Vickers Vulcan

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Vickers Vulcan

Type	Airliner
Manufacturer	Vickers
Designed by	Rex Pierson
Maiden flight	May 1922
Introduced	August 1922
Retired	July 1928
Status	Retired
Primary users	Instone Airline Imperial Airways
Produced	1922–1925
Number built	8

This article is about a 1920's passenger aircraft. For the nuclear bomber, see Avro Vulcan

The Vickers Vulcan was a single engined biplane of the 1920s. It carried 8 passengers and a pilot.

[edit] Development

The Vickers Vulcan was designed by Rex Pierson of Vickers Limited, and it first flew in May 1922 at the hands of the chief test pilot, S. Cockerell, at the Brooklands Aerodrome in Surrey, UK.

The "Vulcan" was based on Vickers Vimy Commercial, but featured many changes, including a much larger fuselage and one, instead of two, Rolls Royce Eagle VIII engines. The shape of its fuselage, as well as its flying characteristics, earned it the nickname "Flying Pig". The first delivery took place in August 1922, to Instone Airline Ltd. Other operators included Imperial Airways and Qantas (however, the latter returned the aircraft as their performance was too poor for the company's needs). The last Vulcan flying was a Type 74 with Imperial Airways. It crashed in July 1928.

[edit] Variants

Type 61 - first production version
Type 63 - cargo version based on the Type 61
Type 74 - upgraded to Napier Lion engine

[edit] Users

G-EBBL; Type 61 - Prototype, first flew in May 1922, delivered to Instone Airline in August 1922 as "City of Antwerp", sold to Imperial Airways, scrapped at Croydon Airport in May 1924.
G-EBDH; Type 61 - Delivered to Instone Airline in August 1922, crashed at Oxted Airport, Surrey, in 1922.
G-EBEA; Type 61 - Delivered to Instone Airline in August 1922 as "City of Brussles", withdrawn from service in July 1923, fate unknown but probably scrapped.
G-EBEK; Type 63 - Delivered to Air Council of Martlesham in November 1922, converted to Type 61 in 1925, scrapped in 1926.
G-EBEM; Type 61 - Delivered to Douglas Vickers MP in September 1922, competed in King's Cup Air Race in September 1922, taking 7th place, disappeared in May 1926.
G-EBES; Type 61 - Intended for Qantas, scrapped before completion.
G-EBET; Type 61 - Delivered to Qantas in November 1922, returned, fate unknown but probably scrapped.
G-EBFC; Type 74 - Delivered to Douglas Vickers MP January 1923, competed in King's Cup Air Race in 1923 (retired from the race), sold to Imperial Airways in January 1925, withdrawn from service in December 1925 and scrapped at Croydon in 1927.
G-EBLB; Type 74 - Delivered to Imperial Airways in May 1925, crashed at Purley July 1928.