The Victoria 22-troop transport was built between the Vernon and Valentia. Production for the RAF totalled 94 aircraft. Entering service in 1926, it was powered by two 425kW Napier Lion engines. A commercial counterpart, the Vanguard, was less successful.
The Victoria is best remembered for its role during the Kabul airlift, when people and baggage were transported out of Kabul during tribal disturbances.
Mk.VI
Engines: Pegasus
Maximum level speed: 177km/h
The Vernon was a development of the Vimy/ Vimy Commercial, having much the same wing plan, and being powered by the same type of engine the 375 h.p. Rolls Royee Eagle VIII. First flying in 1921, instead of a bomber style of fuselage, with gun rings fore and aft, the Vernon carried no defensive armament, and had a spacious hull designed to carry troops and stores. It was, however, fitted with bomb racks and could be used as a bomber.
The Vernon served from 1922 26 with Nos 45 and 70 Squadrons of the RAF in India, Cyprus and Iraq. Apart from its role in the evacuation of sick British troops from Iraq in 1922, the Vernon was the chief transport aircraft used on the celebrated Cairo Baghdad air mail service in the mid 1920s. In 1923, when Squadron Leader A. T. Harris commanded the Squadron, he cut away a hole in the nose and fitted a high altitude drift bomb sight. This, with a bomb aimer using the prone position, made the Vernon a very fine bomber indeed, capable of far greater accuracy than any other contemporary aircraft.
The maker’s figure for the maximum all up weight of the Vernon was 12,000 lb, but this had been increased by Middle East Headquarters to 12,500 lb. In order to give them sufficient range to make the desert crossing safely from Ziza to Ramadi, a cylindrical tank holding 150 gallons temporarily fitted inside the hull.
Vernon Mk I aircraft (20 built) differed little from the Vimy Commercial, but the Vernon Mk II (25) introduced 336kW Napier Lion II engines and the Vernon Mk III (10) had Lion III engines, increased fuel tankage and oleo-pneumatic landing gear. The Vernon was superseded by the Victoria from 1927.
Engines: 2 x 375 hp Rolls Royce Eagle VIII (later 450 hp Napier Lion II)
Wing span: 68 ft 1 in (20.75 m)
Length: 42 ft 8 in (13.00 m)
Gross weight: 12544 lb (5,690 kg)
Max speed: 118 mph (190 km/h) at S/ L with Lion engines
Accommodation: Crew of 3 plus 11 passengers
Typical range: 320 miles (515 km) at 80 mph (128 km/h)
Design of the Vickers F.B.27 was initiated in 1917 to meet the requirement to provide bomber aircraft able to attack strategic targets in Germany from bases in Britain. The Vimy was one of three new-generation bombers with which the RAF planned to take the air war to Germany in 1919. Such aircraft as the de Havilland D.H.10 Amiens and Handley Page V/1500 were also built.
The F.B.27 was a three-bay biplane of conventional construction, with a biplane tail unit which had twin fins and rudders. The wing centre-section – almost one-third span – had the fuselage at its centre with large struts supporting the upper wing. At the outer ends of this centre-section the engines were mounted midway between the upper and lower wings. Two twin-wheel main landing-gear units were mounted beneath the lower wing, one directly below each engine. Outboard of this centre-section the wings had dihedral.
The largest aircraft then built by Vickers, it posed many construction problems; but despite this the first prototype, B9952, flew on 30 November 1917 – little more than four months after the design had been started. This aircraft was powered by two 149kW Hispano-Suiza engines (subsequently re-engined with 194kW Salmsons). Three further prototypes followed, powered respectively with 194kW Sunbeam Maoris, 223kW Fiat A-12s and 268kW Rolls-Royce Eagle VIIIs. It was the latter installation which was selected for production aircraft.
With the introduction of official aircraft names in 1918, the F.B.27 became the Vimy. But only a single example had been placed on an operational footing before the Armistice, which meant that none were used operationally in World War I.
The main production version was the Vimy Mk IV with Eagle VIII engines. Large contracts were cancelled at the end of the war but total Vimy Mk IV production amounted to 240, the last batch of 30 being ordered in 1925. The type entered service in July 1919 with No.58 Squadron in Egypt, home to another three squadrons; the type was retired from Middle Eastern service in August 1926 after operating the Cairo-Baghdad air mail service.
