De Havilland Sea Venom
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The de Havilland Sea Venom is a British postwar carrier-capable jet aircraft developed from the
de Havilland Venom The de Havilland DH 112 Venom is a British post-war single-engined jet aircraft developed and manufactured by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. Much of its design was derived from the de Havilland Vampire, the firm's first jet-powered combat ...
. It served with the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...
and with the
Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...
. The
French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...
operated the Aquilon, developed from the Sea Venom FAW.20, built under licence by
SNCASE SNCASE (abbreviated from ''Société nationale des constructions aéronautiques du Sud-Est'') or Sud-Est was a French aircraft manufacturer. The company was formed on February 1, 1937, by the nationalization and merger of Lioré et Olivier, Potez ...
(Sud-Est).


Design and development

The Sea Venom was the
navalised {{refimprove, date=February 2011 A navalised aircraft (or navalized aircraft) is an aircraft that has been specifically designed for naval use, in some cases as a variant of a land-based design. An aircraft based on an aircraft carrier is called c ...
version of the Venom NF.2 two-seat night fighter, and was used as an all-weather
interceptor Interceptor may refer to: Vehicles * Interceptor aircraft (or simply "interceptor"), a type of point defense fighter aircraft designed specifically to intercept and destroy enemy aircraft * Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, a police car * ...
by the Fleet Air Arm (FAA). The necessary modifications for use on the Royal Navy's
aircraft carriers An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...
included
folding wing A folding wing is a wing configuration design feature of aircraft to save space and is typical of carrier-based aircraft that operate from the limited deck space of aircraft carriers. The folding allows the aircraft to occupy less space in a c ...
s, a
tailhook A tailhook, arresting hook, or arrester hook is a device attached to the empennage (rear) of some military fixed-wing aircraft. The hook is used to achieve rapid deceleration during routine landings aboard aircraft carrier flight decks at sea ...
(which retracted into a characteristic "lip" over the jetpipe) and strengthened, long-stroke
undercarriage Undercarriage is the part of a moving vehicle that is underneath the main body of the vehicle. The term originally applied to this part of a horse-drawn carriage, and usage has since broadened to include: *The landing gear of an aircraft. *The ch ...
. The canopy was modified to allow ejection from underwater. The first prototype made its first flight in 1951, and began carrier trials that same year. A further two prototypes were built. The first production Sea Venom took the designation FAW.20 (Fighter, All-Weather). It was powered by a single
de Havilland Ghost The de Havilland Ghost (originally Halford H-2) was the de Havilland Engine Company's second design of a turbojet engine to enter production and the world's first gas turbine engine to enter airline service (with British Overseas Airways Corpo ...
103 turbojet engine and its armament was the same as the RAF version. The next variant was the FAW.21, which included the modifications introduced in the Venom NF.2A and NF.3. Some of these modifications included the Ghost 104 engine, a clear-view canopy and American radar. The final Royal Navy variant was the FAW.22 powered by the Ghost 105 engine. A total of 39 of this type were built in 1957–58. Some were later fitted out with the
de Havilland Firestreak The de Havilland Firestreak is a British first-generation, passive infrared homing (heat seeking) air-to-air missile. It was developed by de Havilland Propellers (later Hawker Siddeley) in the early 1950s, entering service in 1957. It was the fir ...
air-to-air missile. Seven FAW.21s were modified in 1958 for
Electronic countermeasures An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is an electrical or electronic device designed to trick or deceive radar, sonar, or other detection systems, like infrared (IR) or lasers. It may be used both offensively and defensively to deny targeting info ...
(ECM) purposes, with the cannon replaced by the ECM equipment. These became the ECM.21.
831 Naval Air Squadron 831 Naval Air Squadron (831 NAS) was a List of Fleet Air Arm aircraft squadrons, Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. The squadron was reformed twice: firstly from 21 November 1955 - 10 December 1957 and then from 1 May 1958 - 26 ...
, the sole squadron to be equipped with it, was shore-based at
RAF Watton Royal Air Force Watton or more simply RAF Watton is a former Royal Air Force station located southwest of East Dereham, Norfolk, England. Opened in 1937 it was used by both the Royal Air Force (RAF) and United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) ...
from 1963 and disbanded in 1966. Converted FAW.22s were similarly known as the ECM.22. A modernised Sea Venom project, the DH.116 with swept wings and upgraded radar was considered, but cancelled as the Royal Navy believed that any replacement needed two engines. The
de Havilland Sea Vixen The de Havilland DH.110 Sea Vixen is a British twin-engine, twin boom-tailed, two-seat, carrier-based fleet air-defence fighter flown by the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm during the 1950s through to the early 1970s. The Sea Vixen was designed by ...
ultimately replaced the Sea Venom.


