Some people still believe that the jet aircraft was developed by Nazi Germany during the Second World War.

Wrong on both counts.

In the 1930s at least two engineers were working on jet turbines (probably more, but these two yielded the earliest fruit), Frank Whittle (1907-1996) in Britain (who had patents for jet engines as early as 1930), and Hans Joachim Pabst von Ohain (1911-1998) in Germany, who was still at university when Whittle lodged his patents, but who got a jet aircraft into the air first).

Von Ohain's work was privately supported by the Heinkel aircraft company (infamous for its World War II bombers), which resulted in the He 178, a single engined jet with the engine mounted in the body. It first flew on 27 August 1939, so just a little bit before the official start of WW II. The problem is that the early engines were not very powerful and the plane was no faster than top of the line propeller driven planes, so the Nazi officials that viewed the test were not that interested. This prompted Heinkel to up the stakes and design a new aircraft, one with a jet engine slung under each wing, the He 280 which first flew on 22 September 1940. Ernst Heinkel may not have bothered had he known that the government had its own jet aircraft program that they didn't tell him about, which is why he received hardly any official support in engine development. That was the main thing that killed the He280. (The Nazi program resulted in the Messerschmitt Me 262, the first operational jet plane (first jet powered flight 18 July 1942, entered service April 1944) and the source of the "the Germans invented it" myth).

On the other side of the channel, the Gloster company produced the E.28/39 (also known as the Whittle) using the same basic design principles as the He 178. It first flew as early as 15 May 1941, making it the third type of jet aircraft to fly. Yes, that was 18 months behind the Germans, but development was still fairly close. The first non-experimental British jet, the Gloster Meteor which had a twin engined layout like the He 280, took to the skies on 5 March 1943 and entered service in July 1944, a mere 3 months after the Me 262.

Bear in mind that there is a big difference between building a jet engine (mostly by hand) in a workshop, and creating one which is powerful and reliable enough to make a difference, and being able to mass produce it.

In 1941 De Haviland was also experimenting with jet aircraft, one which bore more than a passing resemblance to what would become the de Haviland Vampire, seen here. In May 1944 it was decided to create the aircraft as an interceptor given the potential threat of Germany deploying jet powered bombers against England. (Which they didn't have the resources to do by that point but hey, nobody saw the Me 262 coming a month earlier, either.)

24mm on an APS-C (1.6*) sensor is nowhere near wide enough in a museum like this, which is why this doesn't really give a clear view of how the Vampire is laid out. There is a single engine mounted in the body with air intakes in the wing roots. In the original Goblin engines (14.9 kN thrust) these were enough, but in the more powerful Rolls Royce Nene (named after the Hawaiian goose of that name, 22.2 kN at 12,300 rpm) additional intakes were needed. These were originally fitted in a dorsal position but they caused issues with the elevator, so in the Australian models they were relocated under the fuselage.

What can't be seen clearly in this shot is that the plane doesn't have a single tail but two "booms" extending out past the end of the main cockpit body. This was to keep the exhaust pipe of the engine as short, and therefore as efficient, as possible.

There is a stack of variants, but they fell into 3 broad groups:
* DH.100 Single Seat fighter / bomber;
* DH 113 Night Fighter; and
* DH 115 Trainers, typically two seats. This plane is one of those, specifically a T.35A sub-model.
The plane itself is A79-821, which spent its time from the time it was built by de Haviland Australia to the time it was passed off to the Museum at No. 1 Applied Flying Training School (No. 1 AFTS) which, at the time, was based at RAAF Pearce in WA. (I'm not sure when it was built, but 1 ATFS started equipping with vampires from May 1958, so somewhere in that ballpark I'd guess.)

The Vampire entered RAF service in 1946, but by the mid-1950s it was regarded as being obsolete in the fighter or fighter / bomber role. Britain had withdrawn all of them by that time, so they only served as strike aircraft for a mere decade. (Hence, "The Interim Solution".) These days you're lucky to get a delivery date a decade after you sign a procurement contract.

The plethora of models makes it impossible to give exact specifications, but ballpark:
Top speed, 746 knots (882 hm/h)
Range, 1,960km
Ceiling, 42,800'
Length, 9.37m (30'9")
Wingspan, 11.58m, 38'
Wing area, 24.3 sq m (262 sq ft)
Max Weight, 5,620 kg (12,390lb).


Addendum: My personal opinion is that Facebook is a sociopathic organisation that steals other peoples' intellectual property (including the images in this gallery) despite being explicitly denied permission to do so.