Warplanes of the UK: de Havilland DH 108 Swallow

de Havilland DH 108 Swallow

(RAF Photo)

de Havilland DH 108 Swallow (Serial No. VW120), 7 Sep 1948.

de Havilland built three DH 108 prototypes with the aim of evaluating swept wing design, which was to be implemented in the following years in one of the company’s most ambitious projects, the DH.106 Comet jet airliner. The DH 108 also provided research data for company’s another design, de Havilland DH.110 Sea Vixen naval fighter. All three prototypes were lost in fatal accidents.

(RAF Photo)

The third prototype of the de Havilland DH 108 Swallow (Serial No. VW120), 1949.

(BAE Systems Photo)

De Havilland DH 108 Swallow (Serial No. TG283), with wing fences, November 1947.

(RAF Photo)

The first DH 108 Swallow, (Serial No. TG283), at Hatfield, UK, on 30 May 1946. The torpedo-shaped objects on the wing tips are containers for anti-spin parachutes.