Vickers Vimy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_Vimy

The Vickers Vimy was a British heavy bomber aircraft developed and manufactured
by Vickers Limited. Developed during the latter stages of the First World War to
equip the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), the Vimy was designed by Reginald Kirshaw
"Rex" Pierson, Vickers' chief designer.

Only a handful of aircraft had entered service by the time the Armistice of 11
November 1918 came into effect, thus the type was not used in active combat
operations during the conflict. Shortly thereafter, the Vimy became the core of
the RAF's heavy bomber force throughout the 1920s. The Vimy achieved success as
both a military and civil aircraft, the latter using the Vimy Commercial model
of the type. A dedicated transport derivative of the Vimy, the Vickers Vernon,
became the first dedicated troop transport aircraft to be operated by the RAF.

During the interwar period, the Vimy set several notable records for
long-distance flights; perhaps the most celebrated and significant of these was
the first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, which was performed by John
Alcock and Arthur Brown in June 1919. Other record-breaking flights were flown
using the type from the United Kingdom to destinations such as South Africa and
Australia. The Vimy continued to be operated after the conflict as late as the
1930s in both military and civil capacities.

Production aircraft used several different types of engines, leading to various
mark numbers being applied to the Vimy to distinguish between the emerging
subtypes. The use of different engines was often because of availability;
relatively few engines from Rolls-Royce Limited were used in the Vimy during
1918 owing to low output levels from that manufacturer, while other
manufacturers also struggled to keep up with engine demand during that same
year. At one point, there was considerable enthusiasm for powering the Vimy with
American Liberty L-12 engines instead because of their plentiful supply at the
time; while specified for production aircraft, though, all orders for the
Liberty-equipped Vimy were terminated in January 1919 and no examples were ever
completed. The BHP Puma was another engine that had been intended for use on the
Vimy, but the Puma was cancelled without any aircraft being fitted with the
engine.

Use of the Vimy extended beyond its original use as a bomber. A dedicated model
with greater internal space was developed, known as the Vimy Commercial within
the civil market. The Vimy Commercial would see service with the RAF; known as
the Vickers Vernon, it became the first dedicated troop transport to be operated
by the service. The Vimy was also used as an air ambulance for transporting
wounded troops to medical facilities, while some examples were configured to
perform record-breaking long distance flights. From 1923 to 1925 limited
production batches of the Vimy were manufactured by Vickers. Additionally,
between 1923 and 1931, a minimum of 43 early production aircraft were
reconditioned in order to extend their viable service lives; at least one Vimy
was reconditioned four times.


Role
Heavy bomber

Manufacturer
Vickers Limited

Designer
Reginald Kirshaw Pierson

First flight
30 November 1917

Introduction
1919

Retired
1933

Primary user
Royal Air Force

Variants
Vickers Vernon

Throughout the 1920s, the Vimy formed the main heavy bomber force of the RAF;
for some years, it was the only twin-engine bomber to be stationed at home bases
in Britain. On 1 April 1924, No. 9 Squadron and No. 58 Squadron, equipped with
the Vimy, stood up, tripling the home-based heavy bomber force. On 1 July 1923,
a newly formed Night Flying Flight, based at RAF Biggin Hill, equipped with the
Vimy, was formed; during the general strike of 1926, this unit performed aerial
deliveries of the British Gazette newspaper throughout the country. Between 1921
and 1926, the type formed the backbone of the airmail service between Cairo and
Baghdad. The Vimy served as a front line bomber in the Middle East and in the
United Kingdom from 1919 until 1925, by which point it had been replaced by the
newer Vickers Virginia.

Despite the emergence of the Virginia, which numerous Vimy squadrons were soon
re-equipped with, the Vimy continued to equip a Special Reserve bomber squadron,
502 Squadron, stationed at Aldergrove in Northern Ireland until 1929. The Vimy
continued to be used in secondary roles, such as its use as a training aircraft;
many were re-engined with Bristol Jupiter or Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar radial
engines. The final Vimys, used as target aircraft for searchlight crews,
remained in use until 1938.

The Vimy Commercial was a civilian version with a larger-diameter fuselage
(largely of spruce plywood), which was developed at and first flew from the
Joyce Green airfield in Kent on 13 April 1919. Initially, it bore the interim
civil registration K-107, later being re-registered as G-EAAV.

The prototype entered the 1920 race to Cape Town; it left Brooklands on 24
January 1920 but crashed at Tabora, Tanganyika on 27 February.

A Chinese order for 100 is particularly noteworthy; forty of the forty-three
built were delivered to China, but most remained in their crates unused; only
seven were put into civilian use.

Fifty-five military transport versions of the Vimy Commercial were built for the
RAF as the Vickers Vernon

Specifications Vickers F.B.27 Vimy

General characteristics
Length: 43 ft 7 in (13.28 m)
Wingspan: 68 ft 1 in (20.75 m)
Height: 15 ft 8 in (4.77 m)
Wing area: 1,330 sq ft (123.56 m²)
Empty weight: 7,104 lb (3,222 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 10,884 lb (4,937 kg)
Powerplant: 2 × Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII piston engines, 360 hp (268 kW) each

Performance
Maximum speed: 100 mph (161 km/h)
Range: 900 mi (1,448 km)
Service ceiling: 7,000 ft (2,134 m)
Power/mass: 0.07 hp/lb (0.11 kW/kg)

Armament

Guns: 1 × .303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis Gun in Scarff ring in nose and 1 × in Scarff
ring in mid-fuselage
Bombs: 2,476 lb (1,123 kg) of bombs



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