Vickers Wellesley

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.

(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Withdrawn:	1944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.

(SDASM Archive)

Bristol Ten-seater / Brandon

The Bristol Ten-seater was an early civilian airliner though only three were built, one of which served with the RAF as the Bristol Brandon.

The Type 75 [1]

Information
Manufacturer:	Bristol Aeroplane Company
First flight:	1921
Propulsion:	Napier Lion or Bristol Jupiter IV radial piston-engine
Withdrawn:	1926
Number built:	3

The Ten-seater was designed to carry up to ten people (no surprise there) and was a biplane with a single engine. The first aircraft was fitted with a Napier Lion engine as the Bristol Jupiter IV originally intended was not ready in time for the first flight. The other two aircraft built both had the Bristol engine.

The first aircraft, known as the Type 62, entered service in 1922 and was used on the London-Paris air route. It was configured to carry a pilot and nine passengers in a luxurious cabin [1]. The second aircraft, the Type 75, was used for cargo flights on the London-Cologne route. The third aircraft, known as the Type 79, entered service with the RAF as an air ambulance.

[1] "The Kings Cup Air Race", Flight Magazine Sept 7 1922 p. 513

Westland SA341 Gazelle

Aérospatiale developed this light helicopter in the late 1960s and entered a joint venture with Westland to produce the aircraft for the British and French armed forces and other customers.

Gazelle at the RAF Museum London

Information
Manufacturer:	Westland Helicopters (with Aérospatiale)
First flight:	1967
Propulsion:	Turbomeca Astazou IIIA turboshaft
Number built:	1,775

The Gazelle was designed for scouting, reconnaissance and light attack duties. Originally the Gazelle was purely a French project but the British got involved early on and placed a large order of the type for the Army. Westland built two hundred and sixty two Gazelles mostly for the British armed forces, serving with all branches. It has served in the Falklands, Afghanistan and Gulf Wars. Around thirty remain in service with the British Army and are due to remain so until the early 2020s.

The Gazelle was the first helicopter to have a fenestron or fan tail with the tail rotor built into the vertical fin. This helped the Gazelle become the fastest helicopter in it's class.

Edgley EA-7 Optica

The Edgley Optica was an innovative light aircraft designed for observation and surveillance work. It was able to fly at very low speeds powered by a small piston engine that drove a ducted fan (which also made it very quiet). It had a cabin like a small helicopter with all round visibility.

(SDASM archive)

Information
Manufacturer:	Edgley
First flight:	1979
Propulsion:	Textron Lycoming IO-540-V4A5D piston engine
Number built:	22

The Optica first flew in 1979 and entered production in the early 1980s. Only a small number were built, and some of those destroyed in an arson attack on the factory. It is possible that production could resume soon after a very long break.

The Optica served with a number of police forces and could be fitted with an infrared camera and loudspeaker. The Optica can loiter at one hundred and thirty kp/h (about eighty mp/h).

(SDASM archive)

Comper C.L.A.7 Swift

The Comper Swift was a sporting aircraft that took part in many air races during the 1930s and beyond.

G-ACGL preserved at RAF Cosford Museum

Information
Manufacturer:	Comper Aircraft Company
First flight:	1930
Propulsion:	Pobjoy R radial engine
Number built:	45

It first flew in 1930 and was a high-wing monoplane design. A number of different engines were tried in the Swift, to start with it was fitted with an ABC Scorpion engine though most were fitted with the Pobjoy R engine following trials. The final three were fitted with more powerful de Havilland Gypsy engines [1].

The Swift continued to take part in air races until the 1950s. A couple remain airworthy.

The Swift looks rather small under the wing of a Vickers Varsity!

[1] "Comper C.L.A.7 Swift", Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Aircraft (Orbis Publishing, 1985) p. 1172

Boulton Paul P. 9

The Boulton and Paul P. 9 was a civilian utility plane with two seats. It was a development of the earlier P. 6 being larger and with an increased range. Both aircraft used components and experience which Boulton and Paul had gained from building Sopwith Camels.

