Development of the Vampire began during the Second World War in 1943 as an aircraft suitable for combat that harnessed the new innovation of jet propulsion. The Royal Air Force (RAF) settled on a single-engine, twin-boom aircraft equipped with the Halford H.1 turbojet engine, later known as the de Havilland Goblin. Originally ordered as an experimental aircraft only, the decision to mass-produce the aircraft as an interceptor for the RAF was finalized in May 1944.
In 1946 the first production aircraft entered service with the RAF. The Vampire was the second jet fighter after the Gloster Meteor operated by the RAF, and was the service's first to be powered by a single jet engine. The Vampire was then used to replace many wartime piston-engine fighter aircraft. 

By the time production ended, 3,269 Vampires had been built in England and 1,067 had been built under license abroad. The Vampire remained as a front-line fighter for the RAF until 1953 when it was transitioned to a pilot training and proficiency role. Elsewhere, the aircraft saw surprising longevity with several Vampires still in service in air forces throughout the world during the 1980s. The Swiss Air Force was the last to use the Vampire, retiring their sizeable fleet of DH Vampire FB.6s and T.55s from active service in 1990.    

On 3 December 1945, a Sea Vampire piloted by Captain Eric "Winkle" Brown became the first pure-jet aircraft to land on and take off from an aircraft carrier. 

Vampires were used in trials from 1947 to 1955 to develop fighters without undercarriages. Flexible rubber decks were designed for use on aircraft carriers, allowing the weight and complication of an undercarriage to be eliminated. Although multiple landings with the undercarriage retracted on flexible decks installed at Royal Air Force Establishment (RAE) Farnborough and aboard HMS Warrior proved practicable, the concept was never taken further.

The Vampire was a versatile aircraft setting many aviation firsts including, being the first RAF fighter with a top speed in excess of 500 mph (800 km/h). 

On 23 March 1948, John Cunningham, flying a modified Mk I with extended wing tips and powered by a de Havilland Ghost engine, set a new world altitude record of 59,446 ft (18,119 m). 
On 14 July 1948, upon arriving in Goose Bay, Labrador, six Vampire F.3s of No. 54 Squadron RAF became the first to cross the Atlantic Ocean by jet aircraft. They flew via Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, Keflavik in Iceland and Bluie West 1, Greenland. From Goose Bay Airfield they went to Montreal (c. 3,000 mi/4,830 km) to start the RAF's annual goodwill tour of Canada and the United States, where they displayed formation aerobatics. At the same time, United States Air Force (USAF) Colonel David C. Schilling, led a group of F-80 Shooting Stars to Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base in Germany to relieve a unit based there. Conflicting reports surfaced later between the RAF and USAF regarding who was the first to fly the Atlantic. One report said the USAF squadron delayed the completion of its movement to allow the Vampires to be "the first jets to cross the Atlantic." Another report stated the Vampire pilots celebrated "winning the race against the rival F-80s."

deHavillan Aviation logo from the Vampire production period

Current Vampire Airshows logo