de Havilland Venom!, The

A TWIN-TAIL WONDER WOWS 'EM IN FLORIDA

More than 162 pilots from around the world arrived to fly 900-plus sorties at this year's annual Florida Jets event. One of these pilots, Erich Himmler of Zurich, Switzerland, showed off his very impressive de Havilland 112 Venom Mark 1. This seldom-modeled jet put in several flights over the weekend.

The full-size Venom was designed as a natural successor to the Vampire, and although it looked similar, the Venom had a thinner, straighter trailing edge and was equipped with wingtip tanks. The prototype first flew on September 2, 1949. Its operating speed was around 590mph. Designated the FB. 1, the first Venom variant, a single-seat fighter-bomber, entered service in 1952; 373 of them were built. It was armed with four Hispano 20mm cannon in the nose and could be armed with either two, 1,000-pound bombs or eight rocket projectiles, and it became one of the first ground-attack jet aircraft in the world. The Venom was powered by a single 4,850-pound-thrust de Havilland Ghost 103 turbojet engine.

On December 29, 1953, the final Venom variant built for the RAF-the single-seat FB.4-took to the skies for the first time. It entered service in 1955; 150 were eventually built.

Erich designed his 84-inch-span Venom himself and made more than 40 molds to create the fiberglass model. The finished plane has more than 1,200 rivets, plus screw heads, hatches and panel lines that are all incorporated into his molds. He also designed the landing gear himself. The plane's fine detailing and weathering are inspiring; Erich even simulated the arc welding of the wingtip tanks to the wing! The Venom has a nicely detailed cockpit, a scale pilot figure and a sliding canopy. If you look very closely, you can see that Erich even duplicated the minute nomenclature stenciling for various hatches and control surfaces.

We think you'll agree that the Venom is an antidote for garden-variety models!

Copyright Air Age Publishing Aug 2005
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