The Vickers Warwick was a British twin-engined bomber aircraft developed and operated during 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 ...
that was primarily used in other roles. In line with the naming convention followed by other RAF heavy bombers of the era, it was named after a British city or town, in this case
Warwick
Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined wit ...
. The Warwick was the largest British twin-engined aircraft to see use during the Second World War.
The Warwick was designed and manufactured by
Vickers-Armstrongs
Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927. The majority of the company was nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s, w ...
during the late 1930s. It was intended to serve as a larger counterpart to the
Vickers Wellington
The Vickers Wellington (nicknamed the Wimpy) is a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson, a key feature of t ...
bomber. The two aircraft share similar construction and design principles but development of the Warwick was delayed by a lack of suitable engines. Its first flight was on 13 August 1939 but delays to its intended powerplant and by the time adequate engines were available, it was obsolete.
[Barfield 1972, p. 145.]
The Warwick entered production during 1942 and squadron service with 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 ...
(RAF). Barely a dozen aircraft were built as bombers.
[Barfield 1972, pp. 145–146.] The type was used by
RAF Transport Command as a transport, and by
RAF Coastal Command
RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...
as an
air-sea rescue
Air-sea rescue (ASR or A/SR, also known as sea-air rescue), and aeronautical and maritime search and rescue (AMSAR) by the ICAO and International Maritime Organization, IMO, is the coordinated search and rescue (SAR) of the survivors of emergenc ...
and
maritime reconnaissance aircraft. The Warwick was also operated by the
Polish Air Forces in exile in Great Britain and the
South African Air Force
The South African Air Force (SAAF) is the air warfare branch of South African National Defence Force, with its headquarters in Pretoria. The South African Air Force was established on 1 February 1920. The Air Force saw service in World War II a ...
. A civil operator, the
British Overseas Airways Corporation
British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the United Kingdom, British state-owned national airline created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. It continued operating overseas services throughout World War II ...
(BOAC), also operated a handful of transport Warwicks.
Design and development
Origins
In October 1932, the British industrial conglomerate
Vickers-Armstrongs
Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927. The majority of the company was nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s, w ...
tendered for the
Air Ministry
The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the ...
Specification B.9/32, which called for the development of a twin-engined medium bomber.
[Barfield 1972, p. 146.] During late 1934, when the company was already developing their Type 271 to meet Specification B.9/32, Vickers received a draft requirement for a larger bomber.
The draft specification developed into Air Ministry Specification B.1/35, which sought a twin-engined heavy
strategic bomber
A strategic bomber is a medium- to long-range Penetrator (aircraft), penetration bomber aircraft designed to drop large amounts of air-to-ground weaponry onto a distant target for the purposes of debilitating the enemy's capacity to wage war. Unl ...
.
It was intended to make use of more powerful engines, of , that were being developed, to enable the bomber to be faster and carry a heavier bomb load than the earlier B.3/34. Among the requirements of Specification B.1/35 was a speed of no less than while flying at , a range of while carrying of bombs, and the engines were to be furnished with
variable-pitch propellers.
It was designed in parallel with the smaller
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
, both aircraft having been derived from the Vickers Type 271 design, developed for Specification B.9/32.
[Andrews and Morgan 1988, p. 364.] By the end of July 1935, the Air Ministry was considering eight designs. These included Vicker's proposal, the Type 284, powered by a pair of
Bristol Hercules engines, which exceeded the specifications. Vickers received an order for a prototype on 7 October 1935, while the Air Ministry also ordered prototypes from Armstrong Whitworth (the AW.39, a development of the
Armstrong Whitworth Whitley
The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.38 Whitley was a British medium/heavy bomber aircraft of the 1930s. It was one of three twin-engined, front line medium bomber types that were in service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) at the outbreak of the World W ...
) and Handley Page (the HP.55).
[Barfield 1972, pp. 146–147.] These alternative designs were cancelled before being built, as Handley Page and Armstrong Whitworth switched to work on newer specifications released for medium (P.13/36) and heavy (B.12/36) bombers.
Changes and redesigns
As Specification B.1/35 was to be a heavier complement to Specification B.9/32, it was initially thought that there would be no need for a mock-up.
On 14 March 1936, in light of major design changes being submitted, production of a complete mock-up was authorised. Around the same time, it was decided to allocate the Vickers 284 type number to the project, while the redesigned B.9/32 (which would become the Wellington) became the Vickers 285.
