The Vampire returns

[sknepper]

Here is the sleek Rhodesian DH-100 Vampire of between 1953 and 1963.

[petermcleland]

Lovely...I seem to remember that is three assegais in the roundel :think:

[sknepper]

Quite correct Peter. Good memory.
I'm just touching up the last little details and then.... :think:
Quite interested to hear a bit of constructive criticism on the old Vampire.
Just wandering if anyone knows of a flying example of the Vamp. I remember that lovely Rolls Goblin engine and the whistling sound behind the back. Would be nice to finish her off with a good sound package.

[AndyG]

If anybody is up to the task, it's worth knowing that the source files for this Vampire are available over at Freeflight Design; could be the basis of a modest upgrade maybe?

AndyG

[petermcleland]

Quite interested to hear a bit of constructive criticism on the old Vampire.

Well, the things I remember about it were the Mach Crit was 0.78M...Just over that it started to porpoise madly. The high speed stall had a vicious flick roll which would degenerate into a spin if not dealt with pretty quickly. Moving the stick quickly forward about three inches, stopped the flick roll instantly (of course you would probably have stopped rolling upside down, but no problem). Over the hedge speed was 95 knots and it had a tendency to float. However, it was easy to land. The odd chap came to grief trying to turn too tightly on finals...Usually flicking inverted with insufficient height to recover. Some chaps made the same mistake when turning in for a 20mm cannon or R/P attack...we lost one doing that. I even had a chap flick me inverted on the break from a 20mm straffing attack (T11 two seater) and I had to take control and bunt it away from the ground!

The flick characteristic was carried over to the first version of the VenomFB1. If anything it was worse. However, they then fixed it completely with a little rivetted on, fixed slat about a foot long, on the leading edge of each wingtip (they say they were made by apprentices...the slats had a couple of little wooden ribs to hold the top only duralumin skin in shape). This modification absolutely transformed the high speed stall into a Meteor like, fierce rumbling judder with no wing drop.

No bang seats in the single seat Vampires that I flew (or the Venom FB1), so a nice "Spade Grip" rather than "Straight Stick". If you wanted to bale out, you jettisoned the canopy, released your seat harness and then rolled inverted...You kicked the stick forward to bunt the aeroplane away from you (hoping like hell that you would miss the tailplane).

Four 20mm cannons was a lot of firepower in those days and you did carry quite a lot of ammo...enough for about 30 seconds firing. They made a fabulous loud rattling noise and filled the cockpit with a hazy smell of cordite. Not quite as stable a gun platform as the Meteor but somehow more fun...Excellent for R/Ps as the rocket rails were close in near the fuselage. You could get very good scores with rockets or cannons in Air to Ground, but the Meteor made better scores Air to Air.

Well that sums up most of what I can remember about the first Jet Fighter that I flew solo

[AndyG]

My ex-father in law used to remember the Vampire with a little less affection than you Peter. At the time he was an armourer, and the Vampires were less than popular as they were a pig to re-arm, due to the clearances (or lack of); he recalls one instance when 601 Squadron were doing an armament practice camp in Malta, assisting their ground crew, only to end up under the Vampire with a full belt of 20mm ammo crushing down on him due to somebody not securing it correctly. He is less than complimentary about the old RAuxAF!!

His hearing is also shot in the upper range, something he blames on working too close to noisy DH engines; personally I always thought it was just an excuse for him to ignore anything females said to him!!

AndyG