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 aircraft. The Venom entered service with the Royal Air Force (RAF), where it was used as a single-seat fighter-bomber and two-seat night fighter. A dedicated model for aerial reconnaissance was also operated by the Swiss Air Force. The Venom functioned as an interim stage between the first generation of British jet fighters – straight-wing aircraft powered by centrifugal flow engines such as the Gloster Meteor and the Vampire – and later swept wing, axial flow-engined combat aircraft, such as the Hawker Hunter and de Havilland Sea Vixen. Accordingly, the type had a relatively short service life in the RAF, being withdrawn from frontline operations by the service in 1962 as a result of the introduction of more capable designs. However, it was used in combat during the Suez Crisis, the Malayan Emergency, and the Aden Emergency. The Venom proved to be popular on the export market, being sold in substantial numbers to Iraq, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland and Venezuela. The Swiss Air Force was the last active military operator of the Venom, retiring their last examples during 1983. Large numbers of ex-military Venoms have since been acquired by private entities and several have continued to fly, performing aerial displays at various air shows, while many examples have been preserved in static display conditions in museums and as gate guardians. A specialised derivative, the Sea Venom, was produced as a navalised version of the aircraft suitable for carrier operations. In 1948, de Havilland proposed a development of the Vampire, furnished with a thinner wing and a more powerful engine, to serve as a high altitude fighter, designated as the Vampire FB 8. The design gradually shifted, becoming the DH 112 Venom, in order to fill an Air Ministry requirement, Specification F.15/49, which sought a fast, manoeuvrable and capable fighter-bomber to replace the Royal Air Force's (RAF) existing Vampires in that capacity. From the onset, the envisioned role had been intended as an interim fighter-bomber, while the development of aircraft capable of even greater performance had already been anticipated by the service. Although generally similar in appearance to the preceding Vampire, sharing the distinctive twin-boom tail and composite wood/metal structure, the Venom was a completely new design.