Uploaded September 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
The Royal Norwegian Air Force Historical Squadron's De Havilland DH100 Vampire FB.6 - (their website describes it as an FB.52, which is the export version that was in service with the Norwegian Air Force, but this is a Swiss licence built export FB.6 that previously served with the Swiss Air Force) - displaying at Old Warden during the Shuttleworth Family Airshow 2024. When this was filmed the Vampire was wearing the colours of 502 (Ulster) Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF), in commemoration of the Squadron's approaching centenary during 2025. The Squadron is the RAF's oldest reserve squadron.
Initially the Vampire appears in a couple of flypasts together with The Shuttleworth Collection's 1934 De Havilland DH.88 Comet Racer, showing the breadth and history of De Havilland's designs, from the decade between each of the two types.
De Havilland Vampire FB.6, registered LN-DHY was license built in Switzerland in 1952 as serial No.705 and was flown with the Swiss Air Force marked as Vampire J-1196 until 1990. A French owner flew it for a couple of years until it was sold to Christer Andskär in Sweden and registered SE-DXS.
The aircraft was purchased from Sweden in May 2011 and is operated by the Flyvåpnets Historiske Skvadron (Norwegian Air Force Historical Squadron), based at Rygge Air Base near Oslo in southern Norway.
It normally flies wearing markings to represent Vampire PX-K, serving with 336 squadron of the Royal Norwegian Air Force in the early 50s.
The success of the Gloster Meteor led to the De Havilland Aircraft Company (DH) being approached to design and build an airframe for the Halford H1 turbojet engine (later to become the DH Goblin).
Designed at Salisbury Hall, the Vampire single-seat fighter was the first De Havilland jet aircraft. Initially designated DH99 and named the ‘Spider Crab’, it was an all-metal design which was considered to be hugely experimental in its unorthodox arrangement of twin rear booms mounted behind a moulded, egg-shaped wood and aluminium fuselage with one engine. The relative low power of early jet engines normally called for twin installations, but Major Frank Halford's new engine proved to be extremely efficient, making single engine fighters a real possibility.
So as to maximise the efficiency of this new technology and to respond to Air Ministry recommendations, the design was modified into a mixed wood and metal construction, re-designated as the DH100 Vampire.
The prototype (LZ548/G) was first flown on 20th September 1943 at Hatfield by Geoffrey R de Havilland (son of the founder), albeit some 6 months after the Meteor, having been delayed by engine availability.
The first production DH Vampire (F.1) was actually produced by the English Electric Company at Warton, due to production pressures and a lack of capacity at Hatfield. Despite finally arriving after the end of the Second World War, the Vampire was eagerly awaited and became the second British jet fighter to see service with the RAF. It was also given the honour of leading the VE-Day flypast over London.
The DH Vampire was the first RAF aircraft to be able to exceed 500 mph and its distinctive shape, with twin tail-boom and pod-like fuselage, made it instantly recognisable in the air and from the ground.
The main production version was to be the Vampire FB.5 fighter bomber (a modified Vampire F.3) and this variant was also be the basis for many of the export versions. Separate night fighter and trainer models were produced as the DH113 Vampire NF and DH115 Vampire Trainer respectively.
A number of DH100 Vampires were also modified for shipboard use such as the Sea Vampire and on 3rd December 1945, Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown completed the first successful landing and take-off of a jet fighter from the Aircraft Carrier HMS Ocean. It was also the Royal Navy’s first jet fighter.
It is of compact pod and twin-boom design, with a single DH Goblin centrifugal turbojet behind the cockpit, fed by wing-root air intakes. Given the modest thrust of the early turbojets, this configuration offered short intake ducts and jet pipe, for minimum propulsive losses, and with the hot exhaust passing below the tailplane. The rear engine freed nose space for a retractable tricycle undercarriage, giving an excellent forward view for the pilot, the raised tail avoiding jet exhaust damage to airfield turf and tarmac. The absence of a propeller allowed a short undercarriage, which retracts outwards because of the intake ducting inboard. The pod structure is balsa/plywood sandwich semi-monocoque, the rest of the airframe being light alloy stressed skin. Other features include:
Manual controls, pressurised cockpit with a moulded Perspex canopy,
four belt-fed 20 mm Hispano cannon, split flaps and wing trailing edge dive-brakes.
Counting all versions, 3,269 Vampires were built in Britain, plus 1,097 abroad.
