a single cartridge job that was rated at 120 kts/200ft.

I went on a trip in 1961 shooting GCAs at Sleap airfield. Looking up at break off there was just a load of grass because there was about five GCA approaches and not all of them used the runways.

[Alvechurch]

There was a big 24v battery on the Vampire and a Electrical Mechanic (Air) at Little Rissington changed one but forgot to secure the fixing bolts.
Bit before my time there, probably around '56, but apparently the pilot had a hell of a shock when he pulled out of a dive and the battery tried to escape through the nose.
Ah, National Service, how did the RAF survive us! :)

[stevew62]

Hi Neil,


Here are a couple from my Dad's log book from '59 / '60


http://www.a-k-d.com/vampire/small_waddington_vamp.jpg


He flew his first jet solo in Feb 1960 in this one
http://www.a-k-d.com/vampire/wadd_vamp_id_feb_60.jpg


Sorry no stories, the photos are older than me.

[DX Wombat]

Why not make a trip to Duxford to see the one they have in the museum?

[Old Photo.Fanatic]

I thought you might like this Photo.
Taken at "Marshall's" Anniversary event, Cambridge September 2009


http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/tt200/phredd10/Vampire/WZ507MarshallscelebrationeventTerryBurke.jpg

OPF

[flydive1]

Stevew62

The last picture looks like a British version of the Mistel....

Or maybe because it was his first solo, some kind ot "training wheels"?

:):)

[NeilCP]

Lovely pics steve,thanks for posting,:D

[NeilCP]

Thats the one i was drooling over oldphoto,fanatic lol,thanks for posting,talking of the French Mistral,they are included too.:)

[Fareastdriver]

The last picture looks like a British version of the Mistel....

The Sud-Est Mistral was a licence built version of the single seat Vampire. The main difference apart from the single cockpit were the long fins on the Vampire T11 to counteract the twin seat pod. The French, like the Australians, also fitted it with a RR Nene instead of the DH Goblin.

[henry crun]

Fareastdriver: Derwent ? not so, it was the RR Nene.

[flydive1]

The Sud-Est Mistral was a licence built version of the single seat Vampire. The main difference apart from the single cockpit were the long fins on the Vampire T11 to counteract the twin seat pod. The French, like the Australians, also fitted it with a RR Dewent instead of the DH Goblin. Fareastdriver, I was talking about the Mistel, see picture below, because on the picture of the Vampire above it looks like it is connected to the other aircraft by a set of struts;):)

http://www.rlm.at/galerie/02/mistel_originalfoto.790x525.jpg

[Fareastdriver]

Good Heavens. I didn't notice that. Well done.

[Planemike]

flydive1............

Ahead of most of us, methinks !!!!

Planemike

[stevew62]

A quick trim & photoshop later .....

http://www.a-k-d.com/vampire/Wadd_XD393_vampire_5FTS_Oakington_Feb_60.jpg

See he really was solo :D


The nose is so blurred & yellowed because of the 60 year old sellotape on it ..... I still have a few photoshop tricks to learn :-)

[ONE GREEN AND HOPING]

Could perhaps, one of you friends of the Vampire remind me/us what the twin ariels on both wing tips served as? I seem to remember that they were rx ariels for some kind of navigation aid. Was it perhaps a sort of short range distance measuring device?

I trundled around in Vampires for a few months in 1964......my logbook shows entries for WZ507 as well ( see photo by Old Photo.Fanatic page 1 )
The first thing I noticed when spotting this aircraft at North Weald a couple of years ago, was that the ariels had disappeared. It's possible that this afore-mentioned Navaid had been removed by 1964, since I have no recollection of ever using it.

One thing I do recall, as mentioned already on this thread.......and that is the seat, and my own reaction to briefings on use and effect of the noisy part. I used to strap myself in so snug, that by the end of the sortie I was somewhat numb from the waist down. There was a test rig opportunity as well, but I don't recall anybody I knew personally volunteering to try it.

.....Happy days.

[pulse1]

I have some fond memories of the FB5 Vampire. As an ATC cadet I used to spend the occasional w/e at the local RAFA 614 sqdn helping to refuel them between sorties. We did this in the hope of a trip in their one Meteor Mk7, in vain in my case which is probably just as well as I would probably have been sick. (Just for the record they also had one Meteor Mk8 which no-one would fly because they didn't like the ejector seat)

They had one FB5 which had landed short and dragged the airfield fence halfway across the airfield. Although it was relatively undamaged, it became a bit of a hangar queen as the JTP used to go above limits and no-one could find out why.

Less fond memories are of the incredible, ear piercing whistling noise of the Goblin engine when you had one or two doing engine runs just outside the hangar doors.

