12 RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION BOMBERS

1918 2018

VICKERS

1919 TO 1933

VICKERS VIMY

A

long with the Handley Page

O/400 and the de Havilland

Amiens, the Vickers Vimy

was designed as a bomber capable

of striking at the cities of Imperial

Germany. These aircraft were

generically called ‘Berlin Bombers’

in the British press. The prototype

Vimy first flew at Brooklands on

November 30, 1917 and several

engine alternatives were tried before

the Rolls-Royce Eagle was chosen

for the definitive Mk.IV.

Orders for 1,500 were placed,

but events overtook the bomber.

A single example was delivered to

France in late October 1918, but

it was not used in anger. With the

Armistice, contracts were torn up

and only about 200 Vimys were

accepted for service. In 1919 Vickers

was commissioned to build another

30 Mk.IVs and refurbish earlier

examples.

The Vimy became world famous

when John Alcock and Arthur

Whitten Brown flew a Vickers-

owned, specially modified, example

non-stop across the Atlantic over

June 14-15, 1919. The epic flight

covered 1,890 miles (3,041km) in

15hrs 57mins at an average speed

of 118.5mph (190km/h) from St

John’s, Newfoundland, to Clifden,

Ireland. On December 15, 1919 the

transatlantic Vimy was handed over

to the Science Museum in London,

where it still takes pride of place.

The first operational RAF unit to

adopt the Vimy was 58 Squadron

at Heliopolis, Egypt, in July 1919,

replacing a handful of O/400s. This

unit was re-numbered as 70 Squadron

and it decamped, along with its

Vimys, to Iraq in February 1920.

In Egypt, 216 Squadron took

delivery of Vimy IVs in June 1922,

replacing its ageing DH Amiens.

The unit was engaged in the Cairo to

Baghdad mail run and Vimys served

in this role until January 1926.

‘STRATEGIC’ THOUGHTS

The Versailles Treaty of 1919 and in

the following year the creation of a

forum to resolve international crises,

the League of Nations, gave hope

that a new world order had been

established. This and Britain’s poor

financial circumstances allowed the

RAF of the 1920s to concentrate

its assets on colonial matters, in the

Middle East and in India where

‘aerial policing’ became the norm.

The RAF’s Independent Air Force

had shown a flash of potential in

the final months of the Great War.

The notion of ‘strategic’ bombers

was still in its infancy and, especially

for Britain, the task of deterrence

remained firmly vested in the

Royal Navy.

By January 1920 the small force

of O/400 and V/1500 ‘heavies’

had been withdrawn and the RAF’s

home-based long-range striking

force was reduced to just ‘D’ Flight

of 100 Squadron at Spitalgate,

which flew Vimys alongside the rest

of the unit’s DH.9As.

It was June 1923 before there was

a dedicated Vimy unit, 7 Squadron

at Bircham Newton. It was

quickly followed by 9 Squadron at

Top right

First fl own at

Brooklands in 1919,

Vimy F9157 joined 6

Flying Training School

at Manston in 1921.

It was destroyed in a

take-off accident at

the Kent airfi eld on

October 3, 1921.

© ANDY HAY http://www.

fl yingart.co.uk

Right

Vimy F9159 at Cranwell

in 1922: it served

with the resident RAF

(Cadet) College until

1923. Six years later
      this institution was
      renamed, becoming the
      famous RAF College.
      KEC

VIMYVIMY