de Havilland Venom FB.1
de Havilland · UK · first flew 1949 · fighter
The de Havilland Venom FB.1 was a single-seat ground-attack fighter developed as a more powerful successor to the Vampire, featuring a thinner wing and uprated Ghost engine.
Recognition (WEFT)
| W — Wings | Mid-mounted, swept |
|---|---|
| E — Engines | 1 × turbojet, fuselage-mounted |
| F — Fuselage | single Ghost turbojet buried in fuselage |
| T — Tail | Twin fin |
WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.
Spot it by:
- twin-boom tail
- thin swept wing
- single Ghost turbojet buried in fuselage
The Venom closely resembles the Vampire but is longer-nosed and carries a noticeably thinner, slightly swept wing. The twin tail-booms and central nacelle are shared with the Vampire; the giveaway is the Venom's more tapered wingtips and the larger, rectangular air intakes flanking the nose.
Specifications
- The de Havilland Venom FB.1 has a length of 9.7 m (32 ft).
- It has a wingspan of 12.7 m (42 ft).
- Its maximum speed is 1030 km/h (640 mph).
- Typical crew: 1.
Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.
History
de Havilland used the Vampire's twin-boom configuration as the basis for the Venom, fitting a new thin-section wing and the more powerful Ghost 103 centrifugal-flow turbojet. The prototype first flew in September 1949 and the FB.1 entered RAF service in 1952, offering a significant performance step over the Vampire in level speed and altitude.
Variants
Variants included the two-seat NF.2 and NF.3 night fighters with side-by-side radar operator, the FB.4 with ejection seat and clear-view canopy, and the Sea Venom carrier-borne version for the Royal Navy and Aéronavale.
Where you'll see it
RAF squadrons flew the Venom in the ground-attack role during operations in the Canal Zone and during the Suez Crisis in 1956. Switzerland and Sweden operated licence-built examples well into the 1980s.
Related aircraft
- de Havilland Comet
- de Havilland Vampire FB.5
- de Havilland Vampire T.11
- de Havilland Sea Venom
- Arsenal VG 90
- Dassault MD 450 Ouragan
- de Havilland DH.112 Venom
- De Havilland DH.113 Vampire NF
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