Once in Coatesville, N935HW remained in the same private hands until September of 2008, when it was acquired by Dave Sutton of Red Star Aviation in Hackettstown, New Jersey and registered as N835HW. Both Vampires made the trip in excellent shape, however due to pilot error U-1220 lost its canopy on takeoff from Wabush, Labrador, causing a quick shutdown and immediate repairs. Some of the airfields used were gravel strips and military installations. The transit was carefully planned to have minimal time over open water while retaining as much fuel as possible. The Atlantic transit began on September 16, 1991, and included 16 stops at a variety of airfields in Scotland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, North Eastern Canada and the Eastern United States, finally arriving in Coatesville, Pennsylvania 6 days later. As told in the book, the Vampires were first equipped with de Havilland Venom drop tanks (larger than the standard Vampire ones) and then flown to Cranfield, England to have several modifications made, most notably including new radios and installation of batteries for self starting. U-1213 and another surplus Vampire, U-1220 were then ferried across the Atlantic, a remarkable adventure detailed by pilot Paul McMinn in his entertaining book, “Vampires & Goblins Across the Atlantic, A Ferry Tale”.
Jet warbirds for sale registration#
U-1213 was struck off service in 1990, sold at auction in Sion in March of 1991 and issued US civil registration N935HW, being purchased by a private company in Paoli, Pennsylvania. DH-115 T55 Vampires served in the Swiss Air Force from 1953 to 1990. She was originally armed with four 20mm Hispano cannons and was used as an advanced trainer. Our Vampire’s HistoryĬ-FJRH is a DH-115 T55 trainer that was built in 1958 under licence in Switzerland by Eidgenössisches Flugzeugwerk Emmen, for the Swiss Air Force as U-1213 (airframe no.
Over 3,200 Vampires were built and they served with a wide variety of nations worldwide. The Vampire also holds the distinction of being the last British-built aircraft purchased by the RCAF. The Blue Devils became the first Canadian Air Force jet acrobatic team in 1949, flying Vampires and thrilling crowds across the country. It was flown for eight years when the last squadrons’ planes were replaced with Sabres. In 1948, the Vampire also earned the distinction of being the first operational jet aircraft with the Royal Canadian Air Force. Different derivatives of the Vampire served with the Royal Air Force for 20 years, finally being retired in 1966. The cockpits of the early versions interestingly resembled the Mosquito, as the entire cockpit was the same. The T55 trainer variant was the first jet fighter trainer to have the pilot and student sit side by side. It was the first jet aircraft to cross the Atlantic Ocean and also the first jet to land and take off from an aircraft carrier. This successful design resulted in the first operational jet fighter with one engine.Īlthough the Vampire did not see action in the War, it immediately became Great Britain’s front line operational jet fighter and had much success in this role. The engine was mounted at the back of the fuselage and the short tailpipe necessitated twin booms for appropriate tail support and to keep it out of the way of the thrust. However, the existing jet engine of the day did not have a large amount of thrust, so a short tailpipe was needed to take maximum advantage of the modest thrust. A plane with a single-engine would be lighter and use less fuel. Both combat jets produced to that point, the ME262 and the Gloster Meteor, had two engines.
The Vampire was developed with twin tail booms (somewhat resembling a P-38 Lightning) for a very specific reason De Havilland wanted to produce an aircraft using just one jet engine. The main difference in construction was that the remainder of the Vampire (wings, tail booms and engine compartment) was made of metal. The company had already enjoyed terrific success with the Mosquito, known as the ‘Wooden Wonder’ and used the same plywood layering process to build the Vampire’s fuselage. As the Vampire was developed and first flown during wartime, De Havilland decided to construct the fuselage out of plywood, a non-essential war material. It is a descendant of the De Havilland Mosquito and as such shares some interesting structural aspects. The De Havilland Vampire was developed in 1943 in Britain and just missed seeing action with the Royal Air Force in WWII.