Image [1]

Information
Manufacturer:	Boulton and Paul Limited
First flight:	1919
Propulsion:	RAF 1a V8 piston-engine
Withdrawn:	1930s
Number built:	8

To keep costs down it was fitted with a low power engine though had a reasonable performance with a cruise speed of over 130km/h and a range near five hundred kilometres. Despite the relatively lost cost of the P. 9 it could not compete with the glut of war surplus aircraft on the market and only eight were built.

Half of them went to Australia, one aircraft being used on newspaper and mail delivery flights between Hobart and Melbourne [2]. Others saw some use in air races popular in Britain in the early post-war years.

[1] "The Circuit of Britain", Flight Magazine Sept 7 1922 p. 513
[2] "Boulton Paul P.9", Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Aircraft (Orbis Publishing, 1985), p. 834

Folland Gnat

The rising cost of jet fighters in the 1950s led to a number of attempts to create an affordable but capable jet fighter for home and export use. The Folland Gnat was a subsonic fighter which saw RAF service as a trainer but also combat service with India.

Gnat F1 XK724 at RAF Cosford

Information
Manufacturer:	Folland Aircraft
First flight:	1955
Propulsion:	Bristol Siddeley Orpheus 701-01 turbojet
Withdrawn:	1979
Number built:	449

Based on the Midge, a private venture by Folland, the Gnat was small and light and also designed to be maintainable without specialised tools by smaller air forces. The fighter version was sold to Finland and India, who later also licence built the type as the HAL Ajeet. In Indian hands the Gnat saw service against Pakistan and Bangladesh. Yugoslavia also bought two for evaluation.

The Gnat F.1 lost out to the Hawker Hunter in a competition to choose a new RAF light fighter but a trainer version, the T.1, was bought by the RAF and served until 1979. Most notably the Gnat was the equipment of the Red Arrows until being replaced by the BAe Hawk. Many Gnats have been preserved, some still in a flyable condition.

Gnat T1 XR977, former Red Arrow, at RAF Museum London

Another view of XR977

British Army Aeroplane No 1 (Cody Flyer)

The British Army Aeroplane No. 1 was the first British aeroplane to achieve sustained flight.

Cody Flyer replica at the FAST Museum

Information
Manufacturer:	Army Balloon Factory
First flight:	1908
Propulsion:	Antoinette 8-cyl piston-engine
Withdrawn:	1910
Number built:	1

The aircraft was designed in 1907 by the American Samuel Franklin Cody, and under the supervision of Colonel Capper, who worked at the British Army Balloon Factory at Farnborough. Cody had been working for the government on tethered balloons and man-carrying kites for artillery spotting [1]. In 1907 work began on an aeroplane inspired by the Wright Brothers' Flyer. The resulting British Army Aeroplane No. 1 was a similar biplane with a pair of tractor propellers.

After many modifications and brief hops, the aeroplane made the first recognised and sustained flight by a British aeroplane on October 16th 1908 travelling nearly half a kilometre at Farnborough. The flight being cut short by a crash! The aeroplane, after repairs and more modifications [2], made a series of other flights later in 1908 and into 1909. By now however the Army had lost interest and Cody left government service [3] but he was able to keep the aeroplane and continued to fly and improve it. By late 1909 Cody was able to keep airborne for over an hour, his flight only ended by running out of fuel. The final flights were in early 1910 when Cody switched his attention to newer aircraft.

In 2008 a full-size non-flying replica of the British Army Aeroplane No. 1 was built by volunteers and is now on display, aptly, at the FAST Museum at Farnborough.

8 cylinder petrol engine

Front view of the replica

Side view

Three quarter view

[1] Percy B. Walker, Early Aviation at Farnborough: Balloons, Kites and Airships (Macdonald, 1971) p. 105
[2] "British Army Aeroplane", Flight Magazine (January 9 1909) p. 25
[3] Walker p. 92