[Barfield 1972, p. 147.] As a consequence of the relaxation of the restrictions imposed by the
1932 Geneva Disarmament Conference, the weight of the Vickers 284 and 285 expanded gradually, until the 285 approached the original specified weight for Specification B.1/35.
During 1936, Specification B.1/34 was modified to require the aircraft to carry more fuel and a heavier bombload. During January 1937, the
Rolls-Royce Vulture
The Rolls-Royce Vulture was a British Aircraft engine, aero engine developed shortly before World War II that was designed and built by Rolls-Royce Limited. The Vulture used the unusual "X-24 engine, X-24" configuration, whereby four cylinder ...
liquid-cooled
X engine
An X engine is a piston engine with four banks of cylinders around a common crankshaft, such that the cylinders form an "X" shape when viewed front-on.
The advantage of an X engine is that it is shorter than a V engine of the same number of c ...
was named as the alternative powerplant of the Vickers 284 and it was adopted in late 1938.
The Vulture, which had also been intended for the rival
Avro Manchester
The Avro 679 Manchester was a British twin-engine heavy bomber developed and manufactured by the Avro aircraft company in the United Kingdom. While not being built in great numbers, it was the forerunner of the more famed and more successful ...
, was subsequently determined to be unlikely to be available in sufficient numbers for the Warwick, as well as being unreliable, and on 2 July 1937, an order for a second prototype was placed the Air Ministry as insurance against the failure of the Vulture.
The second prototype (''L9704'') was designed for the
Napier Sabre
The Napier Sabre is a British H engine, H-24-cylinder, coolant, liquid-cooled, sleeve valve, piston aircraft engine, aero engine, designed by Frank Halford, Major Frank Halford and built by D. Napier & Son during World War II. The engine evolv ...
engine but development was slow, and production capacity was urgently required for the
Hawker Typhoon
The Hawker Typhoon was a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. It was intended to be a medium-high altitude interceptor aircraft, interceptor, as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane, but several design problems we ...
fighter.
["Vickers 284 Warwick" 1977, p. 33.] ''L9704'' was instead fitted with the
Bristol Centaurus
The Centaurus was the final development of the Bristol Engine Company's series of sleeve valve radial aircraft engines. The Centaurus is an 18-cylinder, two-row design that eventually delivered over . The engine was introduced into service ...
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. ...
.
[Barfield 1972, pp. 147–148.] Other aspects of the design proved troublesome, such as the
gun turrets and official doubts over the
geodetic airframe structure, the latter having been used on several previous designs by British aircraft designer
Barnes Wallis
Sir Barnes Neville Wallis (26 September 1887 – 30 October 1979) was an English engineer and inventor. He is best known for inventing the bouncing bomb used by the Royal Air Force in Operation Chastise (the "Dambusters" raid) to attack ...
.
[Barfield 1972, p. 148.]
In February 1939, development beyond the pair of prototypes was cancelled because of difficulties with the Vulture engine but this was reversed the following January.
[Buttler 2004, p. 95.] In late June 1939, following the completion of a high-level review and an update of programme data, work resumed.
[Barfield 1972, pp. 148–149.] While Vickers chose to continue with the project, official doubts, over slow progress caused by work on the Wellington and the lack of suitable engines, led to a growing official expectation that the design would be surpassed by later aircraft.
[Buttler 2004, pp. 93–95.]
Into flight
On 13 August 1939, the first prototype (serial ''K8178''), powered by Vulture engines, made its first flight from
Brooklands,
[Andrews and Morgan 1988, p. 367.] with test pilot
Joseph "Mutt" Summers at the controls but the test flight only lasted for a few minutes due to a failed
carburettor
A carburetor (also spelled carburettor or carburetter)
is a device used by a gasoline internal combustion engine to control and mix air and fuel entering the engine. The primary method of adding fuel to the intake air is through the Vent ...
linkage. The smaller Wellington had flown three years earlier and had already been in production for 18 months by then.
When fully equipped, the calculated all-up weight of the first prototype was , almost double the weight given by Vickers in their initial tender for the design. Flight tests with the prototype revealed it to be slow, underpowered and unable to maintain altitude on one engine.
[Barfield 1972, p. 149.]
