The Vickers Vulcan was a British single-engine biplane airliner of the 1920s built by

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 ...

at Brooklands Aerodrome, Surrey. It carried eight passengers and a pilot.

Development

The Vickers Vulcan was designed by Rex Pierson of Vickers. It first flew in April

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éireann, the day after Éamon de Valera ...

at the hands of chief test pilot, S. Cockerell, at Brooklands Aerodrome in Surrey, UK. The Vulcan was based on a civil version of the

Vimy Vimy ( or ; ; Dutch: ''Wimi'') is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Located east of Vimy is the Canadian National Vimy Memorial dedicated to the Battle of Vimy Ridge and the Canadian soldiers ...

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped from an air ...

, but featured many changes, including a much larger, taller

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 ...

and one, instead of two,

Rolls-Royce Eagle The Rolls-Royce Eagle was the first aircraft engine to be developed by Rolls-Royce Limited. Introduced in 1915 to meet British military requirements during World War I, it was used to power the Handley Page Type O bombers and a number of oth ...

VIII engines, the intention being low operating costs. The shape of its fuselage, as well as its flying characteristics, earned it the nickname "Flying Pig". The first delivery took place in August 1922, to Instone Air Line Ltd. Other operators included

Imperial Airways Imperial Airways was the 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 ...

and

Qantas Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founde ...

(however, the latter returned the aircraft as their performance was too poor for the company's needs). The last Vulcan flying was a Type 74 with Imperial Airways. It crashed in July 1928 while on a test flight from Croydon Airport.

Variants

* Type 61 - first production version, five built. * Type 63 - cargo version based on the Type 61, one built * Type 68 - proposed colonial variant with an Eagle VIII engine, not built. * Type 74 - upgraded to 450 hp

Napier Lion The Napier Lion is a 12-cylinder, petrol-fueled 'broad arrow' 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 it in prod ...

engine, two built * Type 86 - proposed all-metal variant with an Eagle VIII engine, not built.

Operators

; *

* Instone Air Line

Accidents and incidents

* G-EBEM (Type 61) Disappeared off the coast of Italy in May 1926. * G-EBLB (Type 74)

crashed "Crashed" is the third U.S. rock Single (music), single, (the fifth overall), from the band Daughtry (band), Daughtry's debut album. It was released only to U.S. rock stations on September 5, 2007. Upon its release the song got adds at those stat ...

during a test flight from Croydon Airport at Purley July 1928.

Specifications (Vulcan Type 74)

Vickers_Vulcan_2-view_L'Aéronautique_March,1922

References

Sources

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

External links

The Vickers "Vulcan" Eight-passenger Commercial Biplane
''Flight'' 4 May 1922 p253-258 {{Vickers aircraft 1920s British airliners

Vulcan Vulcan may refer to: Mythology * Vulcan (mythology), the god of fire, volcanoes, metalworking, and the forge in Roman mythology Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * Vulcan (''Star Trek''), name of a fictional race and their home p ...

Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1922