James, we had a similar thread a year or two back. I don’t remember the exact details now but there were certainly some problems with the design.

At that time DH were very keen on what to me is the extremely stylish pointed wing. However stylish it looks, there appear to be some fairly serious aerodynamic drawbacks, particularly related to tip-stalls I believe.

I suspect the Hornet Moth is the cabin Moth you’re thinking of. Without going to dig some books out, IIRC it started off looking like a baby Rapide but after some problems a free upgrade was offered to parallel chord wings. Virtually all owners took up the offer and it was re-designated D.H.87B. It may have happened to the Puss Moth as well as I believe D.H.80A is the correct description.

It was the middle of the night and memory/educated guesses. 🙂

Chipmunk too. IIRC, 2-seat Vampires (and Venoms?) had a different D.H. number as well. There’s Canopus at Bruntingthorpe but I’m not holding my breath about that ever flying again.

A formation would be really tricky. I guess the Hummingbird and possibly a few others, flat-out, downhill probably wouldn’t come close to the speed at which the Sea Vixen stalls.

D.H.51
D.H.53 Hummingbird
D.H.60 Moth
D.H.80 Puss Moth
D.H.82 Tiger Moth
D.H.83 Fox Moth
D.H.84 Dragon
D.H.87 Hornet Moth
D.H.88 Comet
D.H.89 Dragon Rapide
D.H.90 Dragonfly
D.H.94 Moth Minor
D.H.100 Vampire
D.H.104 Dove
D.H.110 Sea Vixen
D.H.112 Venom
D.H.114 Heron
D.H.125

As I understand it, the Lightning had a poor safety record in RAF service, engine fires in particular. BAe have stated that Shack spars are out of fatigue life so won’t consider them and the potentially airworthy Buccaneer they appear to be keeping a low profile and working on. Judging by the apparent AUW of the Bucc, they may have a Sally B type problem too.

I think all Griffons were single stage so I don’t think that helps.

The first pic appears to be an earlier Merlin Seafire or Spitfire, the second is a Griffon Seafire and the third is definitely Griffon powered but whether it’s the same aircraft I wouldn’t know.

Why does every single thread about the Vulcan degenerate into this bloody tedious bickering?

I couldn’t agree more.

Rob, I’m not sure at what level of camera you need to get that amount of control. Having dropped my Olympus C-300Z a few weeks after I bought it 🙁 I can’t see most of the display but I don’t think I’ve got that many options. Next time I go to Hendon I’ll take my 35mm Olympus OM-2N and a tripod. I know how to drive it and with a maximum automatic exposure of 2 minutes it should cope with even Hendon’s lack of light.