Survivors
Although 80+ Vampires are still airworthy, only a small number are flying including two ex-Swiss aircraft (T.11 and FB.6) in Sweden. Another ex-Swiss two-seater is privately owned in Norway and does promotional work for the Norwegian Airforce. An airworthy Vampire T.11 is operated by the Vampire Preservation Group from North Weald in Essex, UK. Several ex-Swiss and ex-Australian Vampires operate as collectors' aircraft in the United States. One ex-Australian two-seat Mk 35W Vampire, S/N A79-617 was restored by Red Star Aviation of Hackettstown, New Jersey and then repatriated to Australia, where it is displayed in air shows. Two ex-RAAF Mk 35s (A79-637 and A79-665) are owned by the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) at Illawarra Regional Airport, NSW, one of which is being restored to flying condition. Several other US-based Vampires are abandoned and in disrepair. An ex-RNZAF T.11 is being restored at the New Zealand Fighter Pilots Museum.
In 1964 Lynn Garrison acquired two ex-RCAF Vampire Mk IIIs. One of these survives, displayed in The Aerospace Museum in Calgary, Alberta.
On 6 June 2009, the world's oldest flying jet, a Vampire built in 1947, formerly of the RCAF and owned by the Wings of Flight Air Museum in Batavia, New York, crashed during an emergency landing at Rochester International Airport. The aircraft had just taken off to fly to Batavia but returned due to engine trouble. Experiencing a total flameout the pilot belly landed on the grass parallel to the runway. The aircraft struck a berm near the taxiway which caused substantial damage. The pilot escaped with minor injuries. The aircraft had previously been restored with funding from actor John Travolta.
South African Air Force Museum, Zwartkop, Pretoria has an airworthy Vampire T55 which is flown occasionally, usually at their airshows.
Read more about this topic: De Havilland Vampire
Famous quotes containing the word survivors:
“I want to celebrate these elms which have been spared by the plague, these survivors of a once flourishing tribe commemorated by all the Elm Streets in America. But to celebrate them is to be silent about the people who sit and sleep underneath them, the homeless poor who are hauled away by the city like trash, except it has no place to dump them. To speak of one thing is to suppress another.”
—Lisel Mueller (b. 1924)
“I believe that all the survivors are mad. One time or another their madness will explode. You cannot absorb that much madness and not be influenced by it. That is why the children of survivors are so tragic. I see them in school. They don’t know how to handle their parents. They see that their parents are traumatized: they scream and don’t react normally.”
—Elie Wiesel (b. 1928)