De Havilland DH.115 Vampire T.MK.11 - XD596

The Vampire T.11 is a trainer version of the Vampire fighter which was developed by Airspeed at Christchurch and built using components supplied by many local factories.

The Vampire T.Mk.11 was the Royal Air Force's first jet trainer on which the student pilot gained his wings. It was developed from the Vampire NF.Mk.10 night fighter by the Airspeed works at Christchurch, Hampshire (Airspeed was a subsidiary of de Havilland) and differed from its single seat forebears in having a longer, wider, nose section with two seats side-by-side. The prototype flew from Christchurch in November 1950 and was followed by over 800 production aircraft built at de Havilland's Christchurch, Hatfield and Chester factories and also by Fairey, Flight Refueling and Marshalls of Cambridge.

The Vampire T.Mk.11 equipped the Central Flying School, The Royal Air Force College, Cranwell, several Flying Training Schools and by a host of other units, the similar Sea Vampire T.Mk.22 was used by the Royal Navy and the Vampire Mk.55 export version was supplied to over 20 countries.

XD596 was built at de Havilland's Hatfield factory and was delivered to the Royal Air Force on 23 September 1954, it had a varied career, serving with 4 Flying Training School (FTS), 7 FTS, 5 FTS, the Central Navigation and Control School and the Central Air Traffic Control School at RAF Shawbury before being retired as an instructional airframe in 1967. In 1972 it was passed to Testwood Detached Flight of 424 (Southampton) Sqn ATC where it remained until 1986 when it was moved to the Squadron HQ and refurbished by members of the squadron, after a period on external display in Ocean Village it was installed in the Museum in 1993.

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