Vickers Vincent

Vickers Vincent
Type:	Biplane, light bomber
Design country:	United Kingdom
Manufacturer:	Vickers Aviation , Weybridge
First flight:	December 21, 1932
Commissioning:	February 1935
Production time:	1934-1936
Number of pieces:	197

The Vickers Vincent was a single-engine, three-seat multi-role aircraft from some overseas squadrons of the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was a modification of the Vickers Vildebeest torpedo bomber , which had entered service with the RAF in 1933. Eight squadrons of the Royal Air Force used the Vickers Vincent between 1935 and 1943.

Another user of Vickers Vincent was the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF), which received 60 machines from RAF stocks in the Middle East between July and December 1939 and produced two more machines from spare parts.

Development of the Vickers Vincent

The Vickers Vincent was the further development of the Vickers Vildebeest for use by the RAF squadrons cooperating with the army in India and in the Middle East, which previously used the Westland Wapiti or the Fairey IIIF and Fairey Gordon , which were based on types constructed in the First World War . In order to test the suitability of the type for such operations, the modified Vildebeest Mk.I S1714 had carried out extensive tests in the Middle East in 1932/33. This machine was the prototype of the Vincent variant and showed the suitability of the type. The Vildebeest Mk.I S1715 with a partially faired engine was also used for tests. The additional tank installed in place of the torpedo was particularly impressive. The first order for series machines was made according to specification 16/34 .

The series machines received bare 660 HP Bristol Pegasus IIM3 radial engines. In addition to the new buildings, there were also modified Vildebeest machines and transfers from new buildings originally ordered as Vildebeest to Vincent building contracts. Were manufactured new K4131-K4155, K4615-K4619, K4656-K4750, K4883-K4885, K6236-K6268 .

production

Acceptance of Vickers Vincent by the RAF:

version	1934	1935	1936	total
Vincent	30th	103	64	197

Use of the Vickers Vincent

Vickers Vincent of the 8th Squadron

The new aircraft type was supposed to replace the Fairey IIIF Mk.IV among other things in the RAF and so the season 8 in Aden became the last season with this type, the second operational season with Vickers Vincent machines from February 1935. From April 1935, the received the Squadron 1939 before the outbreak of war some Bristol Blenheim , but the Vickers Vincent remained an essential part of the equipment of the squadron until 1942. The squadron carried out attacks against Italian East Africa since Italy entered the war in the summer of 1940 . The first attack took place on June 12, with nine Blenheims against the airfield in Assab , followed that night by another attack over the Red Sea with five Vincents against the airfield. After the collapse of the Italian forces in East Africa, the squadron took over again operations within the colony and control flights over sea against submarines. At the age of seven, the Vickers Vincent was on season 8 for the longest time .

The also located on the Arabian Peninsula in Shaibah southwest of Basra stationed Season 84 replaced its Westland Wapiti starting from December 1934 to Vickers Vincent and was the first season with the new support aircraft, but it replaced already in February 1939 by Bristol Blenheim Mk.I .
In 1937, Squadron 55 , which was also stationed in Iraq in Habbaniyya on the Euphrates west of Baghdad , replaced its Westland Wapiti against Vickers Vincent , although it was converted to Bristol Blenheim Mk.I in August 1939 before the Second World War . The third Wapiti squadron in Iraq (No. 30 ) did not receive a Vickers Vincent , but from 1935 Hawker Hardy scouts and became a Blenheim squadron in February 1938 .

On August 31, 1939, a squadron called 'S' with old Vickers Vincent was formed in Habbaniya for surveillance tasks in Iraq, as the Blenheim squadrons were to be relocated to Egypt. In September 1940 this unit relocated to Shaibah, where it was renamed Season No 244 on November 1, 1940 . In May 1941 this squadron was used with its biplanes against the rebellious Iraqi army and began in August 1941 reconnaissance missions over Iran. From January 1942, this last active squadron with the Vickers Vincent received twin-engine Airspeed Oxford training aircraft to prepare the crews for the planned new service pattern Bristol Blenheim , which arrived in April. The last Vickers Vincent was not eliminated until January 1943.

The originally planned conversion of the Westland Wapiti squadrons 5, 27, 28, 31 stationed in India to Vickers Vincent was not carried out.

In the course of the Abyssinia crisis in 1935 and the mobilization of the British forces, the Vickers Vincent was also used in Egypt and Sudan and, in three squadrons, completely, partially or temporarily replaced the Fairey Gordon machines that had previously been used . The light bomber squadrons 35 and 207 equipped with the Gordon relocated from Great Britain to Sudan in the course of the crisis. 207 exchanged these machines for Vickers Vincent in April 1936 , but left them in Sudan when the company left in August and took over Fairey Gordon machines back home .

Squadron 47 stationed in Khartoum received Vickers Vincent in July 1936 , which were used alongside Fairey float planes . In 1939 the squadron received Vickers Wellesley , but when the war broke out it was still partly equipped with Vickers Vincent machines. This condition still existed in June 1940, when Italy joined the Second World War on the side of the German Reich. The old biplanes were also used against Italian forces in Ethiopia and Eritrea until August 1940 .

As early as November 1935, the 45 squadron in Egypt received its first Vickers Vincent , which also had Fairey IIIF , Hawker Hart and Fairey Gordon . After the first Vickers Wellesley arrived in November 1937 , the squadron gave its last Vincent in December 1937 and only had one type of mission.

The B- Flight of Squadron 45 had been permanently stationed in Nairobi since September 25, 1936 and was designated Squadron 223 on December 15, 1936 . In November 1937, the Fairey Gordon were replaced by Vickers Vincent , who remained in service until June 1938, before 223 was converted to Vickers Wellesley and brought to full squadron strength.

