J28 C Vampire in Swedish Air Force, 1/48 scale. 48A006

Top quality plastic kit with surface details 2nd to none. Photo etched detail parts included and decals for 3 Swedish aircrafts printed by Cartograf.  

The Vampire with its streamlined egg-shaped fuselage and the twin tail booms was a revolutionary design in several senses, partly thanks to the propulsion provided by the then brand new turbojet engine of centrifugal compressor type. Thanks to the new engine design, the Vampire became the first aircraft type in the RAF to achieve 500mph.

In its original single-seat version, the Vampire first flew on September 20, 1943. The 2-seater trainer version did not fly until November 1950 and was developed from the previously developed night fighter version of the Vampire which was a modified Vampire equipped with an AI Mk X radar (similar to those fitted to the Mosquito; P-61 Black Widow) and had 2 man crew.

The trainer version of the Vampire became a very popular and well used aircraft type for many years and the Vampire became a success and over 20 different air forces around the world came to use the 2-seater Vampire as a trainer aircraft.

The Swedish Air Force received the first delivery of 20 aircraft starting in February 1953. Sweden had 3 versions of the 2-seater Vampire (trainer Mk.55), J 28C-1, J 28C-2; J 28C-3. The C-1 version had, among other things a different type of canopy glazing than C2 & C3. C2 & C3 had more elegantly curved dorsal fins. The C-2 and C3 were identical except that the C-2 was produced as a training aircraft in England and the C-3 was converted from the single-seat Vampire (J 28B) where the conversion took place in Sweden. The kit represents version C-2/C-3. In addition to training student pilots, the Swedish Air Force used the 2-seater Vampire for weather flights, VIP flights, liason flights and flight training.

In total, over 1100 2-seater Vampires were built and the Swedish Air Force had a total of 57 2-seater Vampires and the last official flights took place in 1968.