The Vickers Valentia was a 1920s British

flying boat A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fuselag ...

designed during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

History

Three Valentia prototypes were built by the

Vickers Company Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 18 ...

at their Barrow works (

Walney Island Walney Island, also known as the Isle of Walney, is an island off the west coast of England, at the western end of Morecambe Bay in the Irish Sea. It is part of Barrow-in-Furness, separated from the mainland by Walney Channel, which is spanned b ...

perhaps), having been ordered in May 1918 as a potential replacement for the

Felixstowe F.5 The Felixstowe F.5 was a British First World War flying boat designed by Lieutenant Commander John Cyril Porte RN of the Seaplane Experimental Station, Felixstowe. Design and development Porte designed a better hull for the larger Curtiss H-1 ...

. The hull was built by S.E.Saunders works at

Cowes Cowes () is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina, facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked by the Cowes Fl ...

. The first of the three (Serial Number N124) first flew on 5 March 1921, when Stanley Cockerell began test-flying it over the

Solent The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and Great Britain. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit which projects into the Solent narrows the sea crossing between Hurst Castle and Colwell Bay t ...

. N124 was damaged on landing in June 1921 and was dismantled, the second N125 forced landed on its delivery flight on 15 March 1922Wixey, Ken, "''Flying Boats of the RAF: 1920s 'One-offs' ''", FlyPast No. 106, Stamford, Lincs., U.K., May 1990, page 68. The third flying boat N126 was delivered in 1923 and used for trials until it was withdrawn from use in November 1924. The name was later re-used for a

transport aircraft Transport aircraft is a broad category of aircraft that includes: * Airliners, aircraft, usually large and most often operated by airlines, intended for carrying multiple passengers or cargo in commercial service * Cargo aircraft or freighters, fix ...

, the

Vickers Type 264 Valentia The Vickers Valentia (company designation Type 264) was a British biplane bomber transport aircraft built by Vickers for the Royal Air Force. The majority built were conversions of the earlier Vickers Victoria, itself derived from the Vickers ...

Specifications (Valentia)

References

*Andrews, C.F and Morgan, E.B. ''Vickers Aircraft since 1908''. London:Putnam, 1988. . *London, Peter. ''British Flying Boats''. Stroud, UK:Sutton Publishing, 2003. . {{Vickers aircraft 1920s British patrol aircraft Flying boats Valentia Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1921 Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft

History

Specifications (Valentia)

See also

References