Operational history


Royal Navy service

In 1956 Sea Venoms, alongside RAF Venoms, took part in the Suez War which began on 31 October. They were from Nos.
809 __NOTOC__ Year 809 (Roman numerals, DCCCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Spring – Siege of Serdica (809), Siege of Serdica: ...
, 891, 892,
893 __FORCETOC__ Year 893 ( DCCCXCIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Vladimir, ruler (''khan'') of the Bulgarian Empire, is dethroned by his fat ...
,
894 __NOTOC__ Year 894 ( DCCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Byzantine–Bulgarian War: Stylianos Zaoutzes, leading minister and ...
,
895 ' __NOTOC__ Year 895 (Roman numerals, DCCCXCV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * The Hungarians, Magyars are expelled from southern Russia, and ...
Naval Air Squadrons based on the light fleet carrier and fleet carrier . The Anglo-French invasion, codenamed Operation Musketeer, took place in response to the nationalisation of the
Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...
by
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
's leader, General
Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced Egyptian ...
. The air war began on 31 October 1956 signalling the beginning of the Suez War. The Sea Venoms launched many sorties, bombing a variety of targets in Egypt in the process. Sea Venoms also saw service during conflicts in the Middle East. By 1959, the Sea Venom began to be replaced in Royal Navy service by the de Havilland Sea Vixen, an aircraft that also had the distinctive twin-boom tail. The Sea Venom would be withdrawn from frontline service soon afterwards. The type continued to fly with second line FAA units until the last were withdrawn in 1970.


Service with other nations

Thirty-nine Sea Venom FAW.53s saw service with the
Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...
(RAN), replacing the
Hawker Sea Fury The Hawker Sea Fury is a British fighter aircraft designed and manufactured by Hawker Aircraft. It was the last propeller-driven fighter to serve with the Royal Navy, and one of the fastest production single reciprocating engine aircraft e ...
. The Sea Venom entered service in 1956 and, during its service with the RAN, operated off the aircraft carrier HMAS ''Melbourne''. It was taken out of first-line service in 1967, replaced by the American
McDonnell Douglas A-4G Skyhawk The McDonnell Douglas A-4G Skyhawk is a variant of the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk attack aircraft developed for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The model was based on the A-4F variant of the Skyhawk, and was fitted with slightly different avionics as ...
. From 1957 to 1961, French Navy Aquilons took part in counter-insurgency operations in Algeria. They were withdrawn from service in 1965.


Variants


Sea Venom

;Sea Venom NF.20 :Prototype Sea Venom, based on Venom NF.2.,Jackson 1987, p. 479.Sturtivant 1990, pp. 81–82. three-built. ;FAW.20 :Initial production aircraft, based on Venom NF.2A. 4,850 lbf (21.6 kN) Ghost 103 turbojet engine, AI Mk 10 (US SCR 720) radar.Sturtivant 1990, p.83 50 built. ;FAW.21 :Improved version, equivalent to Venom NF.3. 4,950 lbf (22.1 kN) Ghost 104 engine, AI Mk 21 (US APS-57) radar, strengthened long-stroke undercarriage.Sturtivant 1990, p. 86. 167 built. ;ECM.21 :Six FAW.21s modified from 1957 for ECM purposes. No armament.Sturtivant 1990, pp. 89–90. ;FAW.22 :More powerful (5,300 lbf (23.6 kN)) Ghost 105 engine, giving improved high-altitude performance.Sturtivant 1990, p. 88. 39 new built. ;ECM.22 :Equivalent of ECM.21, based on FAW.22 ;FAW.53 :Australian designation for the Sea Venom FAW.21. 39 built.