The second prototype flew on 5 April 1940 with Centaurus engines
[Andrews and Morgan 1988, p. 368.][''Air International'' March 1988, p. 138.] and incorporated improvements to its design, such as a re-designed
elevator
An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...
, to improve handling. There was a definite improvement in performance and it was claimed that the second prototype was faster than a
Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by ...
, at certain altitudes.
While the Centaurus-powered prototype was more promising, development was at an early stage.
[''Air International'' March 1988, pp. 137–138.] In October 1939, it was proposed that it be redesigned as a four-engined aircraft, with either
Rolls-Royce Merlin
The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British Coolant#Liquids, liquid-cooled V12 engine, V-12 Reciprocating engine, piston aero engine of 27-litre (1,650 cu in) Engine displacement, capacity. Rolls-Royce Limited, Rolls-Royce designed the engine an ...
XX or
Bristol Hercules HE7SM engines but after some study, the idea was discarded as it reduced range and payload.
Another proposal used the
American Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp radial engine.
Performance projections showed similar performance to the Hercules III-powered Wellington but with a significantly greater payload and the engines were also available due to the cancellation of contracts previously placed by the French. The second prototype was converted to use the R-2800-S14A4-G engines and was flown in July 1941.
[Mason 1994, p. 328.][Barfield 1972, pp. 149, 151.] The Double Wasp installation was inferior to the Centaurus but was ordered regardless.
[Barfield 1972, p. 151.]
On 3 January 1941, an initial production order was placed for 250 Warwicks, consisting of 150 Double Wasp-powered Mk.I aircraft and 100 Centaurus-powered Mk.IIs, with deliveries to commence in November that year.
It was at this point that the proposed aircraft was officially named in accordance with the Air Ministry's practice of naming bombers after British towns and cities and with Vickers using 'W' as the initial letter to indicate the designs of Barnes Wallis.
Production
The large initial production contract came despite the need to resolve troubles with the Centaurus engine.
The Double Wasp engine, with a three-bladed diameter
Hamilton Standard
Hamilton Standard was an American aircraft propeller (aircraft), propeller parts supplier. It was formed in 1929 when United Aircraft and Transport Corporation consolidated Hamilton Aero Manufacturing and Standard Steel Propeller into the Hamilto ...
propeller, became the usual powerplant. Due to the time it took for the Double Wasps to reach Vickers in Britain from Pratt & Whitney in the U.S., delays were unavoidable.
[Barfield 1972, pp. 151–152.] During 1941, the second prototype flight tested a modified tail to improve handling.
[Barfield 1972, p. 152.] The prototype was fitted with production engines and propellers however this revealed problems with engine ignition, which was resolved with a revised booster coil. The Warwick was subject to considerable study to keep it relevant to the rapidly changing circumstances of the conflict, and it was out of this process that a work towards standardised production was made.
Due to persistent engine shortages and a change in policy, only 16 of the planned 150 Warwick bombers were completed.
Even as the first bomber was nearing completion at
Weybridge
Weybridge () is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge, Elmbridge district in Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. The settlement is recorded as ''Waigebrugge'' and ''Weibrugge'' in the 7th century and the name derives from a cro ...
, the type was failing to meet Air Staff requirements for bomber aircraft. Bombers were being expected to carry much greater bomb loads further, and a decision had been made to re-equip
RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the Strategic bombing during World War II#Europe, strategic bombing of Germany in W ...
exclusively with a new generation of four-engine bombers.
Just as the earlier, and now obsolescent Wellington was being relegated to secondary roles, the Warwick was used for general reconnaissance (long range anti-submarine patrols), air-sea rescue, operational crew training and as a transport, where its obsolescence did not matter+.
By January 1943, 57 Warwick Mk.Is had been completed, when it was decided that they would be used primarily as transports and air-sea rescue aircraft.
During mid-1943, a Warwick Mk.I was converted to become the Warwick Mk.II prototype with the principal difference being the installation of Centaurus IV engines.
219 Warwick Mk.I aircraft were completed, with the last 95 of these fitted with R-2800-47 engines.
In 1942, an order for 14 Warwick transports, the ''Vickers 456'' Warwick C.Mk.I was made for
British Overseas Airways Corporation
British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the United Kingdom, British state-owned national airline created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. It continued operating overseas services throughout World War II ...
(BOAC), a civil operator.
Operational requirements were for the carriage of mail, freight and passengers between
Bathurst in South Africa and
Cairo
Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...
in Egypt, complementing BOAC's
flying boat
A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy.