About 300 Vimy IVs of the standard production version were built, each with two 360 hp Rolls-¬Royce Eagle VIII engines. They carried a crew of three and 2476 lb of bombs, and were armed with twin Lewis machine guns in nose and midships positions.
Five home-based squadrons operated the Vimy, which was replaced as a first-line bomber by the Virginia during 1924 and 1925 but remained operational with No. 502 Squadron until January 1929.
Conversions carried 10 passengers. A small number of commercial and ambulance aircraft were built, known simply as Commercial Vimys. The Commercial was fundamentally the same as the Vimy bomber, with the same wings, engine and tail, but had a rounded fuselage, capable of taking up to ten passengers the two flying crew braving the elements in a high set open cockpit in the nose. G EAAV was the prototype Vimy Commercial, having first flown (as K107) on April 13, 1919.
Vickers Vimy Commercial Article
A number of Vimys were used for flying and parachute training duties. Revived as an advanced instructional aircraft for training pilots in multi-engined flying. For this purpose Jupiter VI or Jaguar engines were fitted in about 80 aircraft.
The Vimy is remembered especially in aviation history for the post-war long-distance flights which pointed the way to the air lanes that would link the world. First was the flight by Capt John Alcock and Lt Arthur Whitten-Brown across the North Atlantic, from St John’s, Newfoundland, to Clifden, Eire, during 14-15 June 1919 in a time of 16 hours 27 minutes.
Next was the England-Australia flight of the brothers Capt Ross and Lt Keith Smith, together with Sgts Bennett and Shiers. Taking off from Hounslow (not far from today’s Heathrow Airport) on 12 November 1919, they landed safely at Darwin on 10 December 1919 in an elapsed flying time of 135 hours 55 minutes. Last of the trio of great Vimy flights was an attempt by Lt-Col Pierre van Ryneveld and Sqn Ldr Christopher J. Q. Brand of the South African Air Force to link London and Cape Town. On 4 February 1920 they took off from Brooklands, unfortunately making a crash landing between Cairo and Khartoum. Loaned a second Vimy by an RAF unit in Egypt, they continued to Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia, where they failed to get airborne because of ‘hot and high’ conditions. They finally completed their flight to Cape Town in a third borrowed aircraft (a de Havilland D.H.9), arriving at their destination on 20 March 1920. They, like Alcock and Brown and the Ross brothers, were awarded knighthoods for their achievement.
Vickers Vimy Atlantic Crossing
In 1919, the Chinese government ordered perhaps 100 (or maybe 40) Vickers Vimy transports to be used to establish passenger service in China. Most remained in their shipping crates; only seven were put into use.
Replicas
Vintage Aircraft & Flying Association Vimy
Engines: 2 x 360hp Rolls Royce VIII
Length 43.5 ft (13.2 m)
Wing span 67.1 ft (20.5 m)
Height: 15 ft. 7.5 in
Wing area 1318 sq. ft
Weight loaded: 10885 lb
Weight empty 7,100 lb (3,220 kg)
Crew: 4
Armament: Two machine guns, one each in nose and aft cockpits
Bomb load: 18 x 112 lb (50 kg) bombs 2 x 230 lb (104 kg) bombs
Max speed: 89 kts / 103 mph (166 kph)
Ceiling: 7,000 ft (2,100 m)
Range: 1,000 miles (1,600 km)
Range max. weight: 391 nm / 725 km
Initial climb rate: 295.28 ft/min / 1.5 m/s
Vimy Mk II
Engines: 2 x Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII, 268kW
Max take-off weight: 4937 kg / 10884 lb
Empty weight: 3222 kg / 7103 lb
Wingspan: 20.75 m / 68 ft 1 in
Length: 13.27 m / 44 ft 6 in
Height: 4.76 m / 16 ft 7 in
Wing area: 122.44 sq.m / 1317.93 sq ft
Max. speed: 166 km/h / 103 mph
Ceiling: 2135 m / 7000 ft
Range w/max.fuel: 1448 km / 900 miles
Armament: 2 x 7.7mm machine-guns, 1123kg of bombs
Crew: 3
Vimy Mk IV
Type: three-seat heavy night bomber
Span: 20.75m (68 ft 1 in)
Length: 13.27m (43ft 6.5 in)
Powerplant: 2 x Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII, 268kW (360 hp)
Armament: 2 x 7.7-mm (0.303-in) machine-guns
Bombload: 1123 kg (2,476 lb)
MTOW: 5647 kg (12,500 lb)
Max speed: 103 mph at 6,500 ft
Operational range: about 900 miles
Curiously retrogressive in design when built in May 1917, the pusher fighter with boom-carried empennage being decidedly passe at that stage in Worid War I, the F.B.26 single-seat fighter had its nacelle attached directly to the upper wing. The original concept provided for a single 7.7mm Lewis gun, but an additional Lewis had been introduced by the time that the F.B.26 reached Martlesham Heath for official testing in July 1917.