SNCASE Aquilon

SNCASE SNCASE (abbreviated from ''Société nationale des constructions aéronautiques du Sud-Est'') or Sud-Est was a French aircraft manufacturer. The company was formed on February 1, 1937, by the nationalization and merger of Lioré et Olivier, Potez ...
(Sud-Est) license-built 101 Sea Venom FAW.20 as the Aquilon for the French Navy. *Aquilon 20 – 4 examples assembled from the parts provided by de Havilland plus 25 locally built. * Aquilon 201 – Three prototypes built in France. * Aquilon 202 – Two-seat version with ejection seats, an American AN/APQ-65 radar and air-conditioning. 25 built. * Aquilon 203 – Single-seat version with an American AN/APQ-94 radar and equipped with racks for air-to-air missiles. Prototype converted from Aquilon 202 plus 40 built. * Aquilon 204 – Two-seat training version without guns. 6 Converted from Aquilon 20.


Operators


Sea Venom operators

; *
Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...
Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...
** 723 Squadron ** 724 Squadron ** 805 Squadron ** 808 Squadron ; *
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...
**
700 Naval Air Squadron 700 Naval Air Squadron (700 NAS) is an experimental test squadron in the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm. History 700 NAS was originally formed on 21 January 1940 at RNAS Hatston (HMS ''Sparrowhawk'') in Orkney in a plan to centralise the operations ...
**
736 Naval Air Squadron 736 Naval Air Squadron (736 NAS) was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy. It was most recently recommissioned at RNAS Culdrose on 6 June 2013 to fly the BAE Systems Hawk T1, following the disbandment of the Fleet Requirements and Aircraft Di ...
**
738 Naval Air Squadron 738 Naval Air Squadron (738 NAS) was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was initially active from 1943 to 1945 as a training squadron for USA aircraft types used by the Fleet Air Arm. Reformed in 1950, it continued to for ...
**
750 Naval Air Squadron The Royal Navy Observer School grew out of HM Naval Seaplane Training School at RNAS Lee-on-Solent as a result of a series of changes of identity and parent unit. From 1918 until 1939 the Royal Air Force was responsible for naval aviation, includ ...
**
766 Naval Air Squadron 766 Naval Air Squadron (766 NAS) was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was to have initially formed in 1939 at RNAS Lee-on-Solent, as a Seaplane School, however, it formed at RNAS Machrihannish as a Night ALT (Attack Li ...
** 787 Naval Air Squadron **
800 Naval Air Squadron () , colors = , colors_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , equipment = , equipment_label = , battles = , battles_label = , decorations = , battle_honours = , battle_honours_label = , flying_hours = , website = , cur ...
**
808 Naval Air Squadron 808 Naval Air Squadron is a ship-based helicopter squadron of the Royal Australian Navy. The squadron was originally part of the British Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm; it was formed in July 1940 as a fleet fighter squadron. It served on a number ...
**
809 Naval Air Squadron 809 Naval Air Squadron (809 NAS) is a squadron of the Fleet Air Arm of the United Kingdom. It was first formed in 1941 and flew in the Soviet Union, the Mediterranean and the Far East during the Second World War. After active service during the S ...
**
810 Naval Air Squadron 810 Naval Air Squadron was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm carrier based squadron formed on 3 April 1933 with the amalgamation of the 12 Blackburn Dart aircraft from 463 and 44 Flight (Fleet Torpedo) Flights Royal Air Force to the Fleet Air Arm. The ...
**
831 Naval Air Squadron 831 Naval Air Squadron (831 NAS) was a List of Fleet Air Arm aircraft squadrons, Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. The squadron was reformed twice: firstly from 21 November 1955 - 10 December 1957 and then from 1 May 1958 - 26 ...
** 890 Naval Air Squadron **
891 Naval Air Squadron 891 Naval Air Squadron was a fighter squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm during World War II. In August 1942 the squadron transferred from RNAS Lee-on-Solent where it had been formed in July to RNAS Charlton Horethorne with six Sea Hurri ...
**
892 Naval Air Squadron 892 Naval Air Squadron (892 NAS) was a carrier-based fighter squadron of the British Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was formed in 1943, flying Grumman Martlets, and was the only operational Fleet Air Arm squadron to fly the McDonnell Douglas Ph ...
** 893 Naval Air Squadron **
894 Naval Air Squadron 894 Naval Air Squadron (894 NAS) was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land a ...
**Airwork Fleet Requirements Unit


