View Full Version : Beware of Vampires!
Hasel Checks
6th Jul 2012, 06:13
It's too late for Mr. Assange, and now Swedish Vampires are multiplying rapidly...
Outbreak of Swedish Vampires (http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com/news/latest-news/421-vaesteras-flygmuseums-roll-out-and-airshow)
Three of the beauties in formation! (Of Swiss descent.)
Dreams of Vampires over Biggleswade.
Anybody flown one?
Could a DH108 manage the grass at Old Warden?
John Travolta's Vampire crashed at Rochester UK, but surely those intrepid Kiwis are putting more Vampires to flight?
treadigraph
6th Jul 2012, 06:53
John Travolta's Vampire crashed at Rochester UK
That had me blinking a bit - a Vampire accident at Rochester's grass strip?
Google tells me it was actually Rochester, New York State. A belly landing after a flame out with substantial damage, but the pilot was mostly OK. Prior to that the oldest flying jet.
I would have thought that even with the lengthened strip, Old Warden would be far too short for a jet like the Vampire. Shuttleworth did own a very early JP for a while some years ago but I don't believe they ever flew it.
Lordflasheart
6th Jul 2012, 07:34
Could a DH108 manage the grass at Old Warden?
Who's got a DH108 to try ? ;) LFH
spekesoftly
6th Jul 2012, 07:36
Could a DH108 manage the grass at Old Warden?
I don't think you mean a DH108 - that was an experimental swept-wing tailless aircraft (albeit based on the Vampire fuselage) none of which survive. The prototype Vampire was the DH100.
DaveReidUK
6th Jul 2012, 08:29
The prototype Vampire was the DH100.
And the Swedish ones in question, like all Vampire Trainers, are DH115s.
Hasel Checks
6th Jul 2012, 08:58
Thank you Gentlemen for the corrections, I must've been dreaming whilst bitten.
The Nordic Warbirds are T.55s, the export version of the DH115.
Isn't that DH 108 something special?!
And I'm sorry to read they moved Rochester to America. I'm so glad I did my first solo cross-country from Headcorn before the removal lorries rolled in.
I've seen several photographs of Vampires parked on grass, were any capable of using grass strips? Their power, weight, and lift ratios look like they could. But the stumpy undercarriage would mean it'd have to be a bowling green or cricket pitch.
Hasel Checks
6th Jul 2012, 09:18
Speaking of jets on grass, I'm reminded of the Gulfstream II forced landing on grass at Mallow, Eire. I flew over the place in the 80's, and was curious what a beautiful 3,000 foot tarmac runway was doing in the middle of nowhere.
It's a lovely story, now made into a film... but d'Irish tell it better than I could...
Pilot's girl touches down - News - Corkman.ie (http://www.corkman.ie/news/pilots-girl-touches-down-2250578.html)
Early Vampires took off from grass with no problem. The prototype first flew in 1943 and Hatfield didn't get a paved runway 'til 1947.
Hasel Checks
6th Jul 2012, 11:16
Thank you for the confirmation, though Hatfield certainly qualifies as a "bowling green" and a "cricket pitch'.
I don't know what it is about the DH Vampire, but I find it very attractive in a Vespa-like way.
They seemed to be ubiquitous as gate-guardians when I was in short-pants.
What a shame the three "Swallows" all crashed fatally, but they seemed to have accrued valuable data.
treadigraph
6th Jul 2012, 12:19
And I'm sorry to read they moved Rochester to America
Well, we do seem to be selling off the best of British at an alarming rate!
Hasel Checks
6th Jul 2012, 12:49
Imagine what New Yorkers will do with Dickens' Swiss Chalet.
Still, with the US dollar crashing, perhaps they'll pawn it back to us afore long.
Will Mr. Weeks let us have his mothballed Mossie, I wonder?