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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 1989.PDF
462 FLIGHT The Vampire Trainer was seen for the first time in public at the S.B.A.C. stow fast Sb ("Ffcgtt" photograph). VAMPIRE TRAINER Details of the New de Havilland D.H. 115 Two-seat Side-by-side Instructional Aircraft Developed from the Night Fighter THERE has recently been a good deal of outspokenopinion on the production of military equipment (orthe means of making that equipment) for foreign countries. Certainly, aircraft have not been too directly involved in the acrimony, and we only mention the matter as being in some way relevant to the genesis of the subject of this article, the D.H. 115 Vampire Trainer. Had it not been for foreign buyers, it is quite possible that the Vampire Trainer—and with it the Vampire Night" Fighter and the Venom—might never have existed as such. When, some seven years ago, de Havillands had the enter- prise to design the original Vampire, their production commitments for the various types of Mosquito and Hornet were such that they could not undertake quantity produc- tion of the new design, and the Vampire was, in fact, produced by the English Electric Company. De Havillands, however, realized that, with the tailing-off of Mosquito and Hornet production after the war, the Vampire offered an attractive fighter solution to the air-defence problems of many friendly foreign governments; and, after some dis- cussion with the Ministries concerned, the company under- took the manufacture of Vampires. Certainly, some of the Vampires produced by de Havillands have gone to the Royal Air Force, but the pro- duction for foreign Air Forces—no fewer than 12 of them— has resulted not only in the obtaining of several million pounds' worth of overseas trade, but also—and in the ultimate analysis, perhaps even more important—it has resulted in de Havillands amassing sufficient experience with the design to enable them to undertake the successful development of variations on the basic theme. By installing a Ghost in a modified Vampire airframe, and by extending the span, the world's altitude record was pushed up to only a trifle short of 60,000ft. The Ghost engine installation, and the high-altitude characteristics of the record Vampire provided data which, together with a modified wing, have resulted in the development of the Venom. Again, by wedding a Mosquito night-fighter cabin and nose to the basic Vampire, the night fighter was evolved; and, as an extension of the theme, by modifying the night fighter cockpit still further, the Vampire Trainer has been evolved, while a night-fighter Venom has also been produced. Thus, quite aside from the ordinary Vam- pire per se, four vastly important logical derivatives have come into being in a manner which might well never have occurred had not de Havillands had the courage and obstinacy to undertake Vampire production themselves. As to the Vampire Trainer itself, the prototype was seen by thousands of interested spectators in the "static park" of the S.B.A.C. show at Farnborough in September. It was hurriedly prepared by Airspeeds at Christchurch and, after the show, was taken back to the experimental depart- ment of this associate company in the de Havilland Enter- prise for finishing-off various installations preparatory to the first flight. This was made on November 15th. We have referred to the Trainer's direct parentage by the night-fighter Vampire, but the accouchement was con- ducted by Airspeed, Ltd. Given a mock-up of the night fighter from Hatfield, a section of the Airspeed design team at once got down to the job of modifying the D.H. 113 design to provide a wider cockpit with full dual control, dual instrumentation and side-by-side seats. (In the night fighter, as in the Mosquito, the seats are staggered.) During a conference at which Mr. R. E. Bishop, chief designer of de Havillands, and Mr. George Miles, chief designer of Airspeeds, were present, it was decided to go ahead with the project; very shortly after this, there arrived from Hat- field a Vampire night-fighter fuselage. Work was at once started on widening and deepening the canopy rails, letting in laminated longerons, and extending the lower part of the nose by the addition of ply laminations. At shoulder level, t/ie Trainer's cockpit is 44/n wide—i.e., din wider than that of the Mosquito: it is therefore quite comfortably roomy.
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