The Vickers Type 143 or Bolivian Scout was a British single-seat fighter biplane designed and 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 ...

in 1929-1930. Six were built for Bolivia in 1930, which used the survivors in the

Chaco War The Chaco War ( es, link=no, Guerra del Chaco, gn, Cháko ÑorairõParaguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

Design and development

Early in 1929, Bolivia, which was engaged in border disputes with

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

over the

Gran Chaco The Gran Chaco or Dry Chaco is a sparsely populated, hot and semiarid lowland natural region of the Río de la Plata basin, divided among eastern Bolivia, western Paraguay, northern Argentina, and a portion of the Brazilian states of Mato ...

region, and was trying to build up its air force,Andrews and Morgan 1988, p. 235. placed an order with

for six fighter aircraft, the Vickers Type 143. The Type 143, or Bolivian Scout, was a development of the earlier Vickers Type 141 fighter, with the Type 141's

Rolls-Royce Kestrel The Kestrel or type F is a 21 litre (1,300 in³) 700 horsepower (520 kW) class V-12 aircraft engine from Rolls-Royce, their first cast-block engine and the pattern for most of their future piston-engine designs. Used during the interwar ...

engine replaced by a Bristol Jupiter VIA, already powering other aircraft used by the Bolivian Air Force, and a stronger undercarriage to cope with the rough airfield surfaces in Bolivia. It was an all-metal, single-seat, biplane aircraft, with single-bay wings. The Type 143 first flew on 11 June 1929, and successfully met all performance criteria.Mason 1992, p. 223. One of the six aircraft was evaluated by the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A & AEE) at

Martlesham Heath Martlesham Heath village is situated 6 miles (10 km) east of Ipswich, in Suffolk, England. This was an ancient area of heathland and latterly the site of Martlesham Heath Airfield. A "new village" was established there in the mid-1970s and t ...

before delivery to Bolivia. Vickers 177

A seventh aircraft, the Vickers Type 177 was built as a private venture to meet the requirements of

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, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

Specification N.21/26 for a naval fighter, being fitted with a Jupiter XF engine and steerable wheel braking to aid on-deck manoeuvering. The Type 177 first flew on 26 November 1929,Andrews and Morgan 1988, p. 237. and while it was shown to have a maximum speed of 190 mph (310 km/h),Mason 1992, p. 225 the

Hawker Nimrod The Hawker Nimrod is a British carrier-based single-engine, single-seat biplane fighter aircraft built in the early 1930s by Hawker Aircraft. Design and development In 1926 the Air Ministry specification N.21/26 was intended to produce a suc ...

, not designed against this specification, was chosen instead to meet the

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...

's requirement for a fighter.

Operational history

Delivery of the six Type 143s to Bolivia began in January 1930.Green and Swanborough 1994 While the type proved popular in Bolivian service, three of the six had been written off by the time the border disputes between Bolivia and Paraguay escalated into the

Chaco War The Chaco War ( es, link=no, Guerra del Chaco, gn, Cháko ÑorairõCurtiss Hawk Curtiss Hawk was a name common to many aircraft designed and produced by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company, most of them fighters: Curtiss Model 34 & Hawk I ;Model 34 : XPW-8B experimental fighter. ;Model 34A : P-1 Hawk single-seat fighter. ...

s, damaging at least one Paraguayan

Wibault 73 The Wibault 7 was a 1920s French monoplane fighter designed and built by '' Société des Avions Michel Wibault''. Variants were operated by the French and Polish military and built under licence for Chile as the Vickers Wibault. Development ...

in air-to-air combat.Green and Swanborough 1994, p. 580.

Variants

;Vickers Type 143: Six aircraft for Bolivia, powered by 450 hp (340 kW) Bristol Jupiter VIA engine. ;Vickers Type 177: One prototype Naval Fighter, evaluated for Fleet Air Arm, powered by 540 hp (400 kW) Bristol Jupiter XFS engine. No production.

Operators

; *

Bolivian Air Force The Bolivian Air Force ( es, Fuerza Aérea Boliviana or 'FAB') is the air force of Bolivia and branch of the Bolivian Armed Forces. History By 1938 the Bolivian air force consisted of about 60 aircraft (Curtiss Hawk fighters, Curtiss T-32 Co ...

received six aircraft. ; *

tested one prototype.

Specifications (Type 143)

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Andrews, E.N. and E.B. Morgan. ''Vickers Aircraft Since 1908, Second edition''. London: Putnam, 1988. . * Green, W. and Gordon Swanborough. ''The Complete Book of Fighters''. New York: Smithmark, 1994. . * Mason, Francis K. ''The British Fighter since 1912''. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1992. .

External links

The Gran Chaco War: Fighting for Mirages in the Foothills of the Andes
{{Vickers aircraft 1920s British fighter aircraft Type 143 Transport in Bolivia Aircraft first flown in 1929 Biplanes