F+W EMMEN Vampire (N172LA)

Nice find Gary!

Great catch and the black gives it something else.

Nice find indeed! It's been a LONG time since I've seen any pics of the Vampire.

This lady is the protagonist of a beautiful short story by Frederick Forsyth; The Shepherd. A must read in my humble opinion....

Very cool! I had never even heard of the Vampire!

Alfredo >> Didn't Forsyth write The Day of The Jackal? I'll definitely follow your recommendation and check out The Shepherd. And many Thanks for the info .... (Wave)
Darryl, Gav, and Mark >>> TYVVM, guys. (Both Thumbs Up)

My brother flew the Vampire in the RAF. "The Shepherd" by Frederick Forsyth is a great read Alfredo!

The location is a Swiss Air Force Base : Militärflugplatz Emmen (ICAO: LSME). This is the present-day location of RUAG, who manufacture aerostructures for Airbus, Pilatus, and F-5|F/A-18 in the current Swiss Air Force Inventory.

About the Vampire is Swiss service, wikipedia says
(1) "In 1949, the Swiss government signed a contract to locally manufacture the Vampire FB.6 in Switzerland using British-built Goblin engines; accordingly, a batch of 85 Vampire FB.6s were produced."

(2) "in the late 1940s, Pilatus handled the production of fuselages and tail-booms for the licence-produced De Havilland Vampire and Venom"

(3) The trainer version (DH-115 Mk 55) continued in Swiss service until 1990.

M. Mathers commented, "The location is a Swiss Air Force Base ...."
A Swiss Air Force Base ... ?? Switzerland?? Oh, wow, Mike, I WISH ....
The closest I've ever been to Switzerland was in the later 1960s when I watched Sean Connery in the movie Goldfinger and in the movie he went to Geneva. What a super trip THAT would be to be able to tour thru Switzerland ....
But anyway, no, this wasn't taken at a Swiss AFB. It was taken by the desert; the High Desert in Nevada. Actually, I simply forgot to enter the airport code. Sorry 'bout that..

(1) Thanks for the correction on the airport.
(2) The Schweizer Luftwaffe markings, and the manufacturer being identified as "F+W Emmen", lead me to conclude that this airframe came off a production line in Emmen, Switzerland, which is co-located with a Swiss Air Force base (https://second.wiki/wiki/eidgenc3b6ssisches_flugzeugwerk). From there it was easy to imagine the mountains in the background were the Alps, not the Sierra Nevada.
(3) Looking at your previous work, I see you posted a photo of the same airplane taken at the 2019 Pylon Racing Seminar. In that photo I see the registration number BY-385, which allows me to satisfy my curiosity. I appreciate the quality of your photos, and your high standards of scholarship. Every so often I think I can add something. This time I was overconfident, and spoke too soon.
(4) And of course you know that the scene in Goldinger where James Bond crashes his Aston-Martin DB5 was filmed in 1964 at Pilatus headquarters in Stans, Switzerland. Pilatus uses this in its Public Relations material (www.pilatus-aircraft.com/en/news-events/story/db5-vs-pc-24-the-legendary-db5-back-at-pilatus).

What's a Vampire doing up there this time of the year ?

The Pylon Racing School will be conducted three weeks from now in preparation for this year's races in September.
Mike >> I had no idea the scene had been filmed there. I'm looking up the info now. TYVVM for passing on that info. And as for the mistaken location ... No need to explain. I have always enjoyed it when a person adds background knowledge or personal experience info. I know very little about aviation and av-related matters so every person who comments helps me learn, etc. Besides, it was my fault -- I should have filled in the LOCATION info. (I just found another of my posts that is missing the AIRPORT info.) TY, Mike. (Wave)