DE HAVILLAND SEA VIXEN

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DE HAVILLAND SEA VIXEN

REFERENCES

DE HAVILLAND SEA VIXEN
REFERENCES

[History] [Survivors & Leading Particulars] [Pictures] [References & Credits]
This page last updated on 3rd January 2006

WEB SITES

Lionel Smith served in the Fleet Air Arm and his home page has a single picture of a Sea Vixen that came to grief at Yeovilton, plus a must-see section on the Sea Vixen 50th anniversary
William Daysh's 49ers Reunion Web Site, for RN Aircraft Artificers, includes a good number of piccies of Sea Vixens in action in the galleries.
de Havilland Aviation site is the place to go to find out when Foxy Lady is next flying, and even download a movie of her strutting her stuff. Sadly not updated very often though...
Emmanuel Gustin's British military aircraft database includes an entry for the Sea Vixen.

BOOKS

de Havilland Vampire, Venom and Sea Vixen by Philip Birtles, published by Ian Allan; ISBN 071101566X. Rather a small section on the Sea Vixen and as a result it's a bit of rush through its history, with a small selection of black and white photos. Worth getting if you're interested in the Vampire & Venom as well, but not really worthwhile just for the Sea Vixen content.
[Buy from Amazon UK]

Warpaint no. 11 - Sea Vixen by Steve Hazell, published by Hall Park Books Ltd; ISSN 1361-0369. A profile publication with excellent development and service history, lots of colour profiles, pictures, scale plans and a small selection of detail pictures. Recommended. There is a review of it here.

Encyclopedia of the Fleet Air Arm since 1945 by Paul Beaver, published by PSL; ISBN 0-85059-760-9 - short history, some photos and 1/72 scale plans.
John Derry - The story of Britain's first supersonic pilot by Annie Bullen and Brian Rivas, published by William Kimber; ISBN 0-7183-0099-8 - includes details of DH.110 development and some photos of the DH.110 (including a good cockpit shot).
Sea Vixen by Brian Fiddler, published by Friends of the Fleet Air Arm Museum; ISBN 0 948251 03 4 - very good history, photos.
Yeovilton by Cdr. P.M. Rippon and Graham Mottram, published by Fox & Co.; ISBN 1 870872 02 9 - a history of the RN's premier airfield with a great selection of pictures. Includes seven pages on the Sea Vixen years - recommended generally, though not as a specific Sea Vixen reference. Often to be found going cheap at the FAA Museum shop!

MAGAZINES

21st Profile volume 1 number 1 - history and some good photos.
Aeroplane Monthly, July 1997 - Personal Album - six black and white pictures taken during 1960-62 on HMS Victorious, showing an FAW.1. Four show a spectacular on-board crash which the crew were lucky to get out of.
Aeroplane Monthly, November 2004 - Database: Sea Vixen - 17 pages of articles on the type's development, service history, what it was like to fly and survivors list. Lots of photos and diagrams. Well worth seeking out.
Aircraft Illustrated, October 1996: Foxy Lady - article on G-CVIX and de Havilland Aviation Wales, with six good pictures (four in colour).
Air International, April 1991: Sea Vixen, Britain's first missile specialist - history, pictures and a cutaway.
AIR Pictorial, February 1971: de Havilland Sea Vixen by Elfan ap Rees - development and service history with a fair number pictures, although these are all monochrome and fairly small - there is a rare shot of Simon's Sircus displaying though.
Aviation News volume 2 number 10 - 1/72 scale plans and some colour profiles.
Flight, April 5 1957: article describing the development of the aircraft.
Flight, February 5 1960: technical article with full details and cutaway drawings.
FlyPast, May 1992: Solo by Sea Vixen - Marcus Edwards relates his first flight in a Sea Vixen. Makes fascinating reading, and has four black and white pictures (including a spectacular carrier landing crash).
Jets, Summer 2000: Flying Again: Sea Vixen by Glenn Sands - report on XP924 flying again with a number of good colour photos.
FlyPast, October 1996: Sea Vixen Unvanquished - history, photos and list of surviving airframes.
Scale Aircraft Modelling volume 14 number 1, October 1991: Aircraft In Detail - history, good photos and side views.
Scale Aircraft Modelling volume 16 number 8, June 1994: Inside Story - detail pictures of FAW.2 XN691.
Scale Aircraft Modelling volume 18 number 8, October 1996: Under The Hood - drawings of the cockpit interiors, some pictures and how to make a quick fix for the Frog/Revell FAW.2 kit's nose appearance problem.
Fine Scale Modeler, September 1996 includes a review of the Dynavector 1/48 vacform Sea Vixen model kit.
Scale Models International, May 1996: article on building the Dynavector 1/48 vacform kit.
Take Off number 130: Flying the Sea Vixen - a pilot's view - lots of text and pictures (mostly monochrome), and includes a colour drawing of an FAW.1. Interesting and entertaining to read, but of little use for modelling references.

CREDITS

This section would have been greatly the poorer without contributions from the following - so many thanks to (in alphabetical order):

Cliff Aldred, David Allen, Jens Håkon Brandal, Kevin Burchett, Graham Cooper, Dick Clements (RIP), Paul Crossley, Ray Deacon, John Eacott, Nicolas Godfurnon, Rick Kent, Chris Laidlaw, Garry Lakin, Peter R. March, Nick Sayer and Jonathan Stilwell.

Thanks also to the following organisations:

Buckinghamshire Aircraft Recovery Group, f4 Aviation, Gatwick Aviation Museum, Midland Air Museum, Phoenix Aviation, Sea Vixen Preservation Group, Southampton Hall of Aviation and the Wellesbourne Wartime Museum.

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