Weapons four 20mm cannon and normally x2 500lb bombs, and x8 60lb (76mm) unguided rockets. Some Vampires were still in service in the 1980s with Zimbabwe and South African Air Forces and represented 40 year old jet fighter technology. The de Havilland Vampire started its life on the drawing board as the DH100 Spider Crab in May 1942, it was designed to meet Air Ministry specification. ![]() A wide variety were produced many under license, including a 2 seat night fighter, a hook nosed naval version, some with Rolls Royce Nene engines. The vampire quickly became outdated by post war jet fighters but its low cost and simple design proved popular in the developing world with the D.H 115 Dual seat trainer serving with 21 air forces around the world. 'Vampire With Attitude: DH Venom' by Tony Buttler, AIR ENTHUSIAST, January-February 2000, 35:41. The DH.100 Vampire was commissioned by the Royal Air Force (R.A.F.) during the Second World. The Vampire was the second jet fighter to serve in the RAF, but it was introduced too late to see combat. DE HAVILLAND VAMPIRE: THE COMPLETE HISTORY by David Watkins, Sutton Publishing, 1996. The de Havilland DH.100 Vampire was a British jet-engine fighter. 100 Vampire was first flown on September 20, 1943. A Mk 9 was designed for use in tropical conditions and had cabin air conditioning and a refrigeration unit. RAF vampires never saw air to air combat, however they were used in the ground attack role against rebels in Malaya during the 1960s. The Vampire was a versatile aircraft, setting many aviation firsts and records, being the first RAF fighter with a top speed in excess of 500 mph (800 km/h). RAF FB.4s saw combat during Operation MUSKETEER, the Anglo-French-Israeli seizure of the Suez Canal in the fall of 1956. ![]() ![]() The main version was the Mk 5 a fighter bomber which had shorter wings and came into service in 1949. The prototype Vampire was the DH.99 which first flew on September 20th, 1943 in the hands of Geoffrey de Havilland Jnr (who was killed in September 1946 when. In 1946 the mk1 Vampire entered RAF service as an interceptor, it was a simple design but the Mk 1 lacked range having a combat radius of aboutr320miles (515km), the Mk 3 introduced a bigger fuel tank and the option for under wing drop tanks increasing the range to 550miles (885km).
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