Vampire – Passenger version

Perhaps it wasn’t a mock-up….much of the Vampire’s fuselage was only made of plywood anyway 🙂

No the mock up definitely didn’t use the Vampire pod. As you can see in the photo it is completely new. I remember the instrument panel had drawings and / or photocopies of instruments pasted to it – definitely nothing that had ever been remotely airworthy incorporated into it. I do remember seeing Vampire XD527 in pieces in the side building at Aviation Traders and had assumed it had gone to Marshalls at Cambridge as I am pretty sure they built the complete but unflown Mystery Jet which was last heard of in the USA. Marshalls must have incorporated at least one vampire into the prototype. I have never understood how the only complete Mystery Jet ever got to the USA. If Marshalls built it surely it would have been better to do the test flying here or maybe everyone in the UK had washed their hands of the project once the funding disappeared and the owner shipped it to the States to try to raise more funds from unsuspecting investors.

IIRC there was a 1950’s proposal for a Sea Hawk executive jet – I think it even got a registration reserved for it

I have this strange memory that when the news of the proposed Mystery Jet was released we preservationists were concerned that all the T.11s would be converted and there wouldn’t be any T.11s left!!

At least I think that’s what I remember…..

Roger Smith

Speaking of Vampires this bird arrived at Reno/Stead on Sunday. Rumour has it she will compete in the Jet category!

Perhaps it wasn’t a mock-up….much of the Vampire’s fuselage was only made of plywood anyway 🙂

The Jetcraft Mystery Jet project was meant to offer several bizjet conversions of the Vampire. From memory I think the most ambitious had seven seats!
Vampire XD527 was acquired from Hawker Siddeley in 1969 and was in a workshop on the side of Aviation Traders hangar. The wooden mock up went to the Historic Aircraft Museum Southend in early 1972. My old newsletters say the Vampire was transferred as well but I never saw it. The mock up was under the port wing of the Beverley for a while wrapped in plastic sheets but was returned to Aviation Traders by April 1972 as the project was supposedly going to be revived. The newsletters say the museum kept the Vampire but I never saw it at the museum and I am 99% sure it never left Aviation Traders. The picture from a Historic Aircraft Society newsletter shows the mock up in the museum compound. I think it ultimately wound up with Sandy Topen but I have no idea where XD527 went. I seem to remember seeing pictures of an unflown prototype stored in the desert in the USA possibly at Marana Air Park.

FFA P-16 wing for SAAC-23, to be Learjet 23. F.G.Miles assisted in its adaptation.

As did Mikoyan with the MiG-25.

It appears to show a four-engined passenger version of the Sukhoi Su-34 ….:eek:

Dunno anymore though…….

Ken

Thats impressive……… love the artwork, almost 1950’s in style…..interesting thread drift – but I wonder how many others there are, Vampire, Hunter, Canberra, Su-34, MiG-25, all classics in their own right….

Umm, am not an engineer at all but I wonder where the COG moved too…… maybe fill the tail booms with lead !?

Didn’t Hawker draw up designs for the Hunter as well as a “business jet” and also IIRC, Martin did in the US with the B-57/Canberra.

As did Mikoyan with the MiG-25.

They proposed a five-to-seven seat Supersonic Bizjet based on the Mig-25 Foxbat.

Also – I took the attached photos at the Gelendzhik Hydroaviation in Russia show last September.

It appears to show a four-engined passenger version of the Sukhoi Su-34 ….:eek:

Another photo showed what looked like a rocket engine in the tailboom – a spaceplane version !!!

Dunno anymore though…….

Ken

Good looking aeroplane 🙂

Umm, am not an engineer at all but I wonder where the COG moved too…… maybe fill the tail booms with lead !?

Didn’t Hawker draw up designs for the Hunter as well as a “business jet” and also IIRC, Martin did in the US with the B-57/Canberra.

The Jetcraft Mystery Jet project was meant to offer several bizjet conversions of the Vampire. From memory I think the most ambitious had seven seats!
Vampire XD527 was acquired from Hawker Siddeley in 1969 and was in a workshop on the side of Aviation Traders hangar. The wooden mock up went to the Historic Aircraft Museum Southend in early 1972. My old newsletters say the Vampire was transferred as well but I never saw it. The mock up was under the port wing of the Beverley for a while wrapped in plastic sheets but was returned to Aviation Traders by April 1972 as the project was supposedly going to be revived. The newsletters say the museum kept the Vampire but I never saw it at the museum and I am 99% sure it never left Aviation Traders. The picture from a Historic Aircraft Society newsletter shows the mock up in the museum compound. I think it ultimately wound up with Sandy Topen but I have no idea where XD527 went. I seem to remember seeing pictures of an unflown prototype stored in the desert in the USA possibly at Marana Air Park.

Good looking aeroplane 🙂

Just thinking of the mods….:cool:

When I started at Marshall’s back in the 70’s there was a Vampire T.11 in open store which had been acquired for the Mystery Jet project. IIRC the guy behind it scarpered with the investor’s money. (Allegedly)

Wow! Fantastic! Was starting to think that I imagined it all. We ended up with all kinds of interesting aircraft in our hangar back in the early 80’s. Sea Hawk WM994 was one of them. I believe it was bought from someone at Wellesbourne for £3000. The idea was to restore it back to flying condition. IIRC it only had 300 hours on the airframe and 150 on the engine. We had a call from the RN the day after it arrived, offering us £6000, which was turned down. Spent a lot of time stripping it down and generally refurbishing bits and pieces.
I think the outcome was that we couldn’t afford the £100K necessary for an engine overhaul and it was eventually sold for £35K.
Got lots of pics somewhere but will have to scan them to upload.
Those were happy days!

Steve

This one comes up from time to time!

Please see this thread; where I have posted a number of pictures and an information leaflet:

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=21759&highlight=mystery+jet

It ended up with Sandy Topen at Bushey, but did find its way to North Weald, where it was burnt. We had some bits and pieces of it, but I scrapped them as I didnt consider them worth keeping.

Here is the one that did get sort of finished – pictured in Nevada in the nineties – no ideawhat became of it!

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Jetcraft-Mystery-Jet/0196893/M/

Bruce

The one in Nevada sat outside a house near Las Vegas Henderson field in the mid 90s when I saw it

Would love to see a picture of it! Any ideas what happened to it?

Scrapped I believe.

My airframe design lecturer at Hatfield in the early 90’s was Martyn Pressnell. In his former job, he worked for Aviation Traders, and he was on the design team for this Mystery Jet. According to him, it was pretty much a non starter from the off, as it had such a high take-off and landing speed, for what was in essence a Biz-jet conversion of a military trainer. Great concept, but not practical unfortunately.

Before this Martyn was at Handley Page, and worked on the Victor, and Jet Stream design teams – really interesting guy to talk airframes with.

This one comes up from time to time!

Please see this thread; where I have posted a number of pictures and an information leaflet:

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=21759&highlight=mystery+jet

It ended up with Sandy Topen at Bushey, but did find its way to North Weald, where it was burnt. We had some bits and pieces of it, but I scrapped them as I didnt consider them worth keeping.

Here is the one that did get sort of finished – pictured in Nevada in the nineties – no ideawhat became of it!

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Jetcraft-Mystery-Jet/0196893/M/

Bruce

Would love to see a picture of it! Any ideas what happened to it?

The picture is in ‘Grounded’ – the Southend machine was a different project called the’ Mystery Jet’ or something like that and it did end up with Sandy.

There is a picture of one in a softback book called either Desert Boneyard or Grounded(?)

I’m not sure of its exact title, I can check tonight if I can find them, but I’m sure that someone out there will know