Terry Oxandale
Skinny Man
Watching the Reno Air races today, and couldn't take my eyes of of the DeHavilland Vampire pounding on the field of L39 Albatroses. It was like watching a pregnant guppy beating a school of barracudas.
A jet only the British could love.
- Thread starter blueovalz
- Start date
A beautiful plane which pilots say is the most forgiving jet they've ever flown..
If you ever see and hear one in the flesh you will be hooked - trust me..
Got me researching (it's the Professor in me) and never realised just how many twin boom aircraft there have been! Seems Germany was the first nation to produce one in 1915 followed by Britain & Italy. Interestingly, the Vampire was first produced in 1943.. that's early. Pity the RAF didn't deploy their jets (Meteor was also up & running by this time) earlier in WWII, but I believe they were concerned they might lose one over enemy territory... strange decision though nevertheless..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin-boom_aircraft
If you ever see and hear one in the flesh you will be hooked - trust me..
Got me researching (it's the Professor in me) and never realised just how many twin boom aircraft there have been! Seems Germany was the first nation to produce one in 1915 followed by Britain & Italy. Interestingly, the Vampire was first produced in 1943.. that's early. Pity the RAF didn't deploy their jets (Meteor was also up & running by this time) earlier in WWII, but I believe they were concerned they might lose one over enemy territory... strange decision though nevertheless..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin-boom_aircraft
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Terry Oxandale
Skinny Man
It was just so odd to see a jet (L39) designed almost 20 years later, being beat by the Vampire. Inspiring, but odd.
Well there you are you see Terry. We love the Vampire because it was so superior! :smart:
May I beg to differ.
I flew the Vampire for some 120 hours at Valley during my RAF advanced pilot training. OK, they were getting very long in the tooth even in 1962, but there was a 500rpm band around 5300-odd rpm which had to be avoided because of resonance.
They could only be spun dual, because they had very small fins and rudders and quite frequently (in each aircraft's case terminally) they wouldn't come out and had to be abandoned. Behaviour in the spin was unpredictable, with pitch oscillations coinciding with increases and decreases in the rate of rotation as the radius of gyration altered.
A trick which we learnt early on was to open the throttle a little too quickly when going round again. The subsequent overfuelling produced a satisfyingly long trail of flame, visible in the rear view mirror. Most of the fleet had singed tails.
The brakes were pneumatic, making a sound like a tube train when released.
It was a great aircraft to learn on, having a compact cockpit with a fighter-style control column, complete with non-functioning firing buttons. The flap and undercarriage selection levers were close together, and many a pilot realised they'd raised the flaps on the wrong lever as they settled gracefully onto the taxiway.
We were the last Vampire course before introduction of the Gnat and I can't say that I was reluctant to move on.
Fantastic info straight from the horses mouth, thanks Tony..
Operated by 31 other countries & over 3,200 built.
It wasn't only us who loved it then !
Regards Steve
PS (First jet to land on & take off of an aircraft carrier too)
It wasn't only us who loved it then !
Regards Steve
PS (First jet to land on & take off of an aircraft carrier too)
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