WARBIRDS: de Havilland DH112 Venom FB 4 born again

Auckland's striking de Havilland DH112 Venom FB 4 was awakened on October 23, 2010 after an 11-year hibernation.

New Zealand has always prided itself on having no venomous animals among its fauna – although one native spider and the introduction of a couple of Aussie interlopers have slightly tarnished this image.  But whatever you do, don’t tell the Department of Conservation that, since 1992, an introduced highly venomous creature has been lurking at Auckland’s Ardmore aerodrome and was awakened on 23 October after an 11-year hibernation.

We are of course referring to ZK-VNM, the striking de Havilland DH112 Venom FB 4, recently purchased by Wanganui pilot and businessman John Luff.  There is something about de Havilland aeroplanes – elegant, with a shape all their own and yet functional. They always did the job asked of them, and the company’s first projects of the new jet era were no exception.

From Vampire to Venom
The Venom was a direct development of the de Havilland DH100 Vampire which first flew on 20 September 1943. Although the type did not reach operational squadrons until after World War Two, the Vampire was a huge success and was exported to many countries. In New Zealand it became the RNZAF’s first jet fighter, with 58 examples serving between 1951 and 1972 before their replacement by the Strikemasters and Skyhawks. 

In May 1947, the third production Vampire flew, powered by a centrifugal-flow DH Ghost, an engine only slightly larger than the Vampire’s centrifugal-flow DH Goblin but offering 50 percent more thrust. Initially designated a Vampire FB 8, this fighter was developed into a new type – the Venom, with the Venom prototype flying on 2 September 1949.  The DH112 Venom was essentially an interim type between the first generation straight-wing British jet fighters, the Meteor and Vampire, and later swept-wing designs such as the Hawker Hunter and de Havilland Sea Vixen with their axial flow engines.

The type became operational with the RAF as the de Havilland DH112 Venom FB 1 in August 1952. It retained the Vampire’s twin-boom layout and plywood/balsa fuselage structure, but with slightly bulkier rear fuselage due to the larger Ghost engine.  The major design development was in the wing; larger and thinner with a swept leading edge with a straight trailing edge.  Fences were incorporated into the top surface of the wings to direct airflow, and wingtip fuel tanks were fitted as standard. 

The Venom FB 1 had four Hispano 20mm cannon in the nose and hard points under the wings for up to 2,000lb of bombs or rockets. The definitive version was the FB 4 which incorporated powered ailerons, flat-topped fins and rudders, and an uprated DH Ghost 105 engine producing 5,150lb of thrust. The Venom performed well, with a top speed of 600mph and the ability to outclimb many later jets, including the Strikemaster and Skyhawk.

Kiwi poison
No 14 Squadron RNZAF leased Venoms from the RAF and flew them out of Tengah, Singapore in anger against insurgents during the Malayan Emergency, between 1955 and 1958.  Trevor Bland, New Zealand Warbirds Association founding president and patron, flew Venoms in Singapore with 14 Squadron and remembers it as a “potent warplane due to its capacity to carry a couple of thousand-pound bombs, rockets and cannon”.

However, like all aircraft, the Venom did have its bad points, some of which concerned the new swept wing design. Trevor recalls one incident in Singapore when, during a two-ship Venom takeoff from an RAF Squadron, the No.2 lagged behind.  In an effort to catch up with his leader, the pilot over-rotated and the wingtip stalled, causing the fighter to crash into houses and killing not only the pilot but also the houses’ occupants. 

Trevor adds: “If you over-rotated on takeoff, the airflow would break down over the wingtips and the flow outwards caused a loss of lift over that section of the wing, which caused the aircraft to roll in the direction of the stalled wing.” Trevor also disliked the Venom’s high-altitude performance.  However, the Venom went on to become a successful fighter-bomber of the 1950s and as well as RAF and RNZAF use, was employed by Iraq, Italy, Switzerland and Venezuela. Around 1400 were built and it was developed into a night fighter and a naval version, the Sea Venom. The Swiss operated their Venoms until 1983.

The pilots of 14 Squadron in Singapore also had to become accustomed to the rather unfamiliar concept of wearing crash helmets while flying, and vacating a jet via ejection seat in the case of an emergency. These had become necessary with the advent of jet aircraft due to the increased flying speeds.

