The Norwegian Air Force Historical Squadron, displaying their single seat De Havilland Vampire FB.52 , together with their Mikoyan Gurevich MIG-15 UTI, during the Imperial War Museum (IWM) Duxford's Summer Airshow 2022.

The De Havilland Vampire FB.52 was the export version of the Mk. 6.
101 were built of which 36 were exported to Norway, where they were used from 1949 to 1957.
This De Havilland Vampire FB.52, normally wears Norwegian Air Force markings of PX-K and is registered LN-DHY.
The aircraft has been involved in recent film work in the UK for its appearance in a film dramatisation of Frederick Forsythe's novel, 'The Shepherd'. It's temporarily wearing the markings of a Royal Air Force 94 Squadron Vampire FB.5, WA123 incorrectly coded W-A, from Second Tactical Air Force, RAF Celle, Germany, as it might have appeared one Christmas Eve in the 1950's.
Although 'The Shepherd' novel is set on Christmas Eve 1957, 94 Squadron RAF were disbanded in September 1957 and RAF Celle was returned to use by the West German military.
This FB.52 was license built in Switzerland in 1952 as serial No 705, and flown with the Swiss Air Force as J-1196, until 1990. A French owner flew it for a couple of years until it was sold to Christer Andskär in Sweden and registered SE-DXS.
The aircraft was purchased from Christer Andskär in May 2011.

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15UTI:-
This aircraft is a Polish-built SB Lim-2 (MiG-15UTI), produced by WSK-Mielec in 1952. The aircraft is operated by the Norwegian Air Force Historical Squadron as a representative of the Cold War ‘enemy’.
Following its Polish Air Force service ending in 1990, the aircraft was exported to the USA, and based at Quillayute Airport just outside Forks, Washington. It was again returned to Europe in the summer of 2014. Experienced ex Polish Air Force MiG-15 engineers carry out the maintenance of the aircraft.
Given the shared border between north-eastern Norway and Russia, and the many encounters between Royal Norwegian Air Force and Soviet aircraft during the Cold War, the Polish MiG is an appropriate inclusion in the Norwegian Air Force Historical Squadron.
The Norwegian Air Force Historical Squadron new colour scheme for the MiG-15 is of the United States Air Force MiG-15 marked TC-616, which was a ‘Captured MiG’ from the Korean war.

On the morning of September 21, 1953 Kenneth H. Rowe (born NO Kum-sok in 1932) flew his Mikoyan - Gurevich MiG-15 from Sunan just outside Pyongyang to Kimpo Air Base in South Korea.
During the 17 minute flight, he was not chased by North Korean aircraft, nor was he interdicted by American air or ground forces.
NO landed the wrong way on the runway at Kimpo Air Base almost hitting a F-86 Sabre jet landing at the same time from the opposite direction. Captain Dave William veered out of the way and exclaimed over the radio “It’s a goddamn MiG!”. Another American pilot, Captain Jim Sutton, who was circling the airport, said that if NO had tried to land in the right direction, he would have been spotted and shot down. NO taxied the MiG into a free parking spot between two Sabre jets, got out of the plane and surrendered to the pilot of one of the Sabre jets.

After the MiG was surrendered it was taken to Kadena Air Base Okinawa, where it was given USAF markings and test-flown and evaluated. The test pilots were Major Chuck Yeager and Captain Harold “Tom” Collins, led by Major General Albert Boyd, the commander of the Wright Air Development Center. Major Yeager later stated, “Flying the MiG-15 is the most demanding situation I have ever faced." The MiG-15 was later shipped to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base after attempts to return it to North Korea were unsuccessful. It is currently on display at the National Museum of the USAF.
Testing of the MiG-15 lasted 11 days. It revealed that the aircraft was a reasonably good fighter, but lacked the technological sophistication of American aircraft, such as the F-86. Major Yeager was able to fly the aircraft to 0.98 Mach before it became uncontrollable. The MiG-15 did have a faster climb rate and operated in a higher altitude ceiling than the F-86. Despite such shortcomings, Yeager and Collins determined that the MiG-15 and F-86 were equally capable. Pilot experience and training proved to be the most important factor during dogfights. Maj. Yeager said, “The pilot with the most experience will whip your ass no matter what you’re flying!”

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