Power was provided by a 200hp Hispano-Suiza engine, but inadequate cooling led to the original single flat radiator being replaced by two separate radiator blocks. On 25 August 1917, the prototype was spun into the ground by Vickers’ test pilot Harold Barnwell. Nonetheless, a month later, on 19 September, a contract was placed for six examples of a modified version of the F.B.26. The wing structure was completely revised, radiator blocks were attached to the nacelle sides and a larger vertical tail was introduced. Interest in the F.B.26 centred on its potential as a Home Defence fighter, and it was proposed that armament would consist of two Lewis guns coupled with an Aldis sight and capable of several degrees of elevation and depression. However, in order to obtain greater firepower, the nacelle of the F.B.26 was modified to permit installation of an Eeman three-gun universal mounting. The first two F.B.26s had the trio of Lewis guns fixed to fire horizontally, but it was intended that the next four aircraft would have a modified Eeman mounting capable of 45° of elevation.
The first of the modified F.B.26s was flown in December 1917 with a 200hp Hispano-Suiza engine. After testing at Martlesham Heath, this aircraft was assigned to No 141 Sqn in February 1918 for service evaluation. It was concluded that the F.B.26 was unsuited for Home Defence duties and work on the incomplete machines was halted, although the second and third examples had been completed and flown meanwhile. As the basic design was considered to possess potential in the close air support role, the second of the modified F.B.26s was fitted with a redesigned nacelle incorporating armour protection for the pilot and a 230 hp Bentley B.R.2 nine-cylinder rotary. This armoured “trench-strafer” was assigned the designation F.B.26A, and, under the official nomenclature scheme introduced in the spring of 1918, became the Vampire II, the F.B.26 being the Vampire I. In the event, the Vampire II had still to be completed by the end of June 1918, and thus came too late on the wartime scene.
Max take-off weight: 921 kg / 2030 lb
Empty weight: 667 kg / 1470 lb
Wingspan: 9.63 m / 32 ft 7 in
Length: 7.14 m / 23 ft 5 in
Height: 2.87 m / 9 ft 5 in
Wing area: 24.80 sq.m / 266.94 sq ft
Max. speed: 195 km/h / 121 mph
Ceiling: 6860 m / 22500 ft
Derived from the abortive F.B.23 design intended as a successor to the F.B.9, the F.B.25 two-seat night fighter was conceived to fulfil the same requirement as the Royal Aircraft Factory’s N.E.1. Completed in the early spring of 1917, the F.B.25 carried its two crew members in staggered side-by-side seats, the gunner being positioned ahead and to starboard. Like the N.E.1, the F.B.25 was intended to carry the Vickers-built Crayford rocket gun with which it was supposed to attack hostile airships, and a small searchlight was originally to have been mounted in the extreme nose of the nacelle. The intention was to power the F.B.25 with the 200hp Hispano-Suiza eight-cylinder water-cooled engine, and in order to minimise the risk of the aircraft turning over during a nocturnal landing, it was proposed to provide a nosewheel. In the event, non-availability of a 200hp unit dictated installation of a 150hp Hispano-Suiza, and neither searchlight nor nosewheel was fitted. A two-bay unstaggered equi-span biplane with tailbooms converging in elevation to meet at the rear spar of the tailplane, the F.B.25 carried its unusually wide nacelle at mid wing-gap. As well as the Crayford rocket gun, an interesting feature was the oleo-pneumatic undercarriage. Flight testing revealed poor characteristics, and when sent to Martlesham Heath in May 1917 (where it was eventually to crash), the official reports were singularly unflattering, dismissing the F.B.25 as wholly unsuited for night fighting.
