The Wellesley was built as a private venture in the mid-1930s for an RAF requirement for a multi-role light bomber (with dive and torpedo bombing capabilities) and reconnaissance aircraft.
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| (SDASM Archive) |
| Information |
| Manufacturer: |
Vickers-Armstrong |
| First flight: |
1937 |
| Propulsion: |
Bristol Pegasus XX radial piston-engine |
| Withdrawn: |
1944 |
| Number built: |
177 |
The Wellesley used the geodesic construction for it's structure, a lattice work that gave greater strength and resilience. It had been developed by Barnes Wallis for the
R101 Airship and later was most notable used in Vickers' later
Wellington bomber. The Wellesley was a development of the earlier biplane
Vickers Type 253 of 1931.
The Wellesley entered service with the RAF in 1937 but by the outbreak of the Second World War was considered already obsolete for the European theatre and mainly served in the Middle East in the early years of the war.
The Wellesley broke the world long distance record in 1938 when a flight of Wellesleys successfully flew from Ismailia, Egypt non-stop to Darwin, Australia. This is still the longest non-stop flight by a single piston-engined aircraft.
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| (SDASM Archive) |
