8 RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION PATROLLERS AND AIRLIFTERS
1918 2018landing gear complete with wheel
brakes and a tailwheel in place of
a skid.
The new type entered RAF service
with 70 Squadron at Hinaidi, Iraq
in 1934 and by the following year
it had replaced the Victoria fleet in
India, Persia and Iraq.
Like their predecessors, the
Valentias were primarily used for
transport operations in the Middle
East but could be armed with under-
wing bomb racks when required.
The aircraft could also be fitted with
a makeshift mid-upper gunner’s
position; this based on a field-
modification first employed during
the 1936 Abyssinian crisis.Type: Three-crew transport aircraft
First fl ight: 1921, entered service 1922
Powerplant: Two 450hp (336kW) Napier Lion piston engines
Dimensions: Span 68ft 1in (20.76m), length 42ft 8in (13.01m)
Weights: Empty 7,981lb (3,628kg), all-up 12,554lb (5,706kg)
Max speed: 100mph (161km/h) at 5,000ft (1,524m)
Range: 320 miles (515km)
Capacity: 11 passengers
Replaced: N /A
Taken on charge: 55
Replaced by: Vickers VictoriaVICKERS VERNON
V airframes in 1927, the type’s
predominantly wooden airframe had
gained large sections of metalwork,
deemed more suitable for operations
in hot and humid areas. Later
versions also disposed of the aged
Lion engines in favour of more
modern Bristol Pegasus radials.
Deliveries of Victoria IIIs began
in February 1926 and the type
eventually replaced both the Vernons
and Vimys operated by 70 Squadron
in Iraq and 216 Squadron in Egypt.
Throughout the latter half of the
decade the aircraft flew extensively in
trouble-spots as far afield as Palestine,
Jordan and Cyprus. Oer the severe
winter of 1928-29, Victorias from 70
Squadron played a vital role in the
Kabul Airlift, evacuating diplomatic
staff and their dependents together
with members of the Afghan royal
family endangered by civil war.VICKERS VALENTIA
In total 97 Victorias were delivered
to the RAF and the type soldiered
on in service until 1935, when
it was replaced by the Vickers
Valentia. However, in reality 54
of the 82 Valentias received by the
RAF were actually refurbished and
modified Victorias.
The Valentia was based upon
the Pegasus-powered Victoria VI
but benefited from a strengthened
airframe, featuring a stronger wing
and strut- (rather than wire-) bracedD
espite their lumbering
appearance and matching
performance, Vickers’
transport aircraft formed a
metaphorical vertebra in the
backbone of RAF airlift capabilities
throughout much of the 1920s
and 30s.
The Vickers Vernon was the RAF’s
first dedicated troop transport
aircraft. It developed from the firm’s
Vimy Commercial passenger aircraft
(itself a derivative of the Vimy
bomber) and the first of 55 examples
entered service in 1922.
Power came from a pair of Napier
Lion or Rolls-Royce Eagle engines,
giving a cruise speed of just 75mph
(121km/h) and a range of 320
miles (515km).
Vernons entered service in 1921
and served with RAF forces in India,
Cyprus and Iraq. The type was the
mainstay of the celebrated Cairo
to Baghdad air mail service in the
1920s, but the type’s greatest hour
came in 1923 when aircraft from 45
and 70 Squadrons airlifted nearly
500 troops to Kirkuk, Iraq after the
town had been overrun by Kurdish
forces. This is believed to have been
the first-ever strategic airlift
of troops.
At the time the Vernon was
operated purely in the transport
role, but from 1924, aircraft with 45
Squadron were equipped with bomb
racks and sighting devices.VICKERS VICTORIA
In 1927 the Vernons were replaced
by Vickers Victorias, which
combined a fuselage that resembled
that of the Vernon with the updated
and swept-back wings from the
Vickers Virginia bomber. It was
also powered by two Napier Lion
engines, but the enclosed cabin
now had room for 24 troops on
collapsible canvas seats.
The prototype Victoria flew on
September 22, 1922, but with no
urgency to replace the Vernon it
would be 1925 before a production
order for 15 airframes was placed.
By the time a follow-up request
was placed for Victoria IV andBelow right
Vickers Vernon air
ambulance J7143 over
Hinaidi, Iraq, circa- ALL KEY
VERNON, VICTORIA & VALENTIA, VICTOR
VICKERS
1922 TO 1944