Memories of Al Hansen's DeHavilland Vampire Mk. III

Over 40 years ago, my husband, Al Hansen and his good friend, Al Letcher, both owned de Havilland (English Electric) Vampire Mk IIIs. The two Vampires flew around the pylons at the 1978 Mojave Air Races as a demonstration flight before the bigger jets took to the race course. Bob Hoover, Clay Lacy, Dick Hunt and Bob Laidlaw raced F-86 Sabres, T-33's and a Temco TT-1 Pinto.

This Mark III Vampire (serial number 17031) first served the RAF with Sea Island 442 Squadron in British Columbia in 1948. It was transferred to the 402 Squadron in 1950, then back to the 442 Squadron from 1952 to 1956.

It was imported into the U.S. in 1956 and registered to Stinson Field Aircraft in San Antonio, Texas and was given an American registration number. In 1969, it came to Long Beach, CA until a museum purchased it in 1972.

My husband and his partner (Tony Actis) bought the Vampire for $8,000. The aircraft had been sitting for years in need of restoration, and he started work on it in a building on the south side of Sabovich Street at Mojave Airport in 1977.

Al traded a grader and other equipment to his partner so he could be full owner. He hired a guy to detail the cockpit and paint the single-seat wooden British airplane. He was amazed at the composite wood plywood layers sandwhiching the inner core of balsa wood that made up the fuselage. There was a steel structure that connected the two wings and the engine mount together and the wooden fuselage wrapped around the steel construction between the wings that formed the cockpit area.

It was the last time composite wood/metal construction was used in high performance military aircraft. The airplane was constructed almost entirely out of balsa and plywood in case strategic metals became scarce during the war. The Mosquito Bomber used the same type of construction.

Every Fourth of July, Al and Al (Letcher) would climb into their Vampires and roar down Sierra Highway in Mojave announcing to everyone it was time to celebrate the birth of America. Both of the guys used to say that they were having more fun than people were supposed to have and they were so thankful for the opportunity of that kind of flying.

Just hearing their stories reminds me of something a friend said to us many years ago, "I think you have to do exciting things in your life," and that personifies freedom for my husband and me.

To be able to accomplish exciting things in your life and have the freedom to take the chance and possibly fail is exactly what our friend Brian Binnie, one of America's first Commercial X-Prize Astronauts, spoke about during a Veteran's Day speech at Mojave Airport ten years ago, in 2006.

He was talking about freedom, the Constitution, and how so many of our elected officials seem to go against their oath of office, then he said: "But here in Mojave, the irrepressible nature of the American spirit shines brightly. Our agenda may not be as fundamental as life, death and war, but we are very much involved in our version of liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

I can think of few activities as liberating or rewarding as flying. And our more recent extension of this pursuit to rockets, space ships and suborbital flight has put little old Mojave, front and center on the global map of pioneers!"

"It has been the freedom that Mojave has afforded those that came here to tinker, test, try and fail that has made it so special. Yankee ingenuity, unfettered by rules, regulations and red tape; it's a winning combination every time it's tried," said Binnie.

See you on our next flight!