Though ...
operations between England and Bathurst. The order was met by converting existing B.Mk.Is, by removing military equipment, fairing over gun turret openings, adding cabin windows, a freight floor, long-range fuel tanks and exhaust stack flame dampers for night flights.
The Warwick used
Barnes Wallis
Sir Barnes Neville Wallis (26 September 1887 – 30 October 1979) was an English engineer and inventor. He is best known for inventing the bouncing bomb used by the Royal Air Force in Operation Chastise (the "Dambusters" raid) to attack ...
'
geodetic airframe construction pioneered in the
Wellesley. In this system, a network of intersecting structural members made from
duralumin
Duralumin (also called duraluminum, duraluminium, duralum, dural(l)ium, or dural) is a trade name for one of the earliest types of age hardening, age-hardenable aluminium–copper alloys. The term is a combination of ''Düren'' and ''aluminium'' ...
were covered by wired-on fabric. The load was distributed across the structure, providing great redundancy in the event of damage, at the expense of complexity of construction.
Operational history

The first production Warwick B Mk.I was delivered to the RAF for testing at the
Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment,
Boscombe Down on 3 July 1942.
This first aircraft was lost when fabric panels on the wings came loose on 28 January 1942.
[Barfield 1972, pp. 152, 154.] The second production Warwick took its place in flying trials but on 18 February 1943, it too was destroyed, by a fire which began in the starboard engine.
[Barfield 1972, p. 154.]
Only 16 aircraft were delivered as bombers, as by this time more capable four-engined heavy bombers such as the
Short Stirling and
Handley Page Halifax were in service. Those Warwicks that were delivered in the bomber configuration saw little use as such, instead being used to investigate various kinds of equipment and technical matters, including navigational equipment, engine performance, role suitability, and air-dropped
lifeboats.
[Barfield 1972, pp. 154-155.] It soon became clear that the Warwick, with its spacious fuselage and long range, would be well suited to utility roles. In January 1943, the Air Staff decided that the Warwick would serve as the predominant aircraft for transport and air-sea rescue.
[Barfield 1972, p. 155.]
Early testing showed the Warwick to be under-powered and with severe handling problems, especially when flown on one engine. Stability and control trials commenced with the third production Warwick, which yielded acceptable handling during single engine operations when fitted with a triangular extension ahead of the fin.
The Double Wasps fitted to early models were unreliable while later versions fitted with the Centaurus engine had better performance but the handling problems were never completely solved.
[Chapter 3 "The Warwick Saga"]
Warwick ''BV243'' was converted into a transport for trials.
An additional 13 Mk.Is were converted on the production line as C Mk.I transports for BOAC.
BOAC's Warwicks were used briefly on its Middle East services before being transferred back to
RAF Transport Command in 1944.
[March 1998, p. 235.][Barfield 1972, pp. 155, 158.] One hundred similar aircraft were built for the RAF as Warwick C Mk.IIIs, and entered service with
525 Squadron in June 1944, with three more squadrons operating the Warwick III. They were mainly used in the Mediterranean theatre, as the vulnerability of the fabric skinning to high temperature and humidity stopped plans to operate the Warwick in the Far East, and remained in use until retired in 1946.
[Andrews and Morgan 1988, p. 381.][''Air International'' March 1988, p. 140.][Barfield 1972, p. 158.]
The remainder of the first batch of 250 Warwicks were used by
RAF Coastal Command
RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...
for anti-submarine reconnaissance.
["Vickers 284 Warwick" 1977, p. 36.][Barfield 1972, pp. 158–159.] From 1943, Warwicks were fitted with the Mk.IA
airborne lifeboat and used for air-sea rescue. The lifeboat, designed by yachtsman
Uffa Fox, laden with supplies and powered by two motors, was aimed with a bomb-sight to be dropped under
parachute
A parachute is a device designed to slow an object's descent through an atmosphere by creating Drag (physics), drag or aerodynamic Lift (force), lift. It is primarily used to safely support people exiting aircraft at height, but also serves va ...
near ditched air crew from an altitude of about .
[Barfield 1972, p. 159.] Warwicks were credited with rescuing crews from a wide variety of contemporary aircraft both in the
English Channel
The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...
and the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...
.
[Barfield 1972, pp. 159, 161.]
