De Havilland D.H.115 Vampire Trainer Mk.55 (VT-8) 

The Vampire Trainer is a British jet trainer with two side-by-side seats. It has a metal structure apart from the forward fuselage which consists of two layers of in-mould laminated plywood with a balsa filling sandwiched between them. The aircraft is based on the single-seat D.H.100 Vampire, which was one of the world’s first jet fighters and flew for the first time as early as 1943. The Vampire Trainer made its first flight in 1950. The Finnish Air Force entered the jet era when it purchased six single-seat Vampires in 1953. They were the service’s first foreign acquisition since the end of the war. Nine Vampire Trainers were bought in 1955 and 1956 for jet conversion training.

Since the Vampires required a paved runway, the new jets were initially based at Pori, the sole air base with paved runways. Beginning in 1957, they were transferred to Häme Wing in Tikkakoski.