Although ejection seats had been experimented with as early as 1910, with the use of a bungee cord, powered ejection seats were not introduced until World War Two. The work of British company Martin Baker proved crucial in this respect.

Trevor recalls that the Vampire pilots at RNZAF Ohakea gave the newly converted Venom pilots a bit of stick prior to their departure for Singapore. The catchphrase was that they were moving on to “Bone Domes and Bang Seats.” Trevor says that to the Vampire pilots, this was the only difference between the Vampire and Venom – perhaps it was a case of jealousy rearing its head? 

Venom on the Islands
The current ZK-VNM is the second Venom imported into New Zealand. The first was an FB 1 variant, J1634, owned by Trevor Bland and brought to New Zealand as a result of Trevor’s desire to relive his RNZAF jet pilot days by privately owning and flying a high-performance jet fighter. J1634 became the first civilian-owned jet fighter on the New Zealand civil register, and the first jet operated by the New Zealand Warbirds Association. 

Painted as Venom FB 1, WE434 L-Lima (the example allocated to Trevor Bland while serving with 14 Squadron RNZAF in Singapore) J1634, ZK-VNM, flew for the first time in New Zealand on 29 August 1987.

For a number of years this aircraft delighted spectators at New Zealand airshows in the hands of ex-RNZAF pilot John Denton. Sometimes John would fly solo displays and at times would fly a formation aerobatics routine with, Trevor flying P-51D Mustang ZK-TAF. ZK-VNM suffered engine failure on takeoff from Ardmore on 16 November 1991 and was written off, but John walked away from the accident. The FB 1’s registration was cancelled in November 1992.

Enter the current ZK-VNM, J1799, imported into New Zealand by the Biel family in mid-1992. Test flown by Grant Biel off Ardmore on 23 January 1993, it took up the then-vacant registration.  J1799 is an ex-Swiss Air Force FB 4 and was flown for a number of years at airshows by Trevor, but had not been seen since 1999, due to “the family’s expanding helicopter business”, according to Qwilton Biel.

This all changed on 23 October 2010, when well-known pilot Brett Emeny rotated ZK-VNM off Ardmore’s runway.  The new owner is John Luff of Wanganui, who bought the Venom in December last year.  John is a 1200hr private pilot who fell in love with the RNZAF’s Vampires during the fifties. When the opportunity arose to buy the Venom he knew he wanted it, and “it didn’t seem like it would be too much of a mission to get it going again”. 

This stunning jet will be staying in New Zealand, and John has so far flown five hours with Brett Emeny in his New Plymouth-based two-seat Vampire DH115 in preparation for flying his new toy. Of his first experience of flying a jet, John says, “Yeah, it’s good!”.

Qwilton explains the Venom’s striking colour scheme. “When it first came into the country we wanted a scheme that looks striking on the ramp; looks striking in the air while being displayed; can be seen easily in the busy Ardmore circuit; and retains this particular aircraft’s Swiss heritage.”  ZK-VNM has retained this scheme under John’s ownership and as the accompanying photographs show, they certainly achieved all of these aims.

The Venom will operate from RNZAF Base Ohakea for the immediate future, so Ohakea will once again reverberate to the sound of a jet engine and the aroma of jet-A1. This atmosphere has been sadly lacking from the base since the disbandment of the RNZAF’s Air Combat Wing in December 2001. 

ZK-VNM will join the other resident historic aircraft at Ohakea – Brendon Deere’s Supermarine Spitfire Mk IX, PV270, as well as the Tiger Moth and Harvard of the RNZAF’s Historic Flight. It is hoped that the Venom will make its public reappearance at the Wings over Wairarapa Airshow in January and at Omaka next Easter.


John Luff wishes to acknowledge the support of Grant, Qwilton and Chris of Rural Aviation for their support in helping him realise his dream, and also Gerry Gaston, an engineer with past RNZAF Vampire experience who has camped on the job for the last 10 months, refurbishing the fighter and carrying out the engine change.  Special thanks also to Ron Pemberton, author of From Rags to Rivets, for allowing the use of extracts from his book.