Aquilon operators

; *
French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...
Aviation Navale French Naval Aviation (often abbreviated in French to: ''Aéronavale'' (contraction of Aéronautique navale), or ''Aviation navale'', or more simply ''l'Aéro'') is the naval air arm of the French Navy. The long-form official designation is ' ...
** 11F Naval Squadron ** 16F Naval squadron


Surviving aircraft

;Australia * WZ898/WZ910 – FAW.53 on static display at the
Queensland Air Museum The Queensland Air Museum is a not-for-profit community-owned aviation museum located at Caloundra Airport in Queensland, Australia. Its mission is to collect and preserve all aspects of aviation heritage with an emphasis on Australia and Queen ...
in
Caloundra, Queensland Caloundra ( ) is a coastal town and the southernmost town in the Sunshine Coast Region in South East Queensland, Australia. Geography Caloundra is north of the Brisbane central business district. Caloundra is accessible from Landsborough r ...
. * WZ901 – FAW.53 on static display at the
Australian National Aviation Museum The Moorabbin Air Museum is an aviation museum at Moorabbin Airport in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1962 as the Australian Aircraft Restoration Group, in an attempt to maintain a World War II-era Bristol Beaufighter aircraf ...
at
Melbourne, Victoria Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung–Taungurung language, Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the St ...
. * WZ910 – FAW.53 on static display at the Queensland Air Museum in Caloundra, Queensland. * WZ931 – FAW.53 on static display at the
South Australian Aviation Museum The South Australian Aviation Museum, located in Port Adelaide, South Australia, is an aviation museum which displays aircraft, aircraft engines, and rockets of relevance to South Australia, and the history of aviation and the aerospace industr ...
in
Port Adelaide, South Australia Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is t ...
. * WZ937 – FAW.53 on static display at the
Fleet Air Arm Museum The Fleet Air Arm Museum is devoted to the history of British naval aviation. It has an extensive collection of military and civilian aircraft, aero engines, models of aircraft and Royal Navy ships (especially aircraft carriers), and paintin ...
in
Nowra, New South Wales Nowra is a city in the South Coast, New South Wales, South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south-southwest of the state capital of Sydney (about as the crow flies). As of the 2021 census, Nowra has an estimated popula ...
. ;France * 53 – Aquilon 203 on display at the Museum of Naval Aeronautics in
Rochefort, Charente-Maritime Rochefort ( oc, Ròchafòrt), unofficially Rochefort-sur-Mer (; oc, Ròchafòrt de Mar, link=no) for disambiguation, is a city and communes of France, commune in Southwestern France, a port on the Charente (river), Charente estuary. It is a Subpr ...
. ;Malta * XG691 – FAW.22 is being restored at the
Malta Aviation Museum Malta Aviation Museum is an aircraft museum situated on the site of the former Royal Air Force airfield in the village of Ta'Qali, on the island of Malta. The museum, based in three hangars, covers the history of aviation on the island with exhi ...
in Ta' Qali, Attard. ;Poland * XG613 – FAW.21 on static display at the
Polish Aviation Museum The Polish Aviation Museum ( pl, Muzeum Lotnictwa Polskiego w Krakowie) is a large museum of historic aircraft and aircraft engines in Kraków, Poland. It is located at the site of the no-longer functional Kraków-Rakowice-Czyżyny Air ...
in Kraków, Lesser Poland. ;United Kingdom * WW138 – FAW.21 on static display at the
Fleet Air Arm Museum The Fleet Air Arm Museum is devoted to the history of British naval aviation. It has an extensive collection of military and civilian aircraft, aero engines, models of aircraft and Royal Navy ships (especially aircraft carriers), and paintin ...
in
Yeovilton, Somerset Yeovilton is a village and former civil parishes in England, civil parish, now in the parish of Yeovilton and District, in Somerset, England, east of Ilchester and north of Yeovil, in South Somerset district. The parish had a population of 1, ...
. * WW145 – FAW.22 on static display at the
National Museum of Flight The National Museum of Flight is Scotland's national aviation museum, at East Fortune Airfield, just south of the village of East Fortune, Scotland. It is one of the museums within National Museums Scotland. The museum is housed in the original ...
in East Fortune, East Lothian. * WW217 – FAW.22 on static display at the
Newark Air Museum Newark Air Museum is an air museum located on a former Royal Air Force station at Winthorpe, near Newark-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire, England. The museum contains a variety of aircraft. History The airfield was known as RAF Winthorpe during ...
in
Newark-on-Trent Newark-on-Trent or Newark () is a market town and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district in Nottinghamshire, England. It is on the River Trent, and was historically a major inland port. The A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road bypasses th ...
, Nottinghamshire. * XG680 – FAW.22 on static display at the
North East Aircraft Museum The North East Land, Sea and Air Museums (NELSAM), formerly the North East Aircraft Museum, is a volunteer-run aviation museum situated on the site of the former RAF Usworth/Sunderland Airport, between Washington and Sunderland, in Tyne and Wear ...
in
Sunderland, Tyne and Wear Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the historic county of Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on the River Wear's mouth to the North Sea. The ri ...
. * XG730 – FAW.22 is being restored at the
de Havilland Aircraft Museum The de Havilland Aircraft Museum, formerly the de Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre, is a volunteer-run aviation museum in London Colney, Hertfordshire, England. The collection is built around the definitive prototype and restoration shops f ...
in London Colney, Hertfordshire. * XG737 – FAW.22 is being restored at the
East Midlands Aeropark East Midlands Airport is an international airport in the East Midlands of England, close to Castle Donington in northwestern Leicestershire, between Loughborough (), Derby () and Nottingham (); Leicester is () to the south and Lincoln () north ...
in Castle Donington, Leicestershire.


