de Havilland Vampire. Part Eleven. Portuguese and Swiss users.

 

The de Havilland Vampire is a British jet fighter designed and developed by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was mainly used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) but also by many other users all around the world, among them, the following ones:

• Portugal: Two early Vampires T.55 with framed canopy and no ejection seats were ordered and delivered with evaluation purposes  in 1952. The Portuguese Air Force (PAF) however, decided towards the Lockheed T-33A as their main jet trainer and the two T.55s were part of a jet training squadron  until 1961 when they were written off and sold to Katanga where they were delivered via South Africa in September.
  One Vampire FB.Mk.9, previously belonged to the South African Air Force, was donated to the Portuguese Air Museum at Averca. 

• Switzerland: The Swiss Air Force (SAF) was one of the most extensive users of the Vampire, together with the RAF. They operated the Vampire for a total of 45 years. Between October 1945 and March 1946 a technical delegation made a series of visits to the UK, where they agreed that the Vampire would meet their requirements for a jet fighter.
  Three Vampire F.Mk.1 were procured for trials between July 1946 and July 1947. These were flown extensively by the Swiss and were kept in active until 10th April 1961.
  Seventy-five Vampire FB.Mk.6 were ordered in late 1948 and they were delivered during the following year. In May 1950 the wing of the SAF equipped with Vampires was declared operational. One-hundred more machines were also ordered in 1949 but an agreement was reached to manufacture them under license at Emmen, Lucerne. 
  One NF.10 demonstrator was acquired in early 1951 and was employed for aerial radar and navigation techniques training. It was also used as a testbed for navigation and radio equipment and eventually ended its days as a ground instructional frame in the early 1960s.
  Three Vampires T.11s were ordered for evaluation purposes in 1953 and were assembled at Emmen between September 1953 and January 1954. Seven additional T.11s were ordered. These were of the late kind, fitted with ejection seats. Twenty Vampires T.11s were also built at Emmen between July 1958 and June 1959. In as late as 1967 the SAF also bought some surplus T.11 from the RAF. They were refurbished at Emmen to T.55 standard and were delivered by November 1969. 
  The de Havilland Venom took over the fighter role in 1954 and the Vampires were modified to the fighter-bomber role equipped with either underwing bombs or rockets. In 1960 every Swiss T.11 was required to be updated to new safety standard with new canopies and ejection seats. In this year too, three more FB.Mk.6 were assembled from spare parts left at Emmen. In 1971 and 1974 fifty-nine FB.Mk.6 were updated with avionic upgrades and a new UHF radio which was mounted in a re-profiled nose, similar to the of the de Havilland Venom. 
  Various T.55s were also subject to upgrade programmes equip them with Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) devices between 1966 and 1979 while some other were modified to carry the AS-11 missile and TV cameras.
  Every single-seat Vampire was relegated to the trainer role in 1968 when the first Hawker Hunters arrived. In 1978 twelve FB.Mk.6 were assigned to the Zielfliegerkorps 5 (Aerial Target Corps) to serve as target for anti-air units. 
  The Vampire wasn't officially retired from service with the SAF until 12th June 1990 and by that date there were still 59 single-seat and 30 trainers on strength. Most of them were sold to private buyers in the UK, USA and Scandinavia.

Sources:

1st Hall Park Books - Warpaint 27 - De Havilland Vampire

2nd: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Vampire

3rd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_de_Havilland_Vampire_operators

Airspeed AS.65 Consul, part six, various European Users

The Airspeed AS.65 Consul was a British twin-engined light airliner which was a direct conversion from the previous AS.10 Oxford. All of them were converted in the immediate post-war period. Many of them were sold to many airlines all around the globe, among them, the following ones:

• Switzerland: One machine, originally registered as G-AIDX, was eventually sold in 27th June 1955 to a Swiss private owner who registered with Swiss codes, HB-LAT. This aircraft was interned in Sabadell, Spain, accused of nylon smuggling. According to one of our sources, this happened in 1952, but it wasn't until 1955 when the aircraft passed on to Swiss owners. After that it was sold in an auction in Barcelona.
  There was another Consul which ended in Swiss hands. Originally registered as El-ADC, this one was bought by the Aerocentro Sportivo Ticinese SA in Lugano, on 12th February 1959. It was later sold to Spanish Iberia airlines on 6th June 1962.
• Spain: A total of 9 Consuls served with various Spanish airlines. The main operator was Iberia which, in 1947, was in the need for cheap twin-engine aircraft for crew training which eventually operated 7 of them from the late 1940s until the early 1960s. Initially some of them were used for local flights but eventually all of them ended up as ground crew trainers.
  Spantax, another Spanish charter airline, also operated the type as they bought three machines and operated them in local flights, specially between the Canary islands and Spanish Sahara.
• Sweden: There were various Swedish operators of the Consul. These were Aero Nord Sweden, Aeropropaganda, Nordisk Air Transport and Transair Sweden. A total of 15 machines served with those companies mainly during the 1950s. Most of them were used in charter flights in Sweden. One machine, registered SE-BTD, crashed near the city of Gävle, on 14th July 1951 when serving with Aeropropaganda AB.
  Unfortunately we couldn't find graphical evidence of the Consul serving with these Swedish companies so the profiles depicted below should be considered as speculative.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airspeed_Consul

2.https://www.ab-ix.co.uk/pdfs/airspeed_oxford_&_consul.pdf

3. http://leandroaviacion.blogspot.com/2013/04/1952-bimotor-airspeed-as65-consul-hb.html (translated)

4. http://www.aviationcorner.net/gallery_en.asp?aircraft_type=Airspeed%20AS.65%20Consul&aircraft_type_id=1690 (translated)

5. https://www.iberia.com/es/fleet/historic-aircrafts/Airspeed_AS-65_Consul/