Film and audio Copyright © 2024 StephenKeeler (HightFlight/SkyHighFlightTV) All Rights Reserved
The Royal Norwegian Air Force Historical Squadron's De Havilland DH100 Vampire FB.6 - (their website describes it as an FB.52, which is the export version that was in service with the Norwegian Air Force, but this is a Swiss licence built export FB.6 that previously served with the Swiss Air Force) - displaying at Old Warden during the Shuttleworth Family Airshow 2024. When this was filmed the Vampire was wearing the colours of 502 (Ulster) Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF), in commemoration of the Squadron's approaching centenary during 2025. The Squadron is the RAF's oldest reserve squadron.
Initially the Vampire appears in a couple of flypasts together with The Shuttleworth Collection's 1934 De Havilland DH.88 Comet Racer, showing the breadth and history of De Havilland's designs, from the decade between each of the two types.
De Havilland Vampire FB.6, registered LN-DHY was license built in Switzerland in 1952 as serial No.705 and was flown with the Swiss Air Force marked as Vampire J-1196 until 1990. A French owner flew it for a couple of years until it was sold to Christer Andskär in Sweden and registered SE-DXS.
The aircraft was purchased from Sweden in May 2011 and is operated by the Flyvåpnets Historiske Skvadron (Norwegian Air Force Historical Squadron), based at Rygge Air Base near Oslo in southern Norway.
It normally flies wearing markings to represent Vampire PX-K, serving with 336 squadron of the Royal Norwegian Air Force in the early 50s.
The success of the Gloster Meteor led to the De Havilland Aircraft Company (DH) being approached to design and build an airframe for the Halford H1 turbojet engine (later to become the DH Goblin).
Designed at Salisbury Hall, the Vampire single-seat fighter was the first De Havilland jet aircraft. Initially designated DH99 and named the ‘Spider Crab’, it was an all-metal design which was considered to be hugely experimental in its unorthodox arrangement of twin rear booms mounted behind a moulded, egg-shaped wood and aluminium fuselage with one engine. The relative low power of early jet engines normally called for twin installations, but Major Frank Halford's new engine proved to be extremely efficient, making single engine fighters a real possibility.
So as to maximise the efficiency of this new technology and to respond to Air Ministry recommendations, the design was modified into a mixed wood and metal construction, re-designated as the DH100 Vampire.
The prototype (LZ548/G) was first flown on 20th September 1943 at Hatfield by Geoffrey R de Havilland (son of the founder), albeit some 6 months after the Meteor, having been delayed by engine availability.
The first production DH Vampire (F.1) was actually produced by the English Electric Company at Warton, due to production pressures and a lack of capacity at Hatfield. Despite finally arriving after the end of the Second World War, the Vampire was eagerly awaited and became the second British jet fighter to see service with the RAF. It was also given the honour of leading the VE-Day flypast over London.
The DH Vampire was the first RAF aircraft to be able to exceed 500 mph and its distinctive shape, with twin tail-boom and pod-like fuselage, made it instantly recognisable in the air and from the ground.
The main production version was to be the Vampire FB.5 fighter bomber (a modified Vampire F.3) and this variant was also be the basis for many of the export versions. Separate night fighter and trainer models were produced as the DH113 Vampire NF and DH115 Vampire Trainer respectively.
A number of DH100 Vampires were also modified for shipboard use such as the Sea Vampire and on 3rd December 1945, Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown completed the first successful landing and take-off of a jet fighter from the Aircraft Carrier HMS Ocean. It was also the Royal Navy’s first jet fighter.
It is of compact pod and twin-boom design, with a single DH Goblin centrifugal turbojet behind the cockpit, fed by wing-root air intakes. Given the modest thrust of the early turbojets, this configuration offered short intake ducts and jet pipe, for minimum propulsive losses, and with the hot exhaust passing below the tailplane. The rear engine freed nose space for a retractable tricycle undercarriage, giving an excellent forward view for the pilot, the raised tail avoiding jet exhaust damage to airfield turf and tarmac. The absence of a propeller allowed a short undercarriage, which retracts outwards because of the intake ducting inboard. The pod structure is balsa/plywood sandwich semi-monocoque, the rest of the airframe being light alloy stressed skin. Other features include:
Manual controls, pressurised cockpit with a moulded Perspex canopy,
four belt-fed 20 mm Hispano cannon, split flaps and wing trailing edge dive-brakes.
Counting all versions, 3,269 Vampires were built in Britain, plus 1,097 abroad.
Film and audio Copyright © 2024 StephenKeeler (HightFlight/SkyHighFlightTV) All Rights Reserved
