Vickers aircraft: books - history, types and construction

Vickers 1911-77

NEW

It seems incredible that a mere 33 years separates the maiden flights of the Barnes Wallis-designed R.100 airship from the beautiful VC10 airliner. Although the VC10 was prefixed with BAC by the time of its entry into service, the aircraft represents the rapid rise of Vickers, which actually embarked on its first aeronautical project in 1908, before establishing an official aviation department in 1911.
Vickers produced over 70 different types of aircraft during a 49-year period, not including a host of sub-variants, the Wellington, for example, having 19 alone. Not all were successful, but every one contributed, however small, another nugget of experience, which was either ploughed into the next aircraft or stored away for the future.

An ability to 'think outside the box', was another of Vickers' fortes. A good example of this was not only employing Barnes Wallis, but having such faith in his ideas, which must have seemed quite radical at the time, especially his perseverance and ultimate success with geodetic construction.
Wallis had no shortage of critics and many 'dyed in the wool' employees of Vickers, during the early days, left the company because of his ideas. However, history has shown us that he was right about geodetics.
This book gives readers an insight into the aircraft produced by Vickers, as well as a history of the aircraft company itself.

The Vimy Expeditions

During World War I, Vickers Ltd., one of the world's largest armament manufacturers, fulfilled orders for an open- cockpit three-seater bi-plane from the company's Brooklands factory. Flying for the first time in 1917, the F.B.27, or Vickers Vimy, met the British Air Board's need for a heavy multi-engine bomber. Following the Armistice of 1918, only 235 Vimys were built, with the first examples flying to Egypt to be used as bombers and transports.
Relegated to peacetime use, Vimys converted for commercial operations achieved a non-stop flight from Canada to Ireland in 1919, piloted by John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown, closely followed by Australians Ross and Keith Smith flying from England to Adelaide. Pierre van Ryneveld and Christopher Quintin Brand later competed with a Vimy in the 1920 Daily Mail Race for the Cape, an event they were unable to complete in their original aircraft.

Reliving the adventures of these aviation pioneers, a team of risk-takers re-creates their journeys to Australia, South Africa and across the Atlantic in the Vimy's open cockpit. The specially built Vimy suffered engine failure over Sumatra and dodged wildlife and potholes in northern Kenya. Her adventurous crew, wilted in soaring Saharan temperatures, and nearly froze over the Atlantic.

Peter McMillan's book records all three voyages, reliving the thrills, hazards, and successes of those pioneering moments. Interwoven with stories of the early 20th century expeditions and backed by stunning photography, The Vimy Expeditions provides a glorious tribute to that mammoth bi-plane from a bygone era.

The Vickers Viscount : The World's First Turboprop Airliner

By some margin the most successful British medium-range airliner ever produced, the world-beating Viscount was a sublime combination of Vickers' state-of-the-art postwar design and Rolls-Royce's cutting-edge power-plant technology.

The Dart turboprop-powered Vickers V.630, made its first flight in July 1948, despite its future looking uncertain after British European Airways having twenty examples ordered of its chief rival, Airspeed's Ambassador, six months before.
The Viscount nevertheless entered full service with BEA in 1953, much to the relief of its manufacturer, orders flooding in thereafter from numerous airlines - and air forces - all over the world.
Ultimately, some 200 individual airlines, companies and organizations in more than eighty countries operated the dependable and, crucially, development-friendly Viscount over its long and distinguished career.

This book tells the full story of the world's first turboprop airliner, from its Brabazon Committee beginnings, through its early flight trials program and entry into service, to its almost unassailable position as the world's number one medium-haul turboprop, including its astonishing breakthrough in the USA, where it single-handedly broke the big American manufacturers' stranglehold on the airliner market.

The type's military career is also covered, as is its construction; also included in this volume are details of the numerous variants produced and those of the 444 built still surviving as exhibits today, along with twenty-four superb artworks by world-renowned aviation illustrator Juanita Franzi.