de Havilland DH.110 Sea Vixen

de Havilland DH.110 Sea Vixen
De Havilland Sea Vixen at a 2011 air show
Type:	All-weather twin-engine naval fighter
Design country:	United Kingdom
Manufacturer:	de Havilland Aircraft Company
First flight:	September 26, 1951
Commissioning:	July 1959
Number of pieces:	145

The de Havilland DH.110 Sea Vixen (roughly: See furie ) was a twin- engine British fighter aircraft of the Cold War era . It was used by the British Naval Air Force, the Fleet Air Arm . It was the first swept wing aircraft whose wings could be folded for stationing on aircraft carriers , as well as the first aircraft that could be loaded with missiles , rockets and bombs at the same time.

history

The prototype of the DH.110, around 1952

The British Admiralty wanted a replacement for the outdated DH.112 "Sea Venom" . De Havilland was only able to sell the Sea Vixen to the Royal Navy in the late 1950s . In contrast, the Royal Air Force opted for the cheaper Gloster Javelin .

The prototype had its maiden flight on September 26, 1951 . On September 6, 1952 there was a serious flight accident at the Farnborough International Airshow in Farnborough . The prototype fell into the crowd, killing 31 people, including both crew members. A sonic boom should be demonstrated to the audience. The right wing leading edge could not withstand the loads and tore off. As a result, the right and left wings and the two engines collapsed one after the other. An engine and the remains of the cell crashed into the audience. Another prototype was then technically revised. In addition, there was a version in 1955 whose wings could not be retracted. In 1956 the first Sea Vixen landed on the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal . In 1957 the first all-weather fighter flew: the Sea Vixen FAW.20. From 1958, the production of over a hundred FAW.1 aircraft for naval aviation began.

The FAW.2 was the successor to the FAW.1 with many improvements, such as Hawker Siddeley Red Top air-to-air missiles , additional tanks, better emergency exit systems and electronics. The first FAW.2 flew in 1962. From 1964, 29 machines were put into service, plus 16 old FAW.1s converted to the FAW.2 variant. In 1966 the FAW.1 was decommissioned. In 1972 the FAW's period of service also ended. The McDonnell Douglas Phantom was available as a replacement .

The last remaining airworthy Sea Vixen had to belly land on May 27, 2017 at the southern English naval air base in Yeovilton , their home base . Since not only the landing gear could not be operated, but also the landing flaps could not be extended, the damage to the structure due to the high landing speed was greater than initially assumed. If the repair is tackled, it will certainly take more than two years. The aircraft is looked after by the Navy Wings Association , which also includes the Royal Navy Historic Flight (RNHF) and the Fly Navy Heritage Trust (FNHT).

There are other specimens in museums, mostly FAW.2, for example in Yeovilton in the Fleet Air Arm Museum , in the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, in the De Havilland Museum in London Colney, in the Newark Air Museum, in Tangmere, Bruntingthorpe and at Gatwick Airports and Coventry. There is an FAW.1 at the Norfolk & Suffolk Aviation Museum in Flixton. One machine outside the UK is in Australia.

Calls

The Sea Vixen never took part directly in acts of war, but indirectly supported British units in some crisis areas. In 1961 Iraq threatened the emirate of Kuwait , and Sea Vixen flew patrols in the region at the request of the emirate.

In 1964 there was a revolt in Tanganyika , later Tanzania in East Africa. Sea Vixen supported British reaction forces from the aircraft carrier HMS Centaur .

Main missions were the surveillance of the oil routes in the Persian Gulf and the protection of British interests in the Commonwealth area .

55 of a total of 145 Sea Vixen manufactured were lost in accidents.

user

Sea Vixen landing on HMS Eagle in 1970

 United Kingdom

• Fleet Air Arm
  • 700 Naval Air Squadron
  • 766 Naval Air Squadron
  • 890 Naval Air Squadron
  • 892 Naval Air Squadron
  • 893 Naval Air Squadron
  • 899 Naval Air Squadron

Technical specifications

De Havilland Sea Vixen FAW. 2

Sea Vixen (Red Bull) in 2009

Parameter	Data
crew	2
span	15.24 m
length	16.94 m
height	3.28 m
Max. Takeoff mass	18,800 kg
Engine	2 x Rolls-Royce Avon 208 ; 50 kN
Top speed	1,110 km / h
Service ceiling	14,630 m
Range	1,000 km
Armament	FAW.1: 2 × missile containers that can be retracted into the fuselage with 14 Microcell 2-inch air-to-air missiles each 4 × air-to-air missiles de Havilland Firestreak or instead of firestreaks 4 × 227 kg bombs or 2 × 454 kg bombs FAW.2: 2 × missile containers that can be retracted into the fuselage with 14 Microcell 2-inch air-to-air missiles each 4 × Red Top air-to-air missiles or 4 × AGM-12 Bullpup air-to-surface missiles

literature

• Tony Buttler: De Havilland Sea Vixen - Database . In: Airplane Monthly November 2004, pp. 57–73
• Tony Buttler: Secrets of the Sea Vixen . In: AIR Enthusiast. No. 87 May / June 2000, pp. 49-61.
• AJ Jackson: De Havilland Aircraft since 1909 , Putnam, 1962, 3rd edition 1978, ISBN 0-87021-896-4 , pp. 470-475

Web links

Commons : De Havilland DH.110 Sea Vixen  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• 1952 Farnborough air show disaster
• De Havilland Aviation Ltd website (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ List of flight accidents by test pilots ( Memento from October 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), Testflying Memorial (English).
2. ↑ Sea Vixen Appeal 2017 .
3. ↑ www.seavixen.org (accessed March 2, 2020)