How it works: de Havilland Vampire

In the second part of our look at The Vampire Preservation Group's two-seater T.11, owner and operator Mark Hooton takes us on a guided tour around and inside WZ507.

Starting on the outside, Mark opens the nose section to reveal the NiCad battery which has been fitted in place of the original lead acid battery WZ507 was equipped with when it was built back in 1952. The battery is not capable of starting the aircraft, the Vampire requires a ground power source to start the engine. That’s a piece of equipment that has to travel ahead to any airfield the Vampire lands at and shuts down, assuming they don’t have one of their own.

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