B.C. Aviation Museum acquires rare jet with John Travolta connection
The Cold War-era de Havilland Vampire, Canada’s first fighter jet and part of the Blue Devils acrobatic team, will be a feature attraction at the B.C. Aviation Museum.
1 / 5 A Royal Canadian Air Force De Havilland DH-100 Vampire in flight. ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE
It has a unique design and colourful history in Canadian aviation, an even more tantalizing name and a Hollywood connection.
And it’s on the way to the B.C. Aviation Museum as the next feature attraction. The Cold War-era De Havilland Vampire, Canada’s first fighter jet and part of the Blue Devils acrobatic team that predated the Snowbirds, has been acquired from a museum in New Brunswick that was liquidating its displays.
“We are very fortunate to get a Vampire … every museum wants them because they are rare and very cool,” said Stephen Hale, president of the B.C. Aviation Museum in North Saanich. “But this particular aircraft has a remarkable history.”
Hale said the DH-100 Vampire, number 17072, served with 442 Squadron in Vancouver from 1948 to 1958 and was part of Canada’s first jet air demonstration team, the Blue Devils, from 1949 to 1951.
The Blue Devils later morphed into the Canadian Armed Forces Golden Centennaires and now the Snowbirds.
After its military service ended in 1958, the jet passed through several private owners, one of whom was actor, pilot and prolific aircraft collector John Travolta, who owned the Vampire from 1989 to 1991. Travolta’s name is still painted on the fuselage below the cockpit.
Travolta used the Vampire as inspiration in his 2023 film The Shepherd, which was based on the Frederick Forsyth novella about a pilot flying home for Christmas who becomes lost in fog with failed instruments.
A Vampire is featured on the cover of Forsyth’s 1975 book.
The 17072’s current paint scheme of “Battle of Britain camouflage” with a robin’s egg blue bottom was Travolta’s doing, said Hale.
The plan is for the museum to return the jet to the 442 Squadron grey livery with a Blue Devils badge on the nose, but possibly preserve the “Capt. John Travolta” stamping at the cockpit.
The Vampire, which has a wooden fuselage and a twin-boom tail, entered service in Canada in 1948 and “changed everything,” according to the Royal Canadian Air Force.
With speeds exceeding 550 miles per hour, pressurized cockpits and tricycle landing gear, it pulled pilots into the jet age almost overnight.
The British-designed jet was the first to cross the Atlantic and to land on an aircraft carrier. It set an altitude record of 59,500 feet in March 1948.
The Vampires were eventually retired in November 1956 after being replaced by the Canadair Sabre.
There were 3,268 Vampires in 15 versions manufactured between 1945 and 1960, according to the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. They served the air forces of 26 countries, though the U.S., Germany and Spain never adopted the aircraft. The Swiss Air Force was the last country to use the Vampires in 1990.
A total of 85 Vampire fighters served with the RCAF, and were assembled in Toronto.
Many were sold to other countries, including Mexico. A group of 27 jets, including the Vampire slated to arrive in North Saanich, was sold to a Wisconsin-based group with plans to turn them into business jets. When that venture fell through, the Vampires were dispersed to private owners and collectors.
Hale said there was plenty of interest in Vampire number 17072 from collectors and other museums, but the New Brunswick facility and Vampire owner chose the B.C. museum because of the work it did restoring the CF-104 Starfighter three years ago. The museum is only paying for the jet to be shipped to the West Coast.
Hale said New Brunswick Aviation Museum executive director Jamie MacDonald “knew that in our hands that this jet was going to get the TLC and it would be around for the next 100 years for people to enjoy,” said Hale.
The Vampire has been disassembled and in crates for the past two years, as the New Brunswick museum did not have a chance to display the aircraft because of financial issues.
It’s currently on a semi-trailer unit heading across Canada and is expected to arrive at the North Saanich museum early this week.
Hale said the semi-trailer unit is detouring to Wetaskiwin, Alta., where pilot ejector seats from other aircraft are being dropped off, and a Goblin engine is being acquired.
Hale said the De Havilland Goblin turbojet engine will either be displayed beside the Vampire or installed so the aircraft would be able to taxi on the museum’s airport apron area. He said the Vampire isn’t airworthy, given its age and wooden fuselage.
The newly acquired Vampire is the second returned to Vancouver Island for display. More than 25 years ago, 19 Wing Comox and a private owner swapped an older Tutor Snowbird jet for a Vampire that also had a connection to 442 Squadron.
That Vampire is now housed inside a $1-million glass-encased pavilion at the Comox Air Force Museum’s Heritage Airpark to optimize viewing and preserve its Sitka spruce fuselage.
Hale said there is no immediate timeline for when the B.C. Aviation Museum will reassemble and paint its Vampire.
The Vampire is the fourth major acquisition for the museum in three years.
Earlier this year, it received CF-114 Tutor number 175, also known as Snowbird 1, the lead aircraft when the Canadian Forces Snowbirds started flying in 1971.
The volunteer-led museum also acquired the Hawaii Martin Mars water bomber last fall and the Cold War-era CF-104 Starfighter jet in 2023.
The Snowbird jet is being unveiled in its original Snowbird livery at a celebration during the August long weekend.
The museum has started fundraising campaigns to build a $2-million hangar to house the Tutor jet and other recent acquisitions, including the Starfighter and a Second World War-era Lancaster bomber, which is currently under restoration.
Once a larger fundraising campaign reaches $30 million, there is a plan to break ground for a new hangar for the Martin Mars.
