November 1972

IN THESE days of fighters with Mach 3 performance, computer-controlled this and that, boron composite structures and all sorts of other exotic goodies it's hard to imagine the funny old balsa and tin Vampire as ever being up with the play.

 

But back in 1951 when it first entered RNZAF service the Vampire could hold its own with most, and was certainly the hottest thing in the New Zealand sky. The unfamiliar scent of burnt kerosene and the strange whistle of its Goblin engine did powerful things to the adrenalin, and every young RNZAF pilot of those days yearned to climb into that little cockpit and hurtle off into the wild blue.