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Vickers Viking
The Vickers Viking was a British single-engine amphibious aircraft designed for military use shortly after the First World War.
Design and development
Research on Vickers' second amphibious aircraft type began in December 1918 with tests of alternative fuselage/hull designs occurring in an experimental tank at St Albans in Hertfordshire, England. A prototype, registered G-EAOV, was a five-seat cabin biplane with a pusher propeller driven by a Rolls-Royce motor. Sir John Alcock died taking this aircraft or another early example to the Paris exhibition on 18 December 1919, whilst trying to land at Cote d'Everard, near Rouen, Normandy in foggy weather.
The next example, G-EASC, known as the Viking II, had a greater wing span and a 360 hp Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII motor. The Viking III machine, piloted by Captain Cockerell, won first prize in the amphibian class in Air Ministry competitions held in September and October, 1920.
The Type 54 Viking IV incorporated further refinements and had a wider cabin above a hull one foot wider, an example being G-EBBZ in which Ross Smith and J.M. Bennett (partners in the 1919 England to Australia flight) died on 13 April 1922 just outside the Brooklands racetrack near Weybridge in Surrey. Most of these Mark IV Vikings had a Napier Lion engine.
The next version was the Viking V, two were built for the RAF for service in Iraq.
The last Viking amphibians were built during 1923, but the name was re-used for the twin-engine VC.1 Viking airliner some 22 years later, which saw service as the Valetta with the RAF and other air arms. Some Viking amphibians were built by Canadian Vickers Limited, a subsidiary company in Montreal with no previous plane making experience.
A further development with a redesigned wing structure using the 450 hp (340 kW) Napier Lion would have been the Viking VI (Vickers designation Type 78) but known as the Vulture I. A second with a Rolls-Royce Eagle IX (360 hp, 270 kW) was the Type 95 Vulture II. Both Vultures were used for an unsuccessful around the world attempt in 1924 after the Eagle engine of the Vulture II was replaced with a Lion. With registration G-EBHO, the first set off from Calshot Seaplane Base on 25 March 1924, the other was shipped as a spare machine to Tokyo. After mechanical difficulties in earlier staged G-EBHO crashed at Akyab where it was replaced by G-EBGO on 25 June. Encountering heavy fog on the Siberian side of the Bering Sea G-ENGO crashed. Vickers salvaged a large proportion.
The Viking Mark VII ("Type 83" in Vickers numbering) was a development of the Vulture, a three-seat open-cockpit fleet spotter to Air Ministry specification 46/22 given the service name Vanellus when taken on for evaluation by the RAF against the Supermarine Seagull design.
Operators
Specifications (Viking IV)
General characteristics
- Crew: One: pilot
- Capacity: 2 passengers
- Length: 34 ft 0 in (10.36 m)
- Wingspan: 50 ft 0 in (15.24 m)
- Height: 15 ft 1 in (4.60 m)
- Wing area: 594 ft² (55.2 m²)
- Empty weight: 3,750 lb (1,701 kg)
- Loaded weight: 5,600 lb (2,451 kg)
- Powerplant: 1× Rolls-Royce Eagle piston engine, 360 hp (269 kW)
Performance
- Maximum speed: 102 mph (164 km/h)
- Cruise speed: 90 mph (144 km/h)
- Range: 450 miles (724 km)
- Service ceiling: 9,000 ft (2,743 m)
- Rate of climb: 400 ft/min (121 m/min)
- Wing loading: 9 lb/ft² (44 kg/m²)
- Power/mass: 0.13 hp/lb (0.22 kW/kg)
See also
Related lists
Lists relating to aviation | |
|---|---|
| General | Timeline of aviation · Aircraft · Aircraft manufacturers · Aircraft engines · Aircraft engine manufacturers · Airports · Airlines |
| Military | Air forces · Aircraft weapons · Missiles · Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) · Experimental aircraft |
| Notable incidents and accidents | Military aviation · Airliners · General aviation · Famous aviation-related deaths |
| Records | Flight airspeed record · Flight distance record · Flight altitude record · Flight endurance record · Most produced aircraft |
References
- Vickers Viking entry at the Lancaster Museum website
- Canadian Air Force historical aircraft
- Viking Vulture entry at Avia Russia website
Lists relating to aviation | |
|---|---|
| General | Timeline of aviation · Aircraft · Aircraft manufacturers · Aircraft engines · Aircraft engine manufacturers · Airports · Airlines |
| Military | Air forces · Aircraft weapons · Missiles · Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) · Experimental aircraft |
| Notable incidents and accidents | Military aviation · Airliners · General aviation · Famous aviation-related deaths |
| Records | Flight airspeed record · Flight distance record · Flight altitude record · Flight endurance record · Most produced aircraft |
| This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Vickers Viking". |
