Vickers Vagabond

Vagabond

Role	Two-seat light aircraft
National origin	United Kingdom
Manufacturer	Vickers
Designer	R.K. Pierson
First flight	1924
Number built	1

The Vickers Vagabond was Vickers' entrant for the second Lympne light aircraft competition, held in 1924. It was a conventional small biplane, with a very unusual method of trimming. It was eliminated from the trials at an early stage and only one was built.

Development

Following the first Lympne trials held in 1923 for single-seat motor-gliders, the Air Ministry organised a similar event in 1924, this time for low-powered two-seat aircraft. The engine capacity limit was set at 1,100 cc. and, as before, the wings had to fold for easy transport and storage. The trials took place between 29 September and 4 October. Several companies built aircraft for them, including the Blackburn Bluebird, Hawker Cygnet, Supermarine Sparrow and two from Westland, the Woodpigeon and Widgeon.

The Type 98 Vagabond was Vickers' entry. It was a single-bay, wire-braced biplane with wings of constant chord except towards the rounded trailing tips. The wings had equal span and carried marked stagger. There were ailerons on both upper and lower wings, with flaps inboard on the lower wings which could be folded to assist wing-folding. The pilot and passenger sat in open cockpits, the latter under the upper wing. The pilot's upward view was enhanced by a small cutout in the trailing edge of the top wing. The fuselage had a more rounded cross-section than that of the earlier Viget, Vickers' single-seat entry to the 1923 competition, extending a little below the lower wing. The 32 hp (24 kW) Bristol Cherub III flat twin engine was mounted in a smooth nose with the finned cylinders exposed for air cooling. The horizontal tail was similar to that of the Viget, but the fin and rudder were much more rounded. Because of the stagger, the mainwheels were in front of the lower wing, braced to the lower fuselage logeron aft to the front wing spar and forward to a point roughly below the upper wing leading edge.^[1]^[2]

A most unusual feature of the Vagabond was the method of longitudinal trimming. Rather than changing the angle of the tailplane with respect to the fuselage, the whole rear part of the fuselage was hinged just ahead of the lower wing's trailing edge. This was controlled via a handwheel between the two cockpits; the rear fuselage was raised at the start of a landing descent to increase drag and slow the aircraft.^[1]

Early flight trials, with H.J.Pain as pilot revealed a need to stiffen the engine mountings.^[1] When this was done, the Vagabond, now fitted with a three-cylinder 1,095 cc Blackburne Thrush radial engine flew well enough at Lympne, but was eliminated in the preliminary rounds. Only one Vagabond, registered as G-EBJF on 1 July 1924^[3] was built. It was deregistered on 24 January 1928.

Specifications

Data from Andrews & Morgan 1988, pp. 482

General characteristics

Crew: One
Capacity: One passenger
Length: 21 ft 10 in (6.65 m)
Wingspan: 28 ft 0 in (8.53 m)
Wing area: 235 ft² (21.8 m²)
Empty weight: 527 lb (239 kg)
Gross weight: 887 lb (402 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Bristol Cherub III flat twin, 32 hp (24 kW)

Performance

Maximum speed: 77 mph (124 km/h)

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vickers Vagabond.

Notes

Bibliography

Andrews, CF; Morgan, E.B. (1988). Vickers Aircraft since 1908 (2nd ed.). London: Putnam. ISBN 0-85177-815-1.

Vickers and Vickers-Armstrongs aircraft

By type number	54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 66 67 69 71 72 73 74 76 78 79 81 83 84 85 87 91 94 95 96 99 100 103 105 106 108 112 113 115 116 117 121 123 124 125 127 128 129 130 131 132 134 139 141 142 143 145 146 150 151 160 161 162 163 169 170 172 173 177 192 194 195 196 198 199 203 204 207 209 210 212 214 216 217 220 244 245 246 252 253 255 258 259 262 264 266 271 277 281 285 286 287 289 290 291 292 294 298 299 401 402 406 407 408 410 413 416 417 418 419 421 424 427 428 429 432 435 437 439 440 442 443 445 446 447 449 451 452 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 469 470 474 478 485 486 487 488 490 491 492 495 496 498 559 571 579 581 602 604 607 610 614 615 616 618 619 620 621 623 624 626 627 628 630 632 634 635 636 637 639 641 643 644 648 649 651 660 667 668 674 700 701 702 706 707 708 710 720 723 724 730 733 734 735 736 737 739 742 744 745 748 749 754 756 757 758 760 761 763 764 765 768 769 772 773 776 779 781 782 784 785 786 789 793 794 798 800 801 802 803 804 806 807 808 810 812 813 814 815 816 818 827 828 831 832 836 837 838 839 843 870 950 951 952 953 1000 1100 1101 1103 1106 1151 Type C

Early types	Hydravion Monoplane No.1 Monoplane No.2 Monoplane No.3 Monoplane No.4 Monoplane No.5 Monoplane No.6 Monoplane No.7 Monoplane No.8 Tractor Biplane Tractor Scout HM Airship No. 1 HM Airship No. 9r

Civilian	Merchantman Vimy Commercial Vulture Viget Vagabond Vulcan 170 Vanguard Vellox VC.1 Viking VC.2 VC.3 Viscount Vanguard VC10 Airships: R80 R100

Military	C.O.W. Gun Fighter E.F.B.1 E.F.B.2 E.F.B.3 E.F.B.4 F.B.5 F.B.6 E.F.B.7 E.F.B.8 F.B.9 F.B.11 F.B.12 F.B.14 F.B.16 F.B.19 F.B.23 F.B.24 F.B.25 F.B.26 (Vampire) F.B.27 E.S.1 E.S.2 Vimy Viking Vivid Vixen Valparaiso Venture Wibault Scout 123 Valiant 141 143 161 162 163 177 207 253 581 C Jockey Vespa Wibault Viastra Vellore Virginia Vanox Valentia (flying boat) Valentia (Type 264) Vampire Vanellus Vendace Venom Vernon Victoria Vildebeest V.I.M Vincent Vireo Vulture Wellesley Wellington Warwick Windsor Valetta Varsity Valiant "Victory Bomber"

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 4/26/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.