The picture above shows de Havilland Sea Vixen FAW2 ‘Foxy Lady’. It was taken by Sam Wise and is under cc-by-sa-2.0 licence.
- Plane type: Sea Vixen D.3 (FAW.2)
- Built: 1963
- Serial number: 10132 / XP924
- Registration: G-CVIX
- Current markings: XP924, 899 Squadron Fleet Air Arm, Royal Navy
- Owner/Operator: Navy Wings
- Base: Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton, Somerset, UK
- More Photos: https://www.jetphotos.com/registration/G-CVIX
- Tracking on FR24: https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/g-cvix
The Sea Vixen was a British carrier-based fighter aircraft operated by the Royal Navy between 1959 and 1972. It’s introduction to service wasn’t straight forward and took nearly a decade. De Havilland started development of the program by them own after discussing admiralty needs for a new aircraft. The effect of that work was DH 110 design. In 1949 Both the Royal Navy and the Air Force ordered prototypes for tests, but the Navy’s order shortly got drastically cut down to only 2 aeroplanes, as they decided to go with the cheaper and readily available Sea Venom (also De Havilland’s design). In 1952 the first prototype, after nearly a year of test flights, disintegrated in air during the Farnborough Airshow. Debris landing among spectators killed 31 people, making it one of the worst air show crashes in history.
Lessons learned from that accident led to structural changes. A modified second prototype started flying again in 1954. By that time, RAF lost interest in the design, picking Gloster Javelin instead. In the meantime, the Navy started looking for replacement of the Sea Venom fleet and placed order for 110 navalized versions of the aircraft, now called Sea Vixen.
It was a twin-engine, twin-boom-tailed aircraft and was the first British fighter designed to fly supersonic. It could fly day, night and all weather conditions. Predominantly a fleet-defence fighter, but it could be used for ground attack using unguided rockets and Bullpup missiles. In “extreme operational emergency” it could drop the Red Beard free-fall nuclear bomb. Out of the 2-person crew, the pilot sat in the cockpit under offset to the left canopy, while the radar operator was completely hidden within the fuselage.
Sea Vixens took part in multiple interventions in Africa, Middle East and Asia, operating from carriers as support to British troops on the ground, but never participated in full scale conflict. Sea Vixen, although a fighter by name, never participated in any air-to-air engagement. It was phased out in 1972 and replaced by McDonnell Douglas Phantom.
Story of the XP924 airframe
XP924 was built as an FAW.2 version for the Fleet Air Arm and made its first flight on September 23rd, 1963. It was delivered to the 899 Naval Air Squadron at RNAS Yeovilton on December 18th of the same year. Although the aircraft suffered a lot of incidents in its career, none of it was serious, and she retired from the Navy in good form in 1971. It was transferred to the Royal Navy Aircraft Yard in Belfast. On June 4th, 1973, the Royal Aircraft Establishments at Farnborough took over XP924. Flight Refuelling at Tarrant Rushton then acquired it on October 11th, 1977, converted it into a D.3 drone and painted it red and yellow.
Gwyn Jones acquired XP924 in 1991. Together with Marcus Edwards, they restored it to crewed flying condition. In 1996, she was placed on the civil register as G-CVIX. 2000 was a big year. She was ferried to her new home in Bournemouth, and de Havilland managed to obtain a Permit to fly for the aircraft on behalf of its owners. It didn’t have much luck performing on air shows in following years due to a mix of poor weather and maintenance issues. In 2003, it secured a sponsorship deal with Red Bull, which included painting aircraft in a colour scheme resembling the energy drink can. She enjoyed several successful seasons in this livery.
On April 18th, 2006, it was purchased by Drilling Systems Ltd. In March 2007, the aircraft was repainted in its original XP924 naval livery, complete with the 899th squadron logo on the fin. This is the best known look of this aircraft. Finally, in 2014, it was gifted to the Fly Navy Heritage Trust (later renamed to Navy Wings), which take care of the aircraft to this day.
What’s the current state of the aircraft
The XP924 participated in multiple air shows since 2000, from time to time taking breaks caused by insurance issues, lack of sponsorship and technical issues. But it was well-loved, and unique plane on the UK’s air show scene. Her last flight in May 2017 concluded with gear up landing due to hydraulic problems.
Although the landing was very soft, the damaged repair is estimated to be at 2 million British Pounds and Navy Wings couldn’t find funding for that project. As of late 2022 they’re looking to put XP924 in a museum or private collection to be looked after. Looks like the flying days are over for this airframe, but I still hope I will be able to update this post with a different ending.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Sea_Vixen
https://navywings.org.uk/portfolio/sea-vixen/
https://www.facebook.com/XP924
https://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/seavixen/survivor.php?id=129