Vickers Viking

infobox Aircraft
name = Viking
type = Biplane amphibian
manufacturer = Vickers / Canadian Vickers



caption = Vickers Viking IV of the Royal Canadian Air Force, 1926
designer =
first flight = 1919
introduced =
retired =
status =
primary user =
more users =
produced = 1919-1923
number built =
unit cost =
variants with their own articles =

The Vickers Viking was a British single-engined amphibious aircraft designed for military use shortly after World War I.

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 5-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-piston engined Vickers 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 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, 268 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-seater open-cockpit fleet-spotter aircraft 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

;ARG;flag|Canada|1921
*Royal Canadian Air Force;FRA;JPN;NLD;UK
*Royal Air Force

pecifications (Viking IV)

aircraft specifications

plane or copter?=plane
jet or prop?=prop
ref=

crew=One: pilot
capacity=2 passengers
length main=34 ft 0 in
length alt=10.36 m
span main=50 ft 0 in
span alt=15.24 m
height main=15 ft 1 in
height alt=4.60 m
area main=594 ft²
area alt=55.2 m²
empty weight main=3,750 lb
empty weight alt=1,701 kg
loaded weight main=5,600 lb
loaded weight alt=2,451 kg
max takeoff weight main=
max takeoff weight alt=
engine (prop)=Rolls-Royce Eagle
type of prop=piston engine
number of props=1
power main=360 hp
power alt=269 kW

max speed main=102 mph
max speed alt=164 km/h
cruise speed main=90 mph
cruise speed alt=144 km/h
range main=450 miles
range alt=724 km
ceiling main= 9,000 ft
ceiling alt= 2,743 m
climb rate main=400 ft/min
climb rate alt=121 m/min
loading main=9 lb/ft²
loading alt=44 kg/m²
power/mass main=0.13 hp/lb
power/mass alt=0.22 kW/kg

ee also

aircontent
related=

similar aircraft=

lists=
*List of aircraft of the RAF
see also=

References

* [http://www.lancastermuseum.ca/vickers.html "Vickers Viking" entry at the Lancaster Museum website]
* [http://www.airforce.forces.gc.ca/equip/historical/vikinglst_e.asp Canadian Air Froce historical aircraft]
* [http://avia.russian.ee/air/england/vickers_95_vulture.php "Viking Vulture" entry at "Avia Russia" website]