Japanese De Havilland D.H.115 Vampire T.55

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Japanese De Havilland D.H.115 Vampire T.55
The De Havilland D.H.115 Vampire T.55 is a British export version of the De Havilland D.H.115 Vampire T.11 training aircraft, which was purchased in 1956 for research purposes to allow the Japanese to develop their own training aircraft (the future T-1). This aircraft is stored at the JASDF Air Park in Hamamatsu.
History
In 1954, the newly formed JASDF was looking for modern training aircraft in order to accept them into service or use them to develop its own modern training aircraft. In order to test the design, in 1955 Japan purchased one British trainer De Havilland D.H.115 Vampire T.55 . This aircraft differed from American training aircraft (for example, the T-33A) in that the crew sat next to each other, not in tandem. The British, hoping to sell more T.55s in the future, modified the machine to encourage the Japanese more (more details later). In November 1955, the T.55 aircraft was delivered to Japan, where it received the designation 63-5571 and awaited testing. Tests began in March 1956 and lasted until the end of April. During the tests, it was found that the De Havilland D.H.115 Vampire T.55 is a good training aircraft, but Japanese planes are bought in the USA, where there is a different crew layout, which makes training difficult. Therefore, the purchase of more T.55 aircraft from Great Britain was abandoned. Then the aircraft served training tasks until 1960. In 1960, he was withdrawn from active service and assigned to a more interesting task. Due to its futuristic appearance, JASDF decided to use the T.55 as a demonstration aircraft to encourage people to join the JASDF. The aircraft served for this purpose in the 1960s, then for a period of time it went to the 1st JASDF Technical School in Hamamatsu, where it served as an instructional aircraft. In the 1970s, the aircraft again served as an attraction at events held at the Hamamatsu base. In March 2000, the aircraft was placed in the JASDF Air Park in Hamamatsu as an exhibit due to its historical value. It is still there today.

Photos D.H.115 Vampire T.55 number 63-5571

D.H.115 Vampire T.55 in 1955 ^

D.H.115 Vampire T.55 in 1963 ^


D.H.115 Vampire T.55 in 1972^

D.H.115 Vampire T.55 in 1977 ^

D.H.115 Vampire T.55 in 1990 ^

D.H.115 Vampire T.55 in 1994 ^

D.H.115 Vampire T.55 in 2014 ^

Construction description
The De Havilland D.H.115 Vampire T.55 is a training aircraft based on the De Havilland Vampire DH113 NF night fighter. MK.10. The British installed a modified canopy and ejection seats in the T.55 aircraft sent to Japan. The aircraft is powered by a single de Havilland Goblin 35 engine with a thrust of 15.58 kN. (sorry for the very little design information about the De Havilland D.H.115 Vampire T.55)

Technical sketches

Armament
The De Havilland D.H.115 Vampire T.55 is armed with 4 x Hispano Mk.V 20 mm cannons (150 rounds per gun), but only if it has one pilot. If the aircraft flies with two pilots, the armament is reduced to 2 x 20mm Hispano Mk.V cannons (150 rounds per cannon). The aircraft can carry two 500 lb (225 kg) bombs in place of the suspended fuel tanks. In addition, the aircraft can be armed with 8 RP-3 missiles under the wings.

General characteristics

• Crew: 1 or 2
• Length: 10,53 m
• Wingspan: 11,58 m
• Height: 1,88 m
• Wing area: 24,34 m2
• Empty weight: 3348 kg
• Gross weight: 5058 kg
• Powerplant: 1 × de Havilland Goblin 35 with a thrust of 15.58 kN

Performance

• Maximum speed: 884 km/h
• Cruising speed: ?
• Range: 1373 km
• Maximum Range: 1960 km
• Service ceiling: 12192 m
• Climb Rate: 22,9 m/s

Armament

1. Guns:

• 2 x 20mm Hispano Mk.V cannons (150 rounds per cannon)(two pilots)
• 4 x 20mm Hispano Mk.V cannons (150 rounds per cannon)(one pilot)

2. Bombs

• 2 x 500 lb (225kg) bombs

3. Rocket:

• 8 x RP-3 rockets (?)

4. Fuel dump tanks:

• 2 x ?L under the wings

Summary
The De Havilland D.H.115 Vampire T.55 is an interesting aircraft for Japan in War Thunder. It will be a useful fighter/support aircraft in the low jet era. The plane is quite well armed and allows for dynamic adaptation to combat. I encourage you to discuss in the comments and to share your own knowledge on this subject.
Finally, I apologize for the linguistic and logical errors because unfortunately English is not my main language and I had to use google translator.

Internet sources

デ・ハビランド バンパイア - Wikipedia
JASDF T.55 Vampire (63-5571) - Passed for Consideration - War Thunder - Official Forum
Air Development & Test Wing | J-HangarSpace: Information on Japanese Aviation
De Havilland DH115 Vampire Trainer | BAE Systems
de Havilland Vampire - Wikipedia
De Havilland D.H.115 Vampire T Mk.55 : De Havilland
Уголок неба ¦ de Haviland Vampire T.11
Vampire T.55 | historicalsquadron
Visiting Japanese Airbases, Part 5 - JASDF Museum Hamamatsu - Aviation Spotters Online
デ・ハビランド DH.115 バンパイア T55 製造番号:15758 航空自衛隊 航空フォト(飛行機 写真・画像) 2/2ページ | FlyTeam(フライチーム)
walk-around photos of de Havilland Vampire T.11/55

Thank you for reading the suggestion, see you in the next one. Good luck pilots

[TankerDman]

that guy looks happy. interesting addition

[jon_man1199]

A +1 from me! It would make for a neat premium plane but I also wouldn’t mind it in the TT

[DMYEugen]

About time this one got re-suggested. Easy +1 to help fill out the Japanese air tree. The Thai subtree is great and all but its main focus is on CAS and Japan really needs some more early jet fighters. More than ever with the inevitable removal of the R2Y2s creeping ever closer.

If we really needed to, we could separate this aircraft into two separate aircraft. One with two guns and one with four, with the two gunner being at a lower BR.

[PercussionCap]

+1, would make for a good premium or as a ‘japanese’ addition to the tree to bridge the gap between the Kikka and F-86F-30

[Grzegames]

This aircraft, together with the Fuji T-1, Kawasaki T-33A and Kawasaki XT-4, would be a great development of the Japanese CAS after the R2Y2

[Blue_Canadian]

This will be a great addition to the tech tree! Or even as a BP or event vehicle.

+1