16 RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION BOMBERS
1918 2018VICKERS
1924 TO 1941
VICKERS VIRGINIA
W
hen 7 Squadron took
delivery of it first Virginia
III at Bircham Newton in
June 1924, the Vimy’s reign as the
RAF’s bomber of choice began to
wane. Vickers essentially had come
up with a ‘Super Vimy’, although
it represented only a fractional
improvement over its predecessor.
In the 1920s new types for the
RAF were expected to serve for
five or so years, a decade at most.
The Virginia was destined to serve
with frontline units until 1938, by
which time the lumbering biplane
was manifestly obsolete. There were
ten major versions and by the time
the Mk.X appeared in 1928 all it
had in common with the prototype
was its format. Almost everything
had changed: the wing shape, the
length, the gun positions and the
construction system. The Virginia
started as wooden aeroplane; it
ended with a metal airframe.
The prototype Virginia, J6856,
gave incredible service from its first
flight at Brooklands in November
1922, until February 1937 with 215
Squadron at Driffield. Its longevity,
and almost constant state of change,
is typical of the RAF’s Virginias.
Built as a Mk.I in ‘silver’ dope
colour scheme, it morphed into a
Mk.III in late 1924, a Mk.VIII in
1925 and reverted to a Mk.VII in
1926 by which time it was in dark
green ‘night’ camouflage. In 1928
J6856 was transformed into an
all-metal Mk.X: 11ft 8in (3.55m)
longer, 407lb (184kg) heavier and
11mph (17.7km/h) faster than it
had been six years before.
During its life, J6856 had three
different engine ‘fits’. It started with
Napier Lion Is of 468hp (349kw), a
brief spell with 650hp Rolls-Royce
Condor IIIs and finally 500hp
Lion Vs.
The Virginia prototype served
with four front line units, in turn
9, 7, 10 and 215 Squadrons. It
was also detached for test and
trials at Martlesham Heath on fiveTop right
The Virginia prototype
in the guise of a
Mk.VII serving with 9
Squadron from Manston
in 1927. The trailing
edge ‘fi ghting tops’
have gunners in place
and another crew
member is at the upper
wing hatch. KECVIRGINIAVIRGINIA
different occasions and with the
Royal Aircraft Establishment at
Farnborough in mid-1930.
Throughout its evolution J
was sent back to Vickers for engine
changes, upgrades, refurbishment
etc in 12 separate sessions, some
lasting a couple of weeks and one for
13 months. During its 171-month
flying career, J6856 spent 50-plus
months being reworked.FIGHTING TOPS
The most visually dramatic
modification to J6856 was
undertaken in mid-1925. Its
fuselage was ‘stretched’ by 6ft
(1.83m) and it was fitted with a
pair of so-called ‘fighting tops’ as an
interim Mk.VIII.
While little could be done to
increase the speed of the Virginia
its defences needed improving – it
was vulnerable to rearward attack.
The solution was gun positions
in streamlined fairings on thetrailing edge of the upper wings.
From these fighting tops, the
gunners had an uncluttered field
of fire.
The gunners reached these
precarious-looking compartments
by climbing out of the fuselage,
through the centre section to emerge
out of a hatch onto the top wing.
From there they made their way,
via grab rails to their ‘offices’ – all
while being battered by a 100mph
(160km/h) slipstream.
A more practical answer was
achieved with the Mk.IX which
featured a gun position in the
extreme tail. This was retained
in the final version, the metal-