The Vickers Type 161 was an unusual 1930s pusher

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 ...

interceptor, designed to attack aircraft from below with a single upward-angle large calibre gun. The aircraft flew well but the concept was abandoned and only one was built.

Development

The Vickers 161 was designed in response to Air Ministry specification F.29/27. This called for an interceptor fighter operating as a stable gun platform for the COW 37 mm gun produced by the

Coventry Ordnance Works Coventry Ordnance Works was a British manufacturer of heavy guns particularly naval artillery jointly owned by Cammell Laird & Co of Sheffield and Birkenhead, Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Govan, Glasgow and John Brown & Compa ...

(COW) that fired 23 oz (0.65 kg) shells. The gun was to be mounted at 45 degrees or more above the horizontal, so that the aircraft could fly below the target bomber or airship, and fire upwards into it. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

used a rather similar approach, named ''

Schräge Musik ''Schräge Musik'', which may also be spelled ''Schraege Musik'', was a common name for the fitting of an upward-firing autocannon or machine gun, to an interceptor aircraft, interceptor aircraft, such as a night fighter. The term was introduce ...

''. The specification also called for a top speed well in excess of a typical bomber's cruising speed and a good rate of climb. Vickers' approach seems to have been influenced by their

World War I 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 ...

experience with the Gunbus family. Like them, the Type 161 was a single-engined pusher biplane. The wings were of unequal span and parallel chord, mounted with heavy stagger and a large gap braced in two-bay fashion by streamlined I form, outward leaning interplane struts. Parallel booms, formed on each side by a pair of tubular members, converged from the top and bottom of the inner interplane struts onto the tail. Another pair of tubes joined the bottom of the interplane struts to the upper boom at midpoint. The

tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabiliser, is a small lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplane ...

had a wide span, extending past the booms; the fin and rudder were conventional and stiffened with lighter bracing to mid-boom. Flying surfaces were fabric covered. Vickers 161 side view

The pilot and gun were housed in a metal monocoque nacelle mounted to the underside of the upper wing, leaving a gap below. The pilot's cockpit was offset to port with the gun to his right, its breech accessible. The

Bristol Jupiter VIIF The Bristol Jupiter was a British nine-cylinder single-row piston radial engine built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. Originally designed late in World War I and known as the Cosmos Jupiter, a lengthy series of upgrades and developments turn ...

was installed with its cylinders in line with the rear edge of the upper wing, supported by two pairs of struts to the lower wing spars and driving a four-blade propeller. This had an unusual ring fairing that rotated with it and matched the engine cowling in diameter. Aft, and without a break, a fuselage-like fairing ran rearwards, narrowing to the tail. This structure was stabilized on each side by a pair of struts to the upper and lower booms. A split-axle undercarriage had legs to the fuselage and, rearwards, to the forward wing spar, with a strut between their upper joints. The Type 161 flew for the first time on 21 January 1931. Further flight trials produced some modifications, largely to improve yaw stability. The rudder was broadened and rounded at the top, and small fins were added above and below the tailplane at the boom mounting point. There were also alterations to the geometry and gearing of the elevator trim tabs: it has been suggested that the Type 161 may have been the first aircraft to have had inflight adjustable elevator trims. In September 1931 it went to

RAF Martlesham Heath Royal Air Force Martlesham Heath or more simply RAF Martlesham Heath is a former Royal Air Force station located southwest of Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. It was active between 1917 and 1963, and played an important role in the development of ...

for trials, where no serious problems emerged and pilot's reports were positive. The gun-firing tests went well, with no detriment to airframe or performance. Despite that, neither the Type 161 or its competitor the

Westland C.O.W. Gun Fighter The Westland C.O.W. Gun Fighter was an attempt to produce a fighter aircraft armed with a heavy calibre gun. The Coventry Ordnance Works (COW) 37 mm automatic gun was used, which had been developed for this purpose some years earlier. Design a ...

were ordered and no more was heard of the aerial COW gun.

Specifications

Footnotes

References

* {{Vickers aircraft Type 161 1930s British fighter aircraft Biplanes Sesquiplanes Aircraft first flown in 1931

Development

Specifications

See also

Footnotes

References