The De Havilland Sea Vampire was the first aircraft to land on an aircraft carrier on jet power alone. It was also based on one of the most successful first generation jet fighters. And yet the Fleet Air Arm decided to proceed with the unimpressive Supermarine Attacker rather than commit to the Vampire as a carrier fighter. This video briefly explores that possibility and briefly tells the story of that first landing.

Quick note on this one. Once again, I have struggled to find copyright-free footage to make a video on a UK aircraft. There is therefore more flat photo content in this one than I would like, but hopefully it is relevant and the script is sufficiently informative/ entertaining!

Sources:

There are no books exclusively on the Sea Vampire, so I drew on chapters from:

De Havilland Vampire by W.A Harrison

De Havilland Vampire F1-T55 In RAF, FAA, RAAF, RNZAF, SAAF, RCAF & Foreign Service by Richard Ward & Roger Levy

De Havilland Vampire, Venom and Sea Vixen by Philip Birtles