Vickers Wellesley

Type	general purpose bomber
Manufacturer	Vickers-Armstrong Ltd
Designed by	Barnes Wallis
Maiden flight	19 June 1935
Introduced	1937
Retired	1944
Status	retired
Primary user	Royal Air Force

The Vickers Wellesley was a 1930s light bomber built by Vickers-Armstrong Ltd for the Royal Air Force. While it was obsolete by the start of World War II, and unsuited to the European air war, the Wellesley prospered in the desert theatres of East Africa, Egypt and the Middle East from 1940 to 1942. Vickers Wellesley light bomber. ... An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, and/or spacecraft. ... The Vickers corporation, founded as the Vickers company in 1828, was a British manufacturer, primarily of military equipment. ... Sir Barnes Neville Wallis Sir Barnes Neville Wallis, CBE, FRS, RDI, commonly known as Barnes Wallis, (September 26, 1887 – October 30, 1979) was a British scientist, engineer and inventor. ... The Maiden flight of an aircraft is the first occasion on which an aircraft leaves the ground of its own accord. ... The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the air force branch of the British Armed Forces. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... A light bomber is a military bomber aircraft which, when compared to other bombers, is relatively small and fast; such aircraft will probably not carry more than one ton of ordnance. ... Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 2004. ... The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the air force branch of the British Armed Forces. ... Combatants Allied Powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Axis Powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000,000 Total dead... World map showing Europe Political map (neighboring countries in Asia and Africa also shown) Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of the Earth. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ... 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ...

The design came from the Air Ministry Specification G.4/31 which called for a biplane bomber. The Vickers Type 253 (using a radical geodetic construction that was derived from that used by Barnes Wallis in the airship R100), the Fairey G.4/31 and the Parnall G.4/31 offerings were tested against the specification. None was satisfactory. The Vickers 246 monoplane, which used the same design principles, was then built as a private venture and offered. This exceeded the specification capably and the RAF ordered a total of 176 as the Wellesley, to specification 22/35. The Air Ministry was formerly a department of the United Kingdom Government, established in 1918 with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the (then newly formed) Royal Air Force. ... Hs123 biplane. ... Sir Barnes Neville Wallis Sir Barnes Neville Wallis, CBE, FRS, RDI, commonly known as Barnes Wallis, (September 26, 1887 – October 30, 1979) was a British scientist, engineer and inventor. ... USS Akron (ZRS-4) in flight, November 2, 1931 An airship is a buoyant aircraft that can be steered and propelled through the air. ... R100 moored in Saint-Hubert The HM Airship R100 was a rigid airship, the successful private counterpart to the British government R101 project, in a competition intended to maximize innovation. ... A monoplane is an aircraft with one main set of wing surfaces, in contrast to a biplane or triplane. ...

The Wellesley Mk I had two separate cockpits. This was changed in the Mk II to a single piece cockpit canopy covering both the pilot and navigator positions.

Three aircraft were modified for long-range work with the RAF Long Range Development Flight. The additional works included the fitting of extra fuel tanks, and these had a crew of three. On November 5, 1938 two of them flew non-stop for two days from Ismailia, Egypt to Darwin, Australia (7,162 miles, 11,525 km) setting a record. November 5 is the 309th day of the year (310th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 56 days remaining. ... This is a list of aviation-related events from 1938: Events Imperial Airways inaugurates scheduled service from London to Montreal. ... Ismailia is the capital of the governorate of Al Ismailiyah, and one of the newest cities in Egypt. ... Darwin is the territorial capital and most populous city of Australias Northern Territory. ...

The main service of the Wellesley was in overseas theatres of operation, mainly in the Middle East. Among its significant wartime operations were the bombing of Addis Ababa in August 1940. Map of Ethiopia highlighting Addis Ababa (in red). ... August is the eighth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ...