Max take-off weight: 1113 kg / 2454 lb
Empty weight: 729 kg / 1607 lb
Wingspan: 12.65 m / 42 ft 6 in
Length: 8.56 m / 28 ft 1 in
Height: 3.30 m / 11 ft 10 in
Wing area: 46.45 sq.m / 499.98 sq ft
Max. speed: 138 km/h / 86 mph
Ceiling: 3355 m / 11000 ft
A two-seat fighter-reconnaissance aircraft, the F.B.24 was yet another Vickers aircraft originally designed for the ill-fated and Vickers-sponsored Hart radial engine. The prototype was completed in December 1916, but unavailability of the Hart engine resulted in its modification to accept the 150hp Hispano-Suiza water-cooled engine as the F.B.24A, and the second airframe, the F.B.24B, being similarly powered. An unequal-span two-bay biplane, the F.B.24 had an armament of one fixed synchronised Vickers gun and one Lewis on a Scarff ring mounting. Both F.B.24A and 24B were re-engined with the 200hp Hispano-Suiza with which they were redesignated as F.B.24Ds. Similar in general configuration was the F.B.24C, which was powered by a 275hp Lorraine-Dietrich 8Bd water-cooled eight-cylinder Vee-type engine and armed with two synchronised Vickers guns, provision being made for emergency dual control in the gunner’s cockpit. The F.B.24C and D both possessed good performance, but the limited view offered from the pilot’s cockpit was considered unacceptable. Consequently, the Vickers team revised the basic design by lowering the upper wing so that it was attached directly to the upper longerons, the front cockpit being situated between the wing spars. With this change, the aircraft was de signated F.B.24E and power was provided by a 200hp Hispano-Suiza. This same configuration was adopted for yet a further version of the design, the F.B.24G, which was a larger aircraft than its predecessors, with two-bay wings of equal span and chord and a 375hp Lorraine-Dietrich 12-cylinder Vee-type engine. The F.B.24G was built in France by the Darracq concern, but it did not fly until 26 May 1919, and its performance and fate have gone unrecorded.
F.B.24D
Empty weight: 739 kg / 1629 lb
Wingspan: 10.82 m / 36 ft 6 in
Length: 7.92 m / 26 ft 0 in
Wing area: 31.59 sq.m / 340.03 sq ft
Max. speed: 190 km/h / 118 mph
Designed in 1916 by G H Challenger and flown for the first time in August of that year, the F.B.19 was a single-bay unstaggered equi-span biplane with a single 7.7mm Vickers gun mounted on the port side of the fuselage and a 100hp Gnome Monosoupape engine. Ordered by the War Office for the RFC, the series version was powered by either the Gnome or the 110hp Le Rhone. Some 50 F.B.19s were built, and, late in 1916, a batch of six was sent to France where, after operational evaluation, the fighter was deemed un-suited for the fighting conditions then evolving. At this time, some of the F.B.19s were delivered to the Russian government following demonstrations in Petrograd, Moscow, Kiev and Tiflis, but several were still in their crates on the docks at Archangel at the commencement of the Bolshevik revolution. These aircraft were destroyed by the Royal Navy, but a few others assembled prior to the Navy’s action were flown in Bolshevik service. A modified version, the F.B.19 Mk II, was developed with wing stagger and either the Le Rhone or Clerget 110hp rotary. Only 12 Mk IIs were built and several of these were included in a batch of 12 F.B.19s sent to the Middle Eastern theatres of war. These were flown in Palestine and Macedonia from June 1917, but no squadron used the type exclusively and it was not well liked.
F.B.19
Engine: 1 x Gnome Monosoupape, 75kW
Max take-off weight: 670 kg / 1477 lb
Empty weight: 405 kg / 893 lb
Wingspan: 7.31 m / 24 ft 0 in
Length: 5.54 m / 18 ft 2 in
Height: 2.51 m / 8 ft 3 in
Wing area: 19.97 sq.m / 214.96 sq ft
Max. speed: 158 km/h / 98 mph
Ceiling: 5180 m / 17000 ft
Conceived, like the F.B.12, to utilise the 150hp Hart engine, the F.B.16 was designed by Rex K Pierson. Completed and flown in the summer of 1916, it was a single-bay staggered biplane with a fuselage faired out fully to an elliptical cross section, the Hart engine being partly cowled, and armament consisting of a single centrally-mounted synchronised 7.7mm Vickers gun. During the course of testing, the part-cowling was removed from the engine to improve cooling, the decking aft of the cockpit was cut down and new vertical tail surfaces were fitted. With the ending of Hart engine development, the basic F.B.16 underwent very considerable redesign, reappearing as the F.B.16A with a 150hp Hispano-Suiza water-cooled Vee-eight engine. This aircraft was destroyed in a crash on 20 December 1916, but a second identical aircraft was completed in the following month. The F.B.16A had flat fuselage sides and the single synchronised Vickers gun was supplemented by a Lewis mounted above the centre section.
