de Havilland Venom, Kemble 2010 ©Nigel Key
ROLE
Fighter-Bomber.
FIRST FLIGHT
2 September 1949.
The Venom was a development of the aircraft it was to replace, the de Havilland Vampire. In 1948 a proposed development of the Vampire was to produce a high-altitude fighter by thinning the wings and fitting a more powerful engine.
The prototype Venom, designated DH 112, was produced with a twin-boom tail, a wood/metal structure and powered by the de Havilland Ghost 48 Mk.1 engine. It first flew on the 2nd of September 1949.
The single-seat fighter-bomber, Venom FB 1, entered service in 1952 and was armed with four 20mm Hispano Mk V cannon mounted in the nose and could carry two 1,000lb bombs or eight RP-3 60lb air-to-ground rockets.
The next version of the Venom to be developed was the two-seater night fighter the NF 2. The aircraft was structurally different to the FB 1 as it had to accommodate two crew side-by-side. The Venom NF 2 first flew on the 22nd of August 1950 and entered service in 1953.
PRODUCTION
The De Havilland Venom was produced from 1951, with 1,431 built.
ENGINE
D.H. Ghost 105, producing 5150 lb st.
ARMAMENT
4 x Hispano Mk 5 20mm Cannon
2,000 lb (907 kg) Bomb/Rocket/Missile load
A further variant of the night-fighter, the NF 3, was fitted with ejector seats and a new radar system in the nose. The NF 3 first flew in 1953 and entered service with the Royal Air Force in 1955 as an interim aircraft being replaced by the Gloster Javelin in 1957.
The final Venom to serve with the RAF, version FB 4, was a single-seat fighter powered by a single de Havilland Ghost 105 turbojet engine producing 5,150 lbf of thrust. It first flew on the 29th of December 1953 and entered service in 1955.
| Crew - 1 or 2 (side-by-side) |
| Length - 33ft 0in (10.06m) |
| Wingspan - 41ft 8in (12.70m) |
| Height - 6ft 8in (2.03m) |
| Empty Weight - 9,202lb (4,174kg) |
| Max. Weight - 15,310lb (6,945kg) |
| Max. Speed - 587 mph (961 km/h) |
| Range - 1,075 miles (1,730 km) |