Only 235 of the production order for 525 Warwick Mk.V were completed, most of which went directly into storage in 1944.
In early 1945, some examples of this stored variant was issued to 179 Squadron, stationed at
RAF St Eval. Four Warwick GR Mk.Vs crashed on test flights from Brooklands during the first half of 1945. The first of these was PN773 which suffered an engine failure on take-off on 2 January and was skilfully force-landed close to St Mary's Church in
Byfleet and was later repaired and flown again. A propeller blade from this 1945 accident survives in the Brooklands Museum collection. The Warwick Mk.V was also operated by 17 and 27 Squadrons of the
South African Air Force
The South African Air Force (SAAF) is the air warfare branch of South African National Defence Force, with its headquarters in Pretoria. The South African Air Force was established on 1 February 1920. The Air Force saw service in World War II a ...
.
[Barfield 1972, pp. 163–164.]
Variants
Warwick Mark I
* Warwick B Mk.I –; original production bomber, of 150 ordered, only 16 were built. They were used for testing.
[Barfield 1972, p. 168.]
* Warwick C Mk.I or Vickers Type 456 –; transport version for
BOAC, for its Mediterranean and North African routes. 14 built.
* Warwick B/ASR Mk.I –; 40 aircraft converted from Warwick B Mk.I bombers for air-sea rescue and could carry two sets of
Lindholme lifesaving equipment.
* Warwick ASR (Stage A) –; 10 aircraft converted from Warwick B Mk.I bombers for air-sea rescue. They could carry one airborne lifeboat and two sets of Lindholme lifesaving equipment.
* Warwick ASR (Stage B) –; 20 aircraft converted from Warwick B Mk.I bombers as air-sea rescue aircraft, carrying the same equipment as the Warwick ASRs and ASR (Stage As).
* Warwick ASR Mk.I or Vickers Type 462 was an air-sea rescue aircraft carrying an airborne lifeboat that was powered by two
Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp R-2800-S1A4G radial piston engines. 205 built.
Warwick Mark II
* Warwick B Mk.II or Vickers Type 413 –; bomber prototype, only one example built, converted from a Warwick B Mk.I.
* Warwick GR Mk.II or Vickers Type 469 –; anti-submarine, general reconnaissance version. It was equipped to carry torpedoes and bombs. It was powered two
Bristol Centaurus
The Centaurus was the final development of the Bristol Engine Company's series of sleeve valve radial aircraft engines. The Centaurus is an 18-cylinder, two-row design that eventually delivered over . The engine was introduced into service ...
VI radial engines. 118 built.
* Warwick GR Mk.II Met –; meteorological reconnaissance version of the Warwick GR Mk.II. 14 built.
Warwick Mark III
* Warwick C Mk.III or Vickers Type 460 –; unarmed transport. It had a pannier extension below the central fuselage, and the normal loaded weight was raised to . It could carry 24 troops or eight to 10 passengers in VIP configuration. 100 built.
Warwick Mark V
* Warwick GR Mk.V or Vickers Type 474 –; anti-submarine, general reconnaissance aircraft. It was powered by two
Bristol Centaurus
The Centaurus was the final development of the Bristol Engine Company's series of sleeve valve radial aircraft engines. The Centaurus is an 18-cylinder, two-row design that eventually delivered over . The engine was introduced into service ...
VII radial engines, armed with 7 machine guns and could carry of bombs, mines or depth charges. A ventral
Leigh light
The Leigh Light (L/L) was a British World War II era anti-submarine device used in the Battle of the Atlantic. It was a powerful (22 million candelas) carbon arc searchlight of diameter fitted to a number of the British Royal Air Force' ...
was fitted. The first operational sortie was carried out by 179 Squadron on 4 December 1944. 210 built.
Warwick Mark VI
* Warwick ASR Mk.VI or Vickers Type 485 –; final air-sea rescue version. The aircraft was powered by two
Pratt & Whitney R-2800-2SBG Double Wasp radials. 94 built.
Operators
Military operators
;
*
Polish Air Forces in exile in Great Britain[Jones ''Aeroplane'' June 2010, p. 75.][Barfield 1972, pp. 166-167.]
**
No. 301 Polish Bomber Squadron
**
No. 304 Polish Bomber Squadron
;
*
South African Air Force
The South African Air Force (SAAF) is the air warfare branch of South African National Defence Force, with its headquarters in Pretoria. The South African Air Force was established on 1 February 1920. The Air Force saw service in World War II a ...