After receiving favourable reports during Martlesham Heath trials, it was re-engined with a 200hp Hispano-Suiza engine as the F.B.16D, a wider-chord wing being fitted, with both gap and stagger increased, and a larger vertical tail fitted. The synchronised Vickers gun was replaced by a Lewis firing through the hollow propeller shaft. Because large contracts had been placed for the contemporary S.E.5a, particularly with Vickers, and because Martlesham Heath evaluation contained numerous design criticisms of which rectification would have been time consuming, the F.B.16D was not ordered into production.
Nonetheless, work on a further development, the F.B.16E, continued, this having a 275hp Lorraine-Dietrich 8Bd eight-cylinder Vee-type water-cooled engine and two 7.7mm synchronised Vickers guns totally enclosed in elongated blisters between the cylinder block fairings. The F.B.16E was tested at Villacoublay by the French authorities, encouraged by the manufacturer’s performance claims, including a speed of 220km/h at 3050m and the ability to climb to that altitude within 7.85 min. During Villacoublay trials, the F.B.16E allegedly returned performance figures unsurpassed by any of its contemporaries, but no production order was placed, and on 29 July 1918, the prototype crashed after its propeller disintegrated.
F.B.16D
Max take-off weight: 850 kg / 1874 lb
Empty weight: 624 kg / 1376 lb
Wingspan: 7.62 m / 25 ft 0 in
Length: 5.94 m / 20 ft 6 in
Height: 2.67 m / 9 ft 9 in
Wing area: 19.23 sq.m / 206.99 sq ft
Max. speed: 217 km/h / 135 mph
Ceiling: 5640 m / 18500 ft
Tractor-engined biplane best suited for reconnaissance duties. Engines ranged on the small number of production aircraft from an 89kW Beardmore to a 186kW Rolls-Royce Eagle.
Max. speed: 180 km/h / 112 mph
A compact two-bay biplane of pusher type, the F.B.12 was designed for the 150hp Hart static radial engine, in the development of which the Hart Engine Company was being assisted by Vickers.
With a single-seat nacelle faired out to a circular cross section and mounted in mid wing-gap, and tailbooms converging in side elevation to meet at the rear spar of the tailplane, the F.B.12 had a basic structure primarily of steel tube.
Unavailability of an airworthy Hart engine led to the first F.B.12 being fitted with an 80hp Le Rhone rotary, with which it flew in June 1916. Although underpowered, it demonstrated a creditable performance when tested at the Central Flying School in the following August. The Le Rhone was then replaced by a 100hp Gnome Monosoupape, and, subsequently, new wings of greater span were fitted – overall span being extended by 1.09m – with straight raked rather than elliptical tips. Redesignated F.B.12A, this aircraft was sent to France for operational evaluation in December 1916.
A further aircraft was built – by Wells Aviation of Chelsea – with the Hart engine as the F.B.12B. This was flown early in 1917, but promptly crashed, helping to seal the fate of the Hart radial. A contract for 50 aircraft powered by the Hart had, on 10 November 1916, been awarded Vickers, the intention being to fit the series aircraft with a new, wooden nacelle and enlarged vertical tail surfaces as the F.B.12C.
Production of the F.B.12C was sub-contracted to Wells Aviation, but with the loss of the F.B.12B, the Hart engine was abandoned. In the event, only 18 F.B.12C airframes were completed and these were fitted with a variety of engines, including the 110hp Le Rhone nine-cylinder rotary and the 100hp Anzani 10-cylinder radial.
Testing at Martlesham Heath in May 1917 revealed insufficient elevator control at low speeds, heavy lateral control and other problems. Furthermore, the gun (a 7.7mm Lewis) was considered to be badly positioned for changing ammunition drums. By this time, tractor fighters of superior performance were in RFC service and further development of the F.B.12 was therefore discontinued.
F.B.12C
Max take-off weight: 656 kg / 1446 lb
Empty weight: 420 kg / 926 lb
Wingspan: 9.02 m / 29 ft 7 in
Length: 6.65 m / 21 ft 10 in
Height: 2.62 m / 8 ft 7 in
Wing area: 22.02 sq.m / 237.02 sq ft
Max. speed: 140 km/h / 87 mph
Ceiling: 4420 m / 14500 ft
All Aero 