[Prangster]

Not sure if it was one of 504's or a Rolls Royce based Vampire that frightened a skinny 20 month old me. We lived near to RR Hucknall's flight test establishment and a regular Sunday walk was along the edge of the golf course near what is now the Merlin flying Club site. Dad pushing mum poddling along on the rear as we emerged from the shelter of the hedge just as a Vampire scant feet away throttles up and unleashes a gout of flame......From then on I ran in screaming everytime one flew over the house. Funnily ended up working at RRH and spent many years in RAF blue. Another incident happened at junior school, 1930's building outside loos. Crossing playground on abright sunny day I found my head being snapped up to the left ( I still dont know what prompted me to look up) Just in time to see two silver dots merge and explode in a ball of flame. Went back to class and told Miss Parnham I'd just seen to aircraft collide only to be told not to be so so stupid. That night the local news reported two T11's (Syerstons?) collidng to the south west of Nottingham

[sycamore]

1G-H, it is most likely for the `Rebecca Mk8`,rather like a Tacan but range only,so you had a kneepad with range circles from each station,and then tuned 2-3 stations to get your `fix`.Certainly in J-Ps in `63`,but Tacans took over then VOR/DME..

[Fareastdriver]

The wing ariels were for the Rebecca. As Sycamore said you could have a small map with circles on it but nobody bothered at Oakington. They were mounted back to front, ie, the sharp bit was the leading edge. They would pick up ice by the handful and eventually they would start viabrating and shaking so that in some cases thay would break off. It did not happen very often as we could climb and descend through the icing layer fairly rapidly.

[BEagle]

Yes, Rebecca 8 antennae. A DME system operating at around 220 MHz; you selected the code on a big bakelite box (one clunky rotary selector for each part of the code - letters for the 'Tx' part and numbers for the 'Rx' part) e.g. C4 for Cranwell and D5 for (I think) Cottesmore. Then listened for the coding - because it was't uncommon for the wrong station to have been tuned in, despite the selection made! The indicator in Vampires, JPs and Hunters was a single needle against a range scale with a 'homing' section which could only be used at short range - when the needle was centred you were either pointing directly at the station or directly away from it. We only used it the 'homing' part for DME letdowns, e.g. when inbound on the final approach. QGH to the overhead, then a dead reckoning descent in the 'safety lane', before flying the final approach on DME was a lot easier! Quite a few sessions in the Link Trainer to practise though!

For normal fixing above cloud, we usually used UHF/DF and Eureka/Rebecca; if out of Eureka coverage, a couple of bearings from different stations was fine. Of course there were enough RAF stations around to make that feasible back then. Although we were still without transponders or navaids and using DF/DF fixing in IMC or above 8/8 in HM's Bulldogs in the late 1980s until we were given the magic of VOR/DME/ILS, a multi-channel UHF radio and a transponder.

Eureka / Rebecca disappeared when the Hunter went out of service, if memory serves correctly. Eureka stations were marked on the En-Route Chart as small black blobs with a white 'E' and the legend 'Eur7'.

When the JP 5A first appeared, occasional vibration would be noticed in cloud. Something of a mystery....

Until one day, Geoff St*****l had something go seriously 'twang' in the fin of Finningley JP5; fortunately he managed to lend it safely (at Llanbedr?).

It was found that the fin-mounted VOR antennae picked up ice and could vibrate at sufficient amplitude to fatigue the fin. The LLADTS Finningley Mk5s were probably fleet leaders as regards fatigue, hence Geoff's incident.

The solution was a couple of wires from fin to each antenna tip to stop them moving.

[Derek Holmes]

My memories are those of flight deck work . On HMS Vengeance early 1948. We had a Sea Vampire on trials. I remember having to hold chocks under the undercart with an oppo as it was given a full engine run up from time to time......no ear protectors in those days, but just told if the noise was too extreme " Just scream or shout, no one will hear you but it will help with the noise !". If my memory serves me correct the aircraft was very useful helping to de ice the deck !. By the way I hope I`m not trespassing on this site as I`m not a pilot .

[Fareastdriver]

We used to clear the snow of the runway at Oakington with a couple of Vampires. With the Vampire you could manoever it quite easily around the tarmac and a two pairs could clear a strip on the runway sufficient to get off in about two hours with a refuel.

Another aircraft well suited to this task was the Victor; again jet pipes pointing downwards at a slight angle. The Victor required a tug to push it around. They had to stop when they had a bit to much throttle on and it pushed the tug off the runway and turned it over.

Then some Eng Off invented the twin Dewent fuel bowser as a runway clearer. Being engineers they collared all the Dewents the Air Force had instead of the time-expired ones and suddenly the flying Meteors ran out of spares.

