120 FLYPAST May 2018
MANUFACTURERS DE HAVILLAND
jetliner concept. This format would
be abandoned for what was to
become the Comet in March 1946,
but development of three DH.108
prototypes continued.
The first, TG283, moved to
Woodbridge in Suffolk where the
long runway and lack of prying
eyes facilitated test flying the new
jet. Geoffrey de Havilland Junior
carried out the maiden flight on May
15, 1946 and continued to explore
its characteristics.
More refined, with slightly
increased sweep-back, the second
example, TG306, had the potential
to achieve supersonic speeds.
Fitted with powered flying controls,
it could path-find for the Comet –
which would be similarly equipped.
Geoffrey flew TG306 from Hatfieldon August 23, 1946 and was soon
achieving the type of speeds that
promised a world record.
On September 7, Gp Capt E M
Donaldson flew Meteor F.4 EE549
of the RAF High Speed Flight
around a calibrated course centred
on Tangmere, Sussex, to achieve
a world speed record of 616mph.
(Today EE549 is displayed at
the Tangmere Military Aviation
Museum.)
Geoffrey began to practise flying
a similar flight profile, along the
Thames Estuary, and it looked as
though the Meteor would not holdthe laurels for long. On September
27 he took off from Hatfield for a
final trial run before taking TG306
to Tangmere for a crack at the
record.
As the evening drew on it was
clear he was overdue, and after
extensive searching wreckage was
found off Gravesend. The 36-year-
old’s body was washed ashore at
Whitstable. The DH.108 had reached
Mach 0.875 in a dive from 10,000ft
(3,048m) and suffered structural
failure.
Former night-fighter ‘ace’ John
Cunningham succeeded Geoffrey asan altogether different beast.
Powered by the DH Ghost 103
turbojet, the Venom FB.1 had
50% more thrust, could fly nearly
50mph faster and had twice
the range and a much greater
weapons load than the Goblin-
powered Vampire I of 1946.
The prototype Venom took its
maiden flight on September 2,
1949, and the type followed the
same progression as the Vampire,
with two-seat radar-equipped
versions and licence manufacture
in France, Italy and Switzerland.
Triple loss
By late 1946 DH was capitalising on
its turbojet expertise and conceived
a swept-wing, tail-less derivative
of the Vampire as a test-bed for a
Vampire T.11s of the Central Air Traffi c
Control School at Shawbury on November 16,
1970 to mark the retirement of the type from
the RAF. RAF SHAWBURYA stoic-looking Geoffrey de Havilland Junior
leaning on the leading edge of the Vampire
prototype, Hatfi eld, September 1943.
BRITISH AEROSPACEThe three de Havilland brothers discuss the fi ner points of a Mosquito’s tailplane: left to right,
Peter, John and Geoffrey. DE HAVILLAND