Vickers Victoria
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Vickers Type 56 Victoria was a British
biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...
freighter and troop transport aircraft used by the
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
. The Victoria flew for the first time in 1922 and was selected for production over the Armstrong Whitworth Awana.


Design and development

The Victoria was a twin-engined biplane transport with a
conventional landing gear Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft Landing gear, undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the Center of gravity of an aircraft, center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail ...
with a tailskid. The design mated a similar fuselage of the earlier Vernon transport with the wing of the
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
bomber, which was developed in parallel. It was also powered by two
Napier Lion The Napier Lion is a 12-cylinder, petrol-fueled 'broad arrow' W12 engine, W12 configuration aircraft engine built by D. Napier & Son from 1917 until the 1930s. A number of advanced features made it the most powerful engine of its day and kept ...
engines. The enclosed cabin had room for 24 troops on collapsible canvas seats arranged along the sides of the fuselage. In April 1921 two prototypes were ordered by the Air Ministry to Specification 5/20. The first prototype, allocated
serial number A serial number (SN) is a unique identifier used to ''uniquely'' identify an item, and is usually assigned incrementally or sequentially. Despite being called serial "numbers", they do not need to be strictly numerical and may contain letters ...
''J6860'', was built as a Type 56 and designated as Victoria I, the second ''J6861'' was built as a Type 81 Victoria II. The Type 56 had two Napier Lion engines with large frontal radiators and were fitted directly onto the lower mainplanes, the fuel tanks were placed under the inboard section of the bottom mainplane. The prototype ''J6860'' first flew from Brooklands, Surrey on 22 September 1922. The Type 81 flew in January 1923, and initially differed only in having the fuel tanks under the top mainplane. It was later modified by replacing the flat sided engine cowling with more streamlined nacelles with the radiators between the undercarriage legs, as fitted in the Virginia II bomber. In March 1925, it was decided to place an order for 15 production aircraft. By this time, the Virginia design had evolved to incorporate swept-back wings, and the production Victoria IIIs incorporated this change. Another improvement first introduced in the Virginia was the introduction of metal structures instead of the all-wooden airframes of the early aircraft, with an order being placed for a prototype Victoria with a metal structure (serial number ''J9250'') in September 1927, this being delivered in October 1928. The metal airframe proved much more suitable for the hot and humid areas where the Victoria served, with Victoria IV and Vs with metal structures produced by conversion and new production respectively. The final version was the Mark VI, which substituted modern, more powerful Bristol Pegasus
radial engine The radial engine is a reciprocating engine, reciprocating type internal combustion engine, internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinder (engine), cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. ...
s for the Napier Lions. The Vickers Valentia was a further improved version with a stronger structure, capable of operating at higher weights. 97 Victorias were built, many of which were later converted into Valentias.


Operational history

Deliveries of the Victoria III started on 23 February 1926, with the type replacing Vernons and Vimys with 70 Squadron in Iraq and 216 Squadron in Egypt that year. Eight Victorias of 70 Squadron played an important part in the Kabul Airlift of November 1928–February 1929, when in severe winter conditions, RAF aircraft evacuated diplomatic staff and their dependents together with members of the Afghan royal family endangered by a
civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
. Victorias were used to ferry troops to potential trouble spots in Iraq and elsewhere, flying reinforcements to Palestine in 1929 and Jordan in 1930 and from Egypt to Cyprus in 1931.. The Victorias of the two operational squadrons also made a number of long range training flights, such as return trips from Cairo to Aden in 1931, and helped to pioneer air routes for
Imperial Airways Imperial Airways was an early British commercial long-range airline, operating from 1924 to 1939 and principally serving the British Empire routes to South Africa, India, Australia and the Far East, including Malaya and Hong Kong. Passengers ...
' Handley Page HP.42 airliners. One Victoria was used as a blind flying trainer by the
Central Flying School The Central Flying School (CFS) is the Royal Air Force's primary institution for the training of military flying instructors. Established in 1912 at the Upavon Aerodrome, it is the longest existing flying training school in the world. The sch ...
, being fitted with two sets of controls and instruments in a blanked off cabin. The Victoria continued in service until 1935, although many were converted to Valentias, which remained in use until well into the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.


Variants

;Type 56 Victoria Mk I : The first prototype. Powered by two
Napier Lion The Napier Lion is a 12-cylinder, petrol-fueled 'broad arrow' W12 engine, W12 configuration aircraft engine built by D. Napier & Son from 1917 until the 1930s. A number of advanced features made it the most powerful engine of its day and kept ...
IAX
W12 engine A W12 engine is a twelve-cylinder piston engine where either three banks of four cylinders, or four banks of three cylinders are arranged in a W configuration around a common crankshaft. W12 engines with three banks of four cylinders were used b ...
s. ;Type 81 Victoria Mk II : The second prototype. ;Type 117 Victoria Mk III : The first production version. Military transport aircraft for the RAF. Powered by 450 hp Napier Lion II engines. 46 built. ;Type 145 Victoria Mk IV : Metal wing structure. One prototype powered by Bristol Jupiter radials. Thirteen Lion-engined conversions from earlier marks. ;Type 169 Victoria Mk V : New production aircraft with metal structure, powered by two Napier Lion XIB engines. 37 new-built. ;Type 262 Victoria Mk VI : Final production - powered by Bristol Pegasus IIL3 engines instead of Lions. 11 new-build, 23 by conversion.


Operators

; *
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
** No. 70 Squadron RAF (1924-1935 at RAF Hinaidi, Iraq) **
No. 216 Squadron RAF Number 216 Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Air Force based at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire, since reforming on 1 April 2020 and is tasked with testing future Swarm robotics, drone swarm technology. It had previously operated Lockheed TriStar ...
(1925-1935 at RAF Heliopolis, Egypt)


Specifications (Victoria V)


See also


References


Citations


Bibliography

* * * * * * *Sims, Charles. "Talkback". '' Air Enthusiast''. No. 13, August–November 1980. p. 79. * {{Vickers aircraft Victoria 1920s British military transport aircraft Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1922 Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear