Dear all,
there is something that I have been pondering about , the more i look at it, the more it seems to become apparent to me .
Ive noticed reading many newspaper articles , that on numerous DH Vampire
accidents, (mainly of the F.1 Type)
quite often a eye witness has stated that the aircraft was seen to blow up in mid air ??.. was this a problem with the F.1 ??.. and if so did they find the main reason that caused the explosions in mid air ??.
I can only assume maybe there was a design flaw with the early Goblin engine, ??
Can anyone enlighten me ???? ….. Bruce Maybe ??
By: Alan Clark - 20th February 2011 at 15:32
VF300 is recorded in Broken Wings as “broke up in dive after roll”, sounds like a fairly classic overstressing of the airframe causing it to come apart.
By: Bruce - 20th February 2011 at 08:13
I think Tony has covered most bases.
My guess is that it has to do with new aircraft type, new type of engine, different flying characteristics and so on. It was not uncommon for aircraft to break up in the air following overstressing of the airframe, for example in a spin, or diving too fast. I guess this would often happen at comparatively low level, hence the public reports.
I think the Goblin had its share of problems; as did all of the early jet engines. Remember it was the first jet engine built in any numbers that showed any form of reliability!
Bruce
By: merkle - 20th February 2011 at 00:15
Hi Tony,
Could be , I agree, Joe public, I am sure would associate a large BANG as the aircraft exploding,
Just wondered also , No smoke without fire, ??, (excuse the pun)
I thought I had heard this before, however the land owner might have been wrong ??
but we recovered a fair bit of wreckage of VF300 back in 1985 when i was with the SWARG when i was aged about 14 years old, the farmer told me then, that the Vampire was seen to explode at low level over fields before crashing, I could not tell at that age, if we dug a Impact crator, or infact a dump hole, as the amount found was not huge , but still quite substancial.
As I say, I could be wrong, but It was one of the most interesting days in my life, and a experience i wont forget. the recovery of VF300.
Perhaps others who were there on that day can remember more about it, who are on this forum ??
By: Rocketeer - 20th February 2011 at 00:03
sounds like the usual generalisations heard from witnesses….
1. heard the engine ‘hunting’
2. aircraft exploded
3. on fire
4. etc.
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February 19, 2011 at 11:56 pm