Vickers Vulcan

Vickers Limited

Industry	Aerospace
Headquarters	Brooklands, Surrey , United Kingdom
Products	Vickers Vulcan airliner

This article is about a single-engine civilian biplane airliner. For the 1950s V-bomber of the same manufacturer, see Vickers Valiant. For the 1960s Avro V-bomber sharing the name, see Avro Vulcan.

The Vickers Vulcan was a British-built, single-engine biplane airliner from the 1920s, constructed by Vickers Limited at their Brooklands Aerodrome facility in Surrey. Designed to accommodate eight passengers along with a pilot, it served early commercial aviation needs.

Development

Designed by Rex Pierson of Vickers, the Vulcan made its maiden flight in April 1922 with chief test pilot S. Cockerell at the controls, operating from Brooklands Aerodrome in Surrey, UK.

Derived from the civil adaptation of the Vimy bomber, the Vulcan incorporated several modifications such as an enlarged and taller fuselage and was powered by a single Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII engine instead of two. This design choice aimed to reduce operational expenses. Its distinctive fuselage shape and flight behaviour earned it the nickname "Flying Pig". The initial delivery was completed in August 1922 to Instone Air Line Ltd. Additional operators included Imperial Airways and Qantas, though Qantas returned their aircraft due to inadequate performance for their requirements. The final Vulcan in service was a Type 74 operated by Imperial Airways, which crashed during a test flight departing Croydon Airport in July 1928.

Variants

• Type 61 – initial production model, with five units built.
• Type 63 – cargo adaptation of the Type 61; only one produced.
• Type 68 – planned colonial version powered by an Eagle VIII engine; never constructed.
• Type 74 – enhanced model featuring a 450 hp Napier Lion engine; two units built.
• Type 86 – proposed all-metal design equipped with an Eagle VIII engine; not realized.

Operators

Template:AUS

• Qantas

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• Imperial Airways
• Instone Air Line

Accidents and incidents

• G-EBEM (Type 61) vanished off Italy’s coastline in May 1926.
• G-EBLB (Type 74) crashed during a test flight from Croydon Airport near Purley in July 1928.

Specifications (Vulcan Type 74)

Vickers Vulcan two-view illustration from L'Aéronautique March,1922

Sources

• Andrews, C.F. and Morgan, E.B. Vickers Aircraft since 1908. London: Putnam, 1988. ISBN 0-85177-815-1.
• Elliott, Bryn (January–February 1999). "On the Beat: The First 60 Years of Britain's Air Police". Air Enthusiast (79): 68–75. ISSN 0143-5450.

External links

• The Vickers "Vulcan" Eight-passenger Commercial Biplane Flight 4 May 1922 pp. 253–258