At British Pathe, there’s a video of a DH Vampire after it flew from the UK to Rome, and I’m not sure which version it is. The film is dated 1948, and judging by it’s tail fin design, it should be a Mk 3. However, it seems to have been fitted with squared off wing tips like the Mk 5, and the wing looked similar to the Mk 8, which was a Mk 1 fitted with the DH Ghost engine and was basically a prototype of the Venom.
So is it a F.3 in the video and is the camera angles and film quality that makes it’s wing aspect ratio or span look out of place, or is there something to this:
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/de-havilland-vampire/query/Vampire
There is also a de Havilland factory film reel that shows, among other things, a Sea Hornet 21 under final assembly and Mosquitoes and Doves being serviced. It also shows a Vampire being refueled and it had a wing flap that was joined by a section of aluminum that join the sections of the flap that are usually unconnected. Was this an experiemental item fitted to a Vampire for testing, because it’s something that I never saw an another Vampire.
By: ChernKStewfan - 5th February 2012 at 17:29
If you think that the quality of some of the films are bad on that site, I’d suggest watching them with the widescreen mode–believe me, it’s probably worse, because I’ve seen the #33 Squadron Hornet video on there, and it’s not the greatest. The distortion issue is largely fixed, but overall picture quality takes a bit of a hit.
By: Bruce - 5th February 2012 at 15:20
Its a Sea Vampire F20
The joined flaps were present on the Sea Vampire, and carried over on to the Sea Venom as well.
I note distortion on this video too – rather long Mosquito’s for one!
Bruce
By: ChernKStewfan - 5th February 2012 at 15:10
Thanks Bruce.
That’s what I was asking, if the camera angle or film used distorted anything, and that seems to be the case, as in the film, it’s wings resembled the Ghost Vampire, which was used to test the Ghost engine for the early Comets and lateer the Venom series.
This distortion doesn’t show up on the other films presented on British Pathe’s site, so it seems to be a deal of circumstance.
But as for the other Vampire question, of the aircraft in the DH Hatfield video, it shows a Vampire being fitted with flaps that are joined by a fairing that lines up with the underside of the tail booms while almost other Vampires I’ve seen have their flaps split in two by the tail booms, and it seems that this wasn’t fitted to production aircraft. I can’t really see on the tail where the ID number is, but the paint colors remind me of some photos taken at Hatfield in an old issue of Flight of the Ghost Vampire, but I didn’t see the normal “circled-P” markings that the Ghost Vampire had near the RAF roundels. Could it be the Ghost Vampire or another R&D aircraft?
This un-ID’d Vampire appears at about 0:20 and the rear view shows the flaps that I’m talking about:
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/de-havilland-aircraft-factory/query/Vampire
By: Bruce - 5th February 2012 at 13:46
Some confusion with Vampire marks here.
I think the way the film was shot exaggerates the wing span, but it is a standard Mk 5. The de Havilland Gazette states that the flight was made on November 4 1948, and in a record time, having been flown Hatfield-Ciampino direct.
John Derry made a number of demonstration flights throughout Europe in many different Vampire aircraft. It is an early production aircraft, but that is relative; there was little change from the first to the last, except in detail.
Now, the Ghost Vampire was a conversion from the Vampire Mk 1, and was largely a standard Mk 1 except for the provision of the Ghost engine, and extended wing tips.
The Vampire’s Mk 8, VV612 and VV613 were later renamed ‘Venom’, as apart from the pod and tail group they were quite different aircraft.
Bruce
By: ChernKStewfan - 5th February 2012 at 12:46
I know that the first Mk 5 was converted from a Mk 3 buy fitting a strengthened, “clipped” wing (with shorter, squared off wing tips), but the film was copyrighted in 1948. The first Mk 5 production aircraft flew on June 23 of that year, but it wasn’t until late that year that the Mk 5 was produced in numbers and entered RAF service. The flight was made on November 4 of that year.
Was this one of the first aircraft built to Mk 5 standard? It also doesn’t help that the photo in the Flight Magazine article is (at least in the caption) a Mk 3, so that suggests that the Mk 5 was definitely new, but looking at the dates, it could be a Mk 5, and if it was, it was early production. But some of the angles do suggest that it was fitted with the wide span wings like the Mk 8 Vampire was, which was a test bed for the Ghost engine, and was basically a halfway house between the Vampire and Venom, and was converted from a Mk 1. Camera angles creating an illusion of long span wings?
By: thawes - 4th February 2012 at 17:18
Flight Global mentions the Hatfield – Rome flight flown by John Derry in November 1948 here:
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1948/1948%20-%201897.html
By: Fieldhawk - 4th February 2012 at 17:14
According the ‘British Military Aircraft Serials’ VV 482 was built by English Electric as a DH100 Vampire FB 5. Just one of a batch of 200.
It also states that VV613 became the Venom F1 prototype.
Hope that helps.
By: Bruce - 4th February 2012 at 17:07
Nice film.
Its a Mk 5 Vampire – the tail fin on the 3 and the 5 were the same. The 1 had the squarish fin design.
Bruce
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February 4, 2012 at 4:39 pm