A 28B - De Havilland Vampire Mk 50 (1953-1957)

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De Havilland DH 100 Vampire was the first jet aircraft in the Swedish Air Force. Totally 425 aircraft were ordered from de Havilland in England  and were delivered in three major variants 1946-1956. For more information, see the chapter Jet Fighters. 

The most common variant were the D H 100 Vampire FB.5 (Fighter Bomber Mk 5), in Sweden designated J 28B. It was fitted with the Goblin III engine of 1.500 kp, license-built in Sweden. The  Swedish designation of the engine was RM 1A. The aircraft was armed with four Hispano 20 mm automatic cannons (m/47). The ammunition magazines had room for 150 rounds per cannon. For training purposes, the 20 mm cannons could be replaced with two 12,7 mm automatic cannons m/39. The aircraft  could also carry eight 14,5 cm attack rockets.  

The command of the Air Force had given priority to jet fighters, but also the attack wings had to be modernised. For this reason , the SAAB 32 Lansen jet attack aircraft was developed. The prototype of this aircraft flew in 1952, but could not be delivered to the Air Force earlier than 1956. In the meantime, the Wings F 6 and F 7 flew the SAAB  A 21R, but for Wing F 14 at Halmstad, it was decided that it would be rearmed from B 18B to Vampire J 28B. It would serve as a light attack aircraft and got the new designation A 28B. 72 aircraft were transferred from other wings 1953-1956.  

When the War Flying School (F 5) at Ljungbyhed needed more two-seated jet aircraft, twelve A 28 B from F 14 were rebuilt by the Air Force own workshop CVM at Malmen. The trainer Vampires were re-designated fpl 28 (fpl=flygplan=Aircraft).  

The colour profile on top of the page is SwAFn 28311 (c/n V.0590), in service at F 14 1953-1957. It was later rebuilt to fpl 28C-3 standard and transferred to the War Flying School (F 5) at Ljungbyhed. It is preserved and belongs to the collection of Flygvapenmuseum (Swedish Air Force Museum) at Linköping. See photo below.  

Length 9,37 m. Span 11,59. MTOW  4.800 kg.

Updated 2010-07-18