[''Air International'' April 1988, p. 208.]
**
17 Squadron SAAF
**
27 Squadron SAAF
;
*
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 ...
[Halley 1980, p. 355.]
**
No. 38 Squadron RAF
**
No. 167 Squadron RAF
**
No. 179 Squadron RAF
**
No. 251 Squadron RAF
**
No. 269 Squadron RAF
**
No. 276 Squadron RAF
**
No. 277 Squadron RAF
No. 277 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force Squadron formed as an air-sea rescue unit in World War II.
History
The squadron formed at Stapleford Tawney on 22 December 1941 and was equipped with the Westland Lysander and Supermarine Walrus. B ...
**
No. 278 Squadron RAF
**
No. 279 Squadron RAF
**
No. 280 Squadron RAF
**
No. 281 Squadron RAF
**
No. 282 Squadron RAF
**
No. 283 Squadron RAF
**
No. 284 Squadron RAF
No. 284 Squadron was a Royal Air Force squadron that served during the Second World War in an air-sea rescue role, mostly in the Mediterranean region. Disbanded after the war, it was subsequently reformed in the 1950s.
History
No. 284 Squadron ...
**
No. 292 Squadron RAF
**
No. 293 Squadron RAF
**
No. 294 Squadron RAF
**
No. 353 Squadron RAF
**
No. 520 Squadron RAF
**
No. 525 Squadron RAF
**
No. 621 Squadron RAF
Civil operators
;
*
BOAC
Specifications (Warwick ASR Mk.I)
See also
References
Citiations
Bibliography
*
Airborne Lifeboats:Fully Provisioned Power Lifeboat Dropped to Ditched Air Crews. ''
Flight
Flight or flying is the motion (physics), motion of an Physical object, object through an atmosphere, or through the vacuum of Outer space, space, without contacting any planetary surface. This can be achieved by generating aerodynamic lift ass ...
'', 18 January 1945, pp. 62–64.
* Andrews, C.F and E.B. Morgan. ''Vickers Aircraft since 1908.'' London: Putnam, 1988. .
* Barfield, Norman. "Vickers-Armstrongs Warwick variants". ''Aircraft in Profile, Volume 11''. Windsor, Berkshire, UK: Profile Publications Ltd., 1972.
* Bartelski, Jan. ''Disasters In The Air''. London: Airlife, 2001. .
* Buttler, Tony. ''British Secret Projects: Fighters & Bombers 1935-1950''. Hinckley: Midland Publishing, 2004.
"Dropping an Airborne Lifeboat".''Flight'', 8 March 1945, p. 253.
* Green, William and Gordon Scarborough. ''WW2 Fact Files: RAF Bombers, Part 2''. London: Jane's Publishing Company Ltd., 1981. .
* Halley, James J. ''The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force''. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd, 1980. .
* Jones, Barry. "Database:Vickers Warwick". ''Aeroplane'', Vol. 38, No. 6, Issue No 446, June 2010. London: IPC. . pp. 63–78.
*
* March, Daniel J. (editor). ''British Warplanes of World War II''. London: Aerospace, 1998. .
* Mason, Francis K. ''The British Bomber since 1914''. London: Putnam, 1994. .
* Taylor, John W.R. "Vickers Warwick". ''Combat Aircraft of the World from 1909 to the Present''. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1969. .
* "Vickers 284 Warwick." ''Control Column'', Official Organ of the British Aircraft Preservation Council, Volume 11, No. 2, February/March 1977.
* "Vickers Warwick: The Good-Samaritan Bomber" Part One. ''
Air International
''AIR International'' is a British aviation magazine covering current defence aerospace and civil aviation topics. It has been in publication since 1971 and is currently published by Key Publishing Ltd.
History and profile
The magazine was fir ...
'', Vol. 34 No. 3, March 1988. pp. 134–140. .
* "Vickers Warwick: The Good-Samaritan Bomber" Part Two. ''Air International'', Vol. 34 No. 4, April 1988. pp. 202–208. .
{{Vickers aircraft
1930s British anti-submarine aircraft
1930s British military transport aircraft
1930s British patrol aircraft
Warwick
Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined wit ...
Aircraft first flown in 1939
Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft
Barnes Wallis
Aircraft with retractable conventional landing gear