[Herod]

Ref the ejection seat test rig, when I went through training we all had to have a go. It was mounted on a Queen Mary trailer and the seat travelled up a ramp. I believe it was a one-third charge (one cartridge instead of three?). The idea was strap in (tight), pull the face blind and bingo, there you were some fifteen feet up the ramp. A couple of months after I left South Cerney, one chap was using it when they had a misfire. While it was being sorted out, he loosened his straps and leant forward. The cartridge went off, and damaged his back such that his flying days were over.

[ColinB]

BEagle gives an excellent and accurate description of the Rebecca 8 fitted to Vampire, Venoms, JPs. Hunters and Swifts etc.
It may further interest you to know that cadmium? coating on the outer wing aerials was prone to degrade causing them to rust. It was decided to coat them in seaplane varnish as a temporary measure until a bespoke paint, normally in dayglo yellow or orange was introduced but this was only the beginning of a further problem as it was almost impossible to remove the seaplane varnish.
I do not know if it fixed the vibration problem but I saw at least one entry in the F700 which stated aerial vibration at 133 1/3 cycles was experienced while taxy-ing.

[innuendo]

Couple of pics of a Vampire, (I think, not too sure of the differences from the Venom) looks like a Dual, at Thermal California, East of Palm Springs.
Talking to some people around the hangar, they said that the owner was not far from getting the paperwork approved to fly it. This was just over a year ago so I don't know the progress. BTW the B-17 tail in one of the shots is the Liberty Belle. Tragically just lost to fire it seems.

http://jetset.zenfolio.com/img/v22/p949085978-4.jpg

http://jetset.zenfolio.com/img/v21/p984760517-4.jpg

http://jetset.zenfolio.com/img/v2/p941258131-3.jpg

[JW411]

http://www.frpilot.com/Dad/11 VVV.jpg

Here is No.11 Vampire/Varsity course at RAF Valley in 1961. A very young JW411 is on the right.

[Wander00]

Why a Nav? And any other names?

[critter592]

Prangster - The two Vampires you saw collide were XH321 and XE990; both were from 8 FTS at Swinderby. More here (http://macr.moonfruit.com/#/dh-vampires-xh321-xe990/4532317348) (shameless link to my own website).

Don

[Fareastdriver]

That Vampire at Thermal must be carrying the last pair of Vampire underwing tanks in the world.

[JW411]

Wander00:

Like so many people on pprune,you are making wild assumptions. The chap on the left is not a nav but an ex-siggie (Neptunes and Shackletons). You will also note that none of the rest of us are wearing pilot's wings. That is because in those days, we didn't get our wings until after advanced training was complete. (In fact, one of the chaps in the photograph didn't make it). He failed his final handling check on the Varsity and became a nav.

As a matter of interest, the chap beside the cockpit was entitled to wear a nav brevet but it was of the RCAF variety (North Stars).

If you want thenames, send me a PM.

[Wander00]

Thanks for that - could not see the letter in the middle - did not realise in them far flung days (I was at Valley only 5 years later!) that such a change was possible, but (as amere former pilot) glad it was. Just wondered if any of those chaps ended up as QFIs at Cranditz or Valley a few years later. (PS Anyone know what happened to a creamie QFI called John Metcalfe? He was a great instructor - well got me through!)).

[JW411]

No, none of us ended up as QFIs at Valley or Sleaford Tech.

[Wander00]

Nice escape that, then. Hope you all a. survived and, b. had intresting flying careers

[NeilCP]

Love the pictures guys,many thanks,and its nice to see a vampire carrying proper DH underwing tanks :o)
regards....Neil

[A37575]

Posts: 32

Hi Neil,


Here are a couple from my Dad's log book from '59 / '60

The photo of the open canopy brought back a memory to me. During flying instructors course at RAAF Central Flying School in the mid-Fifties, each student was given one hour dual jet famil in a Vampire Mk 35.

In my case, I had already flown the single seat Vampires before the dual version was available but got a dual ride anyway. Radio went u/s taxiing out so we returned to the tarmac. The instructor (a squadron leader no less, while I was a lowly flight sergeant) taxiied in, stopped the aircraft and cut the engine and then raised the canopy.

I was about to haul myself up from the RH seat when the instructor kindly warned me to always check the open canopy was locked open before exiting.

I had never flown the type before so thanked him graciously and waited for him to undo all his leads etc and climb out first. Age before beauty. He had just got both silk gloved hands on the window front frame to lever himself up from his seat when the canopy fell forward on his fingers.

With a frightful oath he shook his injured hand and said something that sounded like "Schiessenhausen" He was an Australian but talked posh.

I was highly impressed and said "Jeez Sir! - that was a bloody good demonstration".

"That's not funny, Flight Sergeant" was the griitted reply.

Turned out he had broken a few digits and for the next week or so walked around with his hand in a sling. Awfully nice chap, though.