Vampire

At the same time we celebrate 80 years of DeHavilland's least fearsomely named aircraft, the Chipmunk, here's something in the way of contrast. It's also 80, as like the Chipmunk it first flew in 1946.

That's where the similarity ends. The Vampire's single jet engine belts out a bit more power than the Chipmunk so it goes a bit quicker and climbs a bit faster. 138mph v. 548 mph and 900 feet a minute v. 4,800. However, those pilots who first flew on the Chipmunk often progressed to this monster.

A great many variants of the Vampire were produced including models for both the RAF and Royal Navy. The list of nations who operated the Vampire is far too long to list here and they were in service until the 1990's.

This one comes courtesy of our friends Ken and Mette of the Norwegian Airforce Historical Squadron and it's one of a handful still flying, usually very, very rapidly.