VICKERS VIMY

The 'Vickers Vimy' was a British heavy bomber aircraft of the First World War and post-First World War era. It achieved success as both a military and civil aircraft, blazing new trails in long-distance flights in the interwar period.

Contents

Design and development

Operational history

Vimy Commercial

Vimy replica

Variants

Military Operators

Units using the Vimy

Civil Operators

Specifications (Vimy)

References

External links

Related content

Design and development

Designed by Reginald Kirshaw Pierson to be capable of attacking targets in Germany, and produced by the Vickers Company in Leighton Buzzard, it first flew on 30 November 1917^[1], powered by two 200 hp Hispano Suiza engines. It was named after the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
Owing to engine supply difficulties, the prototype Vimys were tested with a number of different engine types, including Sunbeam Maoris, Salmson 9Zm water cooled radials, Fiat A.12bis engines, before production orders were placed for aircraft powered by the 230 hp BHP Puma, 400 hp Fiat, 400 hp Liberty 12 and the 360 hp Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII engines, with a total of 776 ordered before the end of the First World War. Of these, only aircraft powered by the Eagle engine, known as the Vimy IV, were delivered to the RAF.

Operational history

By October 1918 only three aircraft had been delivered to the Royal Air Force. The Vimy only reached full service status in July 1919 when it entered service with the RAF in Egypt. The aircraft was the main heavy bomber force for most of the 1920s. The Vimy served with Royal Air Force in the Middle East from 1919 until 1925, when it was replaced by the Vickers Virginia, and in Northern Ireland until 1929. The final aircraft (a training aircraft based in Egypt) was withdrawn in 1933.
The Vimy was used in many pioneering flights, including the first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by Alcock and Brown in June 1919 (their aircraft is preserved in the London Science Museum);

★ In 1919, the Australian government offered £10,000 for the first All-Australian crew to fly an aeroplane from England to Australia. Keith Macpherson Smith, Ross Macpherson Smith and two other men completed the journey in Darwin on December 10 1919 (their aircraft G-EAOU is preserved in a museum in Smith's hometown Adelaide, Australia);

★ In 1920 Lieutenant Colonel Pierre van Ryneveld and Major Christopher Quintin-Brand attempted to make the first England to South Africa flight. They left Brooklands on 4 February 1920 in the Vimy G-UABA named ''Silver Queen''. They landed safely at Heliopolis, but as they continued the flight to Wadi Halfa they were forced to land due to engine overheating with 80 miles still to go. A second Vimy was loaned to the pair by the RAF at Heliopolis (and named ''Silver Queen II''). This second aircraft continued to Bulawayo in Southern Rhodesia where it was badly damaged when it failed to take-off. Rynevald and Brand then borrowed a Airco DH.9 to continue the journey to Cape Town. They were disqualified as winners but nevertheless the South African government awarded them £5,000 each.

Vimy Commercial

The 'Vimy Commercial' was a civilian version of the Vimy with a larger diameter fuselage (largely of spruce plywood) was developed and first flew from Joyce Green airfield in Kent on 13 April 1919 with the interim civil registration K-107 ^[2], later being re-registered as ''G-EAAV''. A Chinese order for 100 is particularly noteworthy although a failure to pay interest from April 1922 probably led to the order not being completed. Forty of the forty-three built were delivered to China but most remained in their crates unused, with only 7 of these were put into civilian use. After the First Zhili-Fengtian War, another 10 were secretly converted into bombers under the order of Zhili clique warlord Cao Kun, and later participated in the Second Zhili-Fengtian War.
During the Second Zhili-Fengtian War, these bomber versions of Vickers Vimy initially were highly successful due to the low level bombing tactics used, with the air force chief-of-staff of Zhili clique, General Zhao Buli (趙步壢) personally flew many of the missions. However, on September 17, returning from a successful bombing mission outside Shanhai Pass, General Zhao's converted Vickers Vimy bomber was hit by the ground fire of Fengtian clique at the region of Nine Gates (Jiumenkou, 九門口) and had to make a forced landing. Although the air force chief-of-staff of Zhili clique was able to make a successful escape back to his base, the bombers flew at much higher altitude from then on to avoid ground fire, thus greatly reduced the bombing accuracy and effectiveness.
After numerous battles between Chinese warlords, all of the Vickers Vimy eventually fell into the hands of Fengtian clique, forming the First Heavy Bomber Group. These bombers were in the process of being phased out when Mukden Incident happened, and thus were subsequently captured by the Japanese, who soon disposed of the aircraft.
The prototype ''G-EAAV'' entered the 1920 race to Cape Town and left Brooklands on 24 January 1920 but crashed at Tabora, Tanganyika on 27 February.
Fifty-five military transport versions of the Vimy Commercial were built for the RAF as the Vernon.

Vimy replica

In 1969 a Vimy replica was built by the Vintage Aircraft Flying Association at Brooklands (this aircraft is now displayed at the RAF Museum, Hendon, London). A second flyable Vimy replica was built in 1994 by an Australian/American team led by Lang Kidby and Peter Macmillan and this aircraft recreated the three great pioneering Vimy flights: 1994 England to Australia flown by Lang Kidby and Peter MacMillan, 2000 England to South Africa flown by Mark Rebholz and John LaNoue, and in 2005 Alcock and Brown's 1919 Atlantic crossing was recreated, flown by Steve Fossett and Mark Rebholz.

Variants

★ 'F.B.27 Vimy': Prototypes; four built.

★ 'F.B.27A Vimy II': Twin-engined heavy bomber aircraft for the RAF.

★ 'Vimy Ambulance': Air ambulance version for the RAF.

★ 'Vimy Commercial': Civilian transport version. Powered by two Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII piston engines.

Military Operators

★ United Kingdom.

★
★ Royal Air Force (Vimy, Vimy Ambulance & Vernon).

Units using the Vimy

★ No. 7 Squadron RAF

★ No. 9 Squadron RAF

★ No. 24 Squadron RAF

★ No. 45 Squadron RAF

★ No. 58 Squadron RAF

★ No. 70 Squadron RAF

★ No. 99 Squadron RAF

★ No. 100 Squadron RAF

★ No. 216 Squadron RAF

★ No. 500 Squadron RAF

Civil Operators

★ The Government of China (Vimy Commercial).

★ Grand Express Aerienes (Vimy Commercial).

★ Imperial Airways (Vimy Commercial).

★ Instone Air Line (Vimy Commercial).

★ The Government of Spain (Vimy).

Vickers Vimy Replica, 2005

Specifications (Vimy)

References

1. Mason 1994
2. Andrews and Morgan 1988


★ Andrews, C.F. and Morgan, Eric B. ''Vickers Aircraft since 1908, Second edition''. London: Putnam, 1988. ISBN 0-85177-815-1.

★ Mason, Francis K. ''The British Bomber Since 1914''. London: Putnam Aeronautical Books, 1994. ISBN 0-85177-861-5.

★ Winchester, Jim, ed. "Vickers Vimy." ''Biplanes, Triplanes and Seaplanes (Aviation Factfile)''. London: Grange Books plc, 2004. ISBN 1-84013-641-3.

External links

★ RAF Museum

★ Alcock and Brown's aeroplane at the London Science Museum

★ Vickers Vimy online collection - State Library of NSW

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