Specifications (Sea Venom FAW.22)


See also


References


Notes


Bibliography

* Green, William. ''The World's Fighting Planes''. London: Macdonald, 1964. * Gunston, Bill. ''Fighters of the Fifties''. Cambridge, UK: Patrick Stephens Limited, 1981. . * Mason, Francis K. ''The British Fighter since 1912''. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1992. . * * Jackson, A. J. ''de Havilland Aircraft since 1909''. London: Putnam, Third edition, 1987. . * Sturtivant, Ray. "De Havilland's Sea Venom...a Naval Twin Boomer". ''
Air International ''AIR International'' is a British aviation magazine covering current defence aerospace and civil aviation topics. It has been in publication since 1971 and is currently published by Key Publishing Ltd. History and profile The magazine was fir ...
'', Vol 39. No 2, August 1990, pp. 81–90. ISSN 0306-5634. * Thetford, Owen. ''British Naval Aircraft 1912–58.'' London: Putnam Publishing, 1958. * Wilson, Stewart. ''Sea Fury, Firefly and Sea Venom in Australian Service''. Weston Creek, ACT, Australia: Aerospace Publications, 1993. . * Winchester, Jim, ed. "De Havilland Sea Vixen." ''Military Aircraft of the Cold War (The Aviation Factfile)''. Rochester, Kent, UK: The Grange plc., 2006. . {{Authority control 1950s British fighter aircraft Carrier-based aircraft Sea Venom Single-engined jet aircraft Mid-wing aircraft Twin-boom aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1951