The Vickers R.E.P. Type Monoplanes were a series of single-engined

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

aircraft built by

Vickers 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 i ...

prior to the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. They were developed from a French design for which Vickers had purchased a license, with eight being built.

Design and development

On 1 January 1911''Flight'' 15 April 1911, p.336. Vickers, Sons and Maxim (which would be renamed

Vickers Limited Vickers Limited was a British engineering conglomerate. The business began in Sheffield in 1828 as a steel foundry and became known for its church bells, going on to make shafts and propellers for ships, armour plate and then artillery. Entir ...

later that year), entered into a license agreement to build aircraft and aero-engines designed by the Frenchman

Robert Esnault-Pelterie Robert Albert Charles Esnault-Pelterie (8 November 1881 – 6 December 1957) was a French aircraft designer and spaceflight theorist. He is referred to as being one of the founders of modern rocketry and astronautics, along with the Russian Kons ...

(hence R.E.P.), and sell them in Britain and its

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

.Andrews and Morgan 1988, p. 1. Following the agreement, Vickers purchased a French-built R.E.P. monoplane for use as a demonstrator together with an R.E.P.-built rear

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraf ...

.Andrews and Morgan 1988, p. 2. The design was redrawn from

metric Metric or metrical may refer to: * Metric system, an internationally adopted decimal system of measurement * An adjective indicating relation to measurement in general, or a noun describing a specific type of measurement Mathematics In mathem ...

to imperial measurements by Vickers, while the first example was built at the Vickers factory at Erith,

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

(now part of Greater London), using the French-built rear fuselage and a French-built engine, but was otherwise the rest of the components were Vickers-built. It made its maiden flight from Vickers' new airfield at Joyce Green, near Dartford in July 1911, piloted by Captain Herbert F. Wood, the manager of Vickers' aviation department.Andrews and Morgan 1988, p. 35. WingStructure

The aircraft was a

shoulder-wing A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

, with a deep but narrow fuselage of fabric-covered steel-tube construction, accommodating two people in

tandem Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. The original use of the term in English was in ''tandem harness'', which is used for two ...

. A single five-

cylinder A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infin ...

air-cooled Air-cooled engines rely on the circulation of air directly over heat dissipation fins or hot areas of the engine to cool them in order to keep the engine within operating temperatures. In all combustion engines, a great percentage of the heat ge ...

R.E.P. "fan" (or "semi-radial") engine rated at 60

horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are t ...

(45 kW) driving a two-bladed propeller was fitted in the aircraft's nose, while the aircraft had a

conventional landing gear Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...

, with both wheels and skids. The wings were of wood and steel construction, with lateral control by

wing-warping Wing warping was an early system for lateral (roll) control of a fixed-wing aircraft. The technique, used and patented by the Wright brothers, consisted of a system of pulleys and cables to twist the trailing edges of the wings in opposite direc ...

, with the pilot operating a joystick.''Flight'' 26 August 1911, pp. 734–736.Andrews and Morgan 1988, p.36. The first five monoplanes were basically similar, and were powered by R.E.P engines, with the fifth one having a deeper fuselage. The sixth aircraft, built for the 1912 British Military Aeroplane Competition was noticeably different, with side-by-side seating for its two crew, a shorter

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan o ...

(35 ft (10.67 m) rather than 47 ft 6 in (14.5 m) for the earlier aircraft), while a 70 hp (52 kW) Viale

radial engine The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. It resembles a stylized star when viewed from the front, and is ...

was fitted.Andrews and Morgan 1988, pp. 36–37.''Flight'' 24 August 1912, pp. 774–775. The seventh aircraft reverted to the tandem layout and longer wingspan of the first five aircraft, but replaced the R.E.P. engine with a 100 hp (75 kW) Gnome

rotary engine The rotary engine is an early type of internal combustion engine, usually designed with an odd number of cylinders per row in a radial configuration. The engine's crankshaft remained stationary in operation, while the entire crankcase and its ...

, while the eighth, and final example, was similar to the sixth aircraft, with a 70–80 hp Gnome rotary.Andrews and Morgan 1988, pp. 38–39.''Flight'' 22 February 1913, pp. 223–224.

Operational history

Great Britain

The major role for the other aircraft was as trainers at the Vickers Flying School established at

Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfie ...

, Surrey in 1912. In this role they proved underpowered, and were difficult to fly as they lacked inherent stability.Andrews and Morgan 1988, pp. 34–35.

Antarctica

The second monoplane was sold to the Australian explorer

Douglas Mawson Sir Douglas Mawson OBE FRS FAA (5 May 1882 – 14 October 1958) was an Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer, and academic. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Sir Ernest Shackleton, he was a key expedition leader duri ...

for the

Australasian Antarctic Expedition The Australasian Antarctic Expedition was a 1911–1914 expedition headed by Douglas Mawson that explored the largely uncharted Antarctic coast due south of Australia. Mawson had been inspired to lead his own venture by his experiences on Ernest ...

of 1911. It was badly damaged in a crash landing at

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

in October 1911, however, so it was taken to

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

without its wings to use as a tractor for

sled A sled, skid, sledge, or sleigh is a land vehicle that slides across a surface, usually of ice or snow. It is built with either a smooth underside or a separate body supported by two or more smooth, relatively narrow, longitudinal runners ...

ges. It proved unsuccessful in this role as the low temperatures caused lubricating oil to solidify and the engine to seize. The airframe was abandoned at the

Cape Denison Cape Denison is a rocky point at the head of Commonwealth Bay in George V Land, Antarctica. It was discovered in 1912 by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911–14) under Douglas Mawson, who named it for Sir Hugh Denison of Sydney, a pa ...

base of the expedition, with parts of the aircraft being discovered in 2010.''Flight'' 29 July 1911, p. 663.Andrews and Morgan 1988, pp. 35–36.Smith, Tanalee
"Remains of Early 1900s Plane Found in Antarctica"
''USNews.com'', 4 January 2010. Retrieved 17 November 2010.

Specifications (Nos. 1 to 3)

Notes

References

* Andrews, C.F. and E.B. Morgan. ''Vickers Aircraft since 1908''. London:Putnam, 1988. .

. ''

Flight Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be a ...

'', 15 April 1911, p. 336.
"British Notes of the Week: The South Pole Monoplane"
''Flight'', 29 July 1911, p. 663. * Bruce, J.M. ''The Aeroplanes of the Royal Flying Corps (Military Wing)''. London:Putnam, 1982. .

''Flight'', 22 February 1913, pp. 210–230.

''Flight'', 26 August 1911, pp. 734–736.

''Flight'', 24 August 1912, pp. 774–775. {{Vickers aircraft 1910s British civil trainer aircraft R.E.P. Monoplane Aircraft first flown in 1911