de Havilland Sea Vixen - Survivor XJ565

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FAW.2 XJ565 - de Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre, London Colney, Hertfordshire

Sea Vixen FAW.2 XJ565 at London Colney, 30th November 2020; Damien Burke

Sea Vixen FAW.2 XJ565 at London Colney, 17th June 2007; Mick Boulanger/Demobbed

Sea Vixen FAW.2 XJ565 at London Colney, 1999; Damien Burke collection

Sea Vixen FAW.2 XJ565 at London Colney, 1985; Damien Burke collection

XJ565 here is seen here at the de Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre. XJ565 used to have a working wing fold function and the wings were regularly folded as a visitor attraction, but I suspect this is no longer the case. They would like to get the canopy opening electrically, but are stumped for a gearbox as the aircraft one has rotted away, and this also appears to have stymied efforts to replace the canopy with an unclouded one. Since the last update the museum has undergone some impressive expansion efforts with new buildings and various new acquisitions but XJ565 has been rather left out in the cold, and is now tucked away on a patch of grass at the edge of the site. I feel it's a bit of shame that de Havilland's last jet fighter doesn't warrant an indoor spot yet but fingers crossed things will improve.

Information on this page current as of 02/12/2020, last updated by Damien

Find other photos of XJ565 on the following sites:

Air-Britain - Airliners.net - Airplane-Pictures.net - flickr.com - WorldAirPics.com - JetPhotos.net - PlanePictures.net

Robin, Tug, Wilson from Weymouth	Posted at 7:16pm on Thursday, November 28th, 2013
Was a plane captain on 127 on 899 squadron 1969 thru 1970. Lovely aircraft, was a tanker for most of the time when embarked on HMS Eagle. Happy days.
Mike Heath from Phoenix, Arizona	Posted at 7:16am on Monday, May 25th, 2009
I first saw this aircraft in storage at the museum 30 years ago, at least I'm assuming it's the same Sea Vixen I crawled around all those years ago. I remember being perplexed by the fuel tank that was plainly something else, I now suspect it was the Palouste starter, which must be podded for easy carriage on deployed aircraft. Either way, it's amazng that this bird is still there after all these years, I still have my old photos from that day.

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