Thanks for this great set of photos @ngos!

The de Havilland Vampire was a revolutionary aircraft for its time, not just because of the jet engine but also the twin-boom tail. Its design was a bit too clever, in fact, and it missed action in World War 2; the only Allied jet aircraft to see combat was the Gloster Meteor, a reliable but much less sophisticated design.

Although they were both wartime designs rushed into production, the Vampire and Meteor both saw significant postwar deployment. They even faced off in combat; during the Israeli-Egyptian conflicts of the 1950s Egyptian-operated Vampires routinely went toe-to-toe with Israeli-operated Meteors. These early skirmishes also contributed to the "speed kills" doctrine of jet fighter design. The slower but more maneuverable Vampire never fared well against the faster but clumsier Meteor.