While the Wellesley was not a significant combat aircraft, the design principles that were tested in its construction were put to good use with the Wellington medium bomber that became one of the main types of RAF Bomber Command in the early years of the European war. The Vickers Wellington was a twin-engine, medium bomber designed in the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey, by Vickers-Armstrongs Chief Designer, R.K. Pierson. ... A medium bomber is a bomber aircraft designed to operate with medium bombloads over medium distances; primarily to distinguish them from the much larger heavy bombers and smaller light bombers. ... Bomber Command badge RAF Bomber Command was the organisation that controlled the RAFs bomber forces. ...

Operators

• United Kingdom
  • Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the air force branch of the British Armed Forces. ...

Specifications (Wellesley)

General characteristics

• Crew: Two
• Length: 39 ft 3 in (11.96 m)
• Wingspan: 74 ft 7 in (22.73 m)
• Height: 12 ft 4 in (3.75 m)
• Wing area: 630 ft² (58.5 m²)
• Empty weight: 6,369 lb (2,889 kg)
• Loaded weight: 11,000 lb (5,035 kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 12,500 lb (5,670 kg)
• Powerplant: 1× Bristol Pegasus XX radial, 925 hp (690 kW)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 228 mph (369 km/h)
• Range: 1,110 miles (1,786 km)
• Service ceiling: 33,000 ft (10,060 m)
• Rate of climb: 1,200 ft/min (366 m/min)
• Wing loading: 18 lb/ft² (86 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 0.08 hp/lb (0.14 kW/kg)

Armament

• 1 x .303 (7.7 mm) Vickers machine gun in right wing
• 1 x .303 (7.7 mm) Vickers K machine gun in rear cockpit
• 2,000 lb (908 kg) of bombs

The distance AB is the wing span of this Aer Lingus Airbus A320. ... In aviation, the Maximum Take-Off Weight (or MTOW) is the maximum weight with which an aircraft is allowed to try to achieve flight. ... Bristol Pegasus piston engine The Pegasus was a 9 cylinder one_row radial aircraft engine designed as the follow-on to the Bristol Aeroplane Companys very successful Bristol Jupiter, following lessons learned in the Mercury effort. ... VNO of an aircraft is the V speed which refers to the velocity of normal operation. ... The maximal total range is the distance an aircraft can fly between takeoff and landing as limited by its fuel capacity. ... In aeronautics, the service ceiling is the maximum density altitude where the best rate of climb airspeed will produce a 100 feet per minute climb(twin engine) and 50 feet(single engine) at maximum weight while in a clean configuration with maximum continuous power. ... This page is a candidate to be moved to Wiktionary. ... In aerodynamics, wing loading is the loaded weight of the aircraft divided by the area of the wing. ... Power-to-weight ratio is a measure commonly used when comparing various vehicles (or engines), including automobiles, motorcycles and aircraft. ... .303 cartridge The . ... The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a name primarily used to refer to the water-cooled . ... The Vickers K gun known as the Vickers Gas Operated (VGO) in British service, was a rapid firing machine gun developed for use by observers in aircraft. ...

Related content

Related development

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Designation sequence

Valentia - Wellesley - Wellington - Warwick - Vickers Type 432 - Vickers Windsor The Valentia or Type 264 was a British biplane cargo aircraft built by Vickers for the Royal Air Force. ... The Vickers Wellington was a twin-engine, medium bomber designed in the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey, by Vickers-Armstrongs Chief Designer, R.K. Pierson. ... The Vickers Warwick was a transport, anti-submarine patrol and air-sea rescue aircraft of the RAF during World War II. Vickers Warwick The Warwick was designed in response to Air Ministry specification B.1/35 for a two-engined heavy (by the standards of the day) bomber to replace... The Vickers Type 432 was a design for a cannon-armed fighter capable of engaging high altitude bomber during World War Two. ... The Vickers Windsor was a four-engined British heavy bomber of the world war two period, designed by Barnes Wallis and R.K. Pierson. ...

video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKNMl63Gvf0