Fly Past

VICKERS VIRGINIA 100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE

Left

The view, over the

shoulder of the front

gunner, from the

cockpit of a Virginia

X of Boscombe Down-

based 9 Squadron.

The bombers await

their turn to take part

in a Hendon display

in the early 1930s.

Aircraft ‘S-for-Sugar’

carries the name ‘King

Cerdic of Wessex’

on the rear gunner

position – he was the

fi rst Saxon monarch

of Wessex in the 6th

century. Several of 9

Squadron’s Virginias

were named after

Wessex kings.

Above

Auxiliary Air Force

Virginia X J

‘Isle of Sheppey’ of

500 Squadron. Built

originally as a Mk.V,

this machine served

500 at Manston from

January 1934 to

January 1936. KEC

Below left

Virginia X J8330 of

58 Squadron: it fl ew

with the Worthy Down-

based unit from mid-

1931 until at least the

start of 1934.

© ANDY HAY

http://www.fl yingart.co.uk

BOMBERS RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION 17

role of the PTS was split between

perfecting the still nascent ‘art’ of

parachuting, and teaching people to

throw themselves out of a perfectly

serviceable aircraft and trust in a

silken canopy.

Small wooden platforms were built

at the base of the outer rear strut of

the lower wing. A parachutist would

stand on this, strap himself to the

strut and hold on tight! After having

climbed to height, the airman would

release his ties and jump off the

trailing edge of the wing, well clear

framed Mk.X. The last Virginia
was delivered to the RAF from
Brooklands in November 1932.

WING WALKERS
Gunners in their lofty fighting tops
were not the only ‘wing walkers’
involved with Virginias. In
September 1925 the RAF
established the Parachute
Test Section (PTS later PT
Flight) at Henlow and before
long Virginias became the
unit’s main equipment. The

BOMBERSBOMBERSBOMBERSBOMBERSBOMBERS RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION

serviceable aircraft and trust in a

silken canopy.

Small wooden platforms were built

at the base of the outer rear strut of

the lower wing. A parachutist would

stand on this, strap himself to the

strut and hold on tight! After having

climbed to height, the airman would

release his ties and jump off the

trailing edge of the wing, well clear

WING WALKERS
Gunners in their lofty fighting tops
were not the only ‘wing walkers’
involved with Virginias. In
September 1925 the RAF
established the Parachute
Test Section (PTS later PT
Flight) at Henlow and before
long Virginias became the
unit’s main equipment. The

of the tail surfaces. (PTF continued

its work all the way through to

1950, using Handley Page Halifaxes

and Douglas Dakotas.)

On September 4, 1941 Virginia

X J7434 took off from Henlow on

another parachute testing sortie, a

job it had been carrying out since

December 1938. At the end of the

flight, the big biplane undershot on

approach, tore through telegraph

wires and came to an abrupt halt.

The venerable bomber was not

worth repairing. It was the last of its

kind and the anachronistic Virginia

slipped into extinction.

Type: Seven-crew heavy bomber

First fl ight: November 24, 1922, Mk.X entered service January 1928

Powerplant: Two 580hp (432kW) Napier Lion VB W-format 12 cylinder

Dimensions: Span 87ft 8in (26.71m), Length 62ft 3in (18.97m)

Weights: Empty 9,650lb (4,377kg), All-up 17,600lb (7,983kg)

Max speed: 108mph (173km/h) at 5,000ft (1,524m)

Range: 985 miles (1,585km)

Armament: One machine gun in nose position, two in tail position. Up to

3,000lb (1,360kg) of bombs in bomb bay and under the wing roots

Replaced: Vickers Vimy from 1924

Taken on charge: 124, many converted and updated during service

Replaced by: HP Heyford from 1934, AW Whitley from 1938

VICKERS VIRGINIA X

“The Virginia was destined to serve with frontline units until 1938,

by which time the lumbering biplane was manifestly obsolete.”