Use in other countries

 Kingdom of Iraq

In 1941, the Iraqi Air Force is said to have had a Vickers Vincent that was probably captured.

 New Zealand

Between July and December 1939, the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) received 60 machines from RAF stocks in the Middle East and produced two more machines from spare parts. The machines were used together with the almost identical Vickers Vildebeest , of which New Zealand had bought twelve as new builds in 1935 and received 27 more from RAF stocks after the start of the war. All machines were used for the training of pilots and as reconnaissance machines in maritime surveillance around New Zealand. For this purpose, squadrons were formed in 1940. Outside New Zealand, Season No. 5 set up in Fiji with Vincent as original equipment, but soon converted into a flying boat squadron. When New Zealand squadrons received more modern American aircraft after the war with Japan and were used by the Pacific Islands, the Vincent stayed at home with the newly formed squadrons 7 and 8 . The latter first trained fighter pilots for use in Europe and was then converted into a combat squadron with Grumman Avenger in the spring of 1943 . Season 7 monitored the sea area around the main islands and was disbanded in May 1943 as the last season with Vickers Vincent . A planned conversion to modern machines was not pursued because the islands were no longer threatened.

successor

Vickers Type 253

Vickers 290 Wellesley

The Air Ministry sought with the tender G.4 / 31 a replacement for the colonial machinery Fairey Gordon and still used in India Westland Wapiti . The new type should be used in cooperation with the army, as a horizontal bomber, as a dive bomber, as a reconnaissance aircraft, ambulance aircraft and possibly also as a torpedo bomber. Vickers developed the double-decker prototype Type 253 , which differed considerably from the Vildebeest / Vincent . The machine had a completely different structure with staggered wings and different spans. The hull was also constructed differently but had a 690 hp Bristol Pegasus IIIM3 engine in a Townend fairing. Because of the given possibility of using torpedo bombers, the landing gear did not have a continuous axle and large wheels in fairings like the Vincent . The prototype K2771 completed its maiden flight on March 16, 1934. In 1935, the aircraft flew improved with a closed cockpit and was declared the winner of the tender, for which the Handley Page HP.47 and Westland PV.7 monoplane and the Armstrong biplane also competed Whitworth AW19 , Blackburn B-7 , Fairey G.4 / 31 , Hawker PV4 and the Parnall G.4 / 31 had advertised. 150 machines were ordered, but on September 10, 1935, the order was transferred to the Vickers Wellesley monoplane developed by Vickers on its own account , which had successfully carried out its maiden flight on June 19, 1935 as Type 290 K7556 .

Technical specifications

Parameter	Type 207 M.1 / 30	Vildebeest M.III	Vildebeest M.IV	Vincent	Type 253 G.4 / 31
crew	2	3	2	3	2
length	13.29 m	11.18 m	11.48 m	11.18 m (36 ft 8 in)	11.28 m
span	15.24 m	14.94 m (49 ft)			16.03 m
height	4.42 m	4.47 m		5.41 m (17 ft 9 in)	3.81 m
Wing area	67.3 m²	67.63 m² (728 ft²)			53.04 m²
Empty mass	2359 kg	2170 kg	2142 kg	1918 kg (4229 lb)	2553 kg
Takeoff mass	4354 kg	3864 kg	3856 kg	3674 kg (8100 lb)	3787 kg
Top speed	256 km / h	230 km / h	251 km / h	229 km / h (142 mph)	259 km / h
Range		1014 km max. 2100 km	1014 km max. 2615 km	1006 km (625 mi) max. 2012 km
Service ceiling		5800 m (19,000 ft)	5182 m (17,000 ft)
drive	Buzzard IIIMS, 825 hp	Pegasus IIM.3, 635 hp	Perseus VII, 825 hp	Pegasus IIM.3, 635 hp	Pegasus IIM.3, 690 hp
Armament	2 MG
Bomb load	a 457 mm torpedo or up to 908 kg bombs	a 457 mm torpedo or 500 kg bombs	a 457 mm torpedo, or 454 kg bombs	454 kg bombs	680 kg

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Thetford: Aircraft of the RAF , p. 517
2. ^ Munson, Bomber , p. 112
3. ^ Lewis, Bomber , p. 317
4. ↑ Halley, James J .: The K File. The Royal Air Force of the 1930s, Tunbridge Wells, 1995, p. 379 ff.
5. ↑ "The Forgotton War" - World War II - 1939–1945 The Squadrons First Raid ( Memento of the original from September 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ 84 Squadron
7. ↑ 55 Squadron
8. ↑ 244 Squadron
9. ↑ 207 Squadron
10. ↑ 47 Squadron
11. ↑ 45 Squadron
12. ↑ 224 Squadron

literature

• Peter Lewis: The British Bomber since 1914 , Putnam London, 3rd edition 1980, ISBN 0-370-30265-6
• Kenneth Munson: Bomber 1919–1939 , Orell Füssli; Zurich, 1971
• Owen Thetford: Aircraft of the Royal Air Force since 1918 , Putnam London, 7th edition 1979, ISBN 0-370-30186-2

Web links

Commons : Vickers Vincent  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Vickers Vincent (Eng.)
• Vickers Vincent (russ.)
• Vickers Vincent (Eng.)
• History of New Zealand Vickers Vincent (Engl.)
• "8 Squadron Moves to Aden"
• 207 Squadron (Royal Air Force) Association (Engl.)
• Description of a Vickers Vincent -Kit (Engl.)
• Pictures of the reconstruction of a Vickers Vincent