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From: Miloch <Miloch_member@newsguy.com>
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Subject: Vickers Viking
Date: 24 Feb 2017 07:48:00 -0800
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_Viking
The Vickers Viking was a British single-engine amphibious aircraft designed for
military use shortly after World War I. Later versions of the aircraft were
known as the Vickers Vulture and Vickers Vanellus.
Research on Vickers' first 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 Falcon
water-cooled V 12 engine. Sir John Alcock died taking this aircraft to the Paris
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
Stan 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.
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 stages 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-EBGO 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.
Role
Biplane amphibian
Manufacturer
Vickers / Canadian Vickers
First flight
1919
Produced
1919-1923
Number built
31 (Viking)
2 (Vulture)
1 (Vanellus)
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
aircraft manufacturing experience. Their involvement with the Viking led to a
future line of indigenous flying boats beginning with the Canadian Vickers
Vedette which borrowed heavily on the earlier design.
No Vikings survive today although a full-size replica built for the film The
People That Time Forgot (1977) is displayed at Brooklands Museum in Surrey.
Specifications (Viking IV)
General characteristics
Crew: One: pilot
Capacity: 3 passengers
Length: 34 ft 2 in (10.42 m)
Wingspan: 50 ft 0 in (15.24 m)
Height: 14 ft 0 in (4.27 m)
Empty weight: 4,040 lb (1,836 kg)
Loaded weight: 5,790 lb (2,632 kg)
450 hp (336 kW)
Performance
Maximum speed: 113 mph (98 knots, 182 km/h)
Cruise speed: 91 mph (79 knots, 147 km/h)
Range: 925 mi (804 nmi, 1,489 km) (long range tanks)
Endurance: 4 hr 45 min
Power/mass: 0.078 hp/lb (0.13 kW/kg)
Climb to 3,000 ft (915 m): 3.2 min
ABOUT THE VIDEO:
"The Smith brothers recently won the coveted 10,000 prize for flying from
England to Australia. But the Smith brothers were not content to rest on their
laurels. They planned another and a bigger venture-a round-the-world flight. For
this they were going to use a Vickers amphibian called the Viking. Their old
colleague Bennett was to be the mechanic. On 13 April 1922 all three were to go
up on a test flight. Ross and the mechanic arrived on time. But a fog rolled
down. It held up Keith, then on his way to the aerodrome. Fearing if they
delayed any longer the conditions would be too bad for the flight, Ross and
Bennett took off. What happened aloft no one else will ever know. But as Keith
arrived on the aerodrome, it was to see the Viking hurtling down to death and
destruction. So, in harness, died one of Australia's greatest sons and his
trusted mechanic."
*
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