De Havilland Vampire T Mk 55 was the model designated for use by the Swiss Air Force for their training version of the Vampire. The Swiss Air Force took delivery of a total of 39 of this model over the period from 1953 to 1967. The first few aircraft were de Havilland built and ex-Royal Air Force. The remainder including G-HELV were built in Switzerland by the Federal Aircraft Factory at Emmen under licence from de Havilland, using engines also built under licence from de Havilland by Sulzer Brothers at Winterthur.

G-HELV entered Swiss Air Force service in December 1958 as U1215 and served at a number of bases including Emmen, Altenrhein, Sion, and Dübendorf.

The Swiss liked the Vampire and its stable-mate the Venom so much that they kept them in service for much longer than anticipated – eventually retiring them in 1990 after a service life of almost 38 years. To achieve this the Swiss extensively improved, modified, strengthened and refurbished their Vampires. G-HELV is an excellent example with many hundreds of hours fatigue life remaining.

After retirement from the Swiss Air Force she was purchased by Hunter Wing at auction in Sion in March 1991 when the Swiss Air Force sold off their remaining 27 Vampires. She was ferried by the Swiss Air Force direct to Jet Heritage at Bournemouth in just two hours in August 1991 when she had flown a total of 1,957 hours.

After registration as G-HELV she was completely refurbished by Jet Heritage over the winter of 1991 when she was fitted with civilian radios and self-contained electric start. She was repainted in camouflage.

Hunter Wing’s Vampire first flew on the airshow circuit in 1992, and has since flown at numerous airshows both in the UK and abroad –often displaying in partnership with the Hunter Wing Meteor as the Heritage Pair.

Data (hours data correct at 28th August 2003)