By: Bruce - 27th May 2008 at 17:00
No similarity with Vixen wings at all.
They are bespoke items, incorporating some Vampire parts, but not many!!
Bruce
By: Paul F - 27th May 2008 at 16:27
Must have been somewhat smaller than Sea Vixen wings I imagine, given the difference in size between a Vampire “pod” and a Sea Vixen fuselage!
Paul F
By: stuart gowans - 27th May 2008 at 15:37
What about the wings, have they any similarity with the Sea Vixen wings, as has been suggested in the past?
By: Bruce - 27th May 2008 at 15:10
Having gone into this in some detail – yes it is possible, but there are a number of issues…
The basic pod for the first two 108’s is a Vampire Mk 1 pod. These differ from those surviving today – primarily around the windscreen. All surviving Mk 1 Vampires have the later screen and canopy; so you would have to manufacture a complete screen casting and canopy.
The rest is similar, although you would need to remake the gun spouts, deleting the spouts for the guns, and you would need to completely re-do the cockpit – they are quite different inside.
For the last aircraft, VW120, the pod had extensive modifications, including a new screen and canopy, new nose fairing, and a primitive ejector seat.
There is little surviving in the way of drawings – much of it seems to have been back of fag packet stuff. There are some photos around in the DH archive, but surprisingly few detail ones.
Bruce
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May 27, 2008 at 2:42 pm