VICKERS VERNON, VICTORIA & VALENTIA 100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE
PATROLLERS AND AIRLIFTERS RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION 9Left
Rolls-Royce Eagle-
powered Vernon
JR-6904 was fl own
operationally by 70
Squadron throughout
the Middle East. ANDY
HAY/WWW.FLYINGART.CO.UKBelow
The RAF’s 216
Squadron operated
Vickers Valentia K
in 1941. Compared
to earlier designs,
the type had a fully
castering tailwheel in
place of a landing skid.At the outbreak of World War
Two, the RAF still had 60 Valentias
on strength and they were used for
night bombing operations over the
Western Desert in 1940. In India
the aircraft was also used as an aerial
propaganda machine with four loud-
speakers fitted to broadcast messages
to dissident forces.
The type was replaced as a
transport in RAF service by the
Bristol Bombay but, despite its
outmoded appearance and limited
performance of 120mph (193km/h),
the last Valentia (K3600) was
not retired by the Iraq and Persia
Communications Flight until
July 1944.VERNON, VICTORIA & VALENTIAORIA & VALENTIA
propaganda machine with four loud-performance of 120mph (193km/h),“...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.”
Left
Vickers Victoria
III J7824 from 70
Squadron high
over Iraq.