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Royal Air Force. Via Wikipedia Commons
Vickers Vildebeest IV
| Crew | 2 or 3 |
| Dimensions | 49'0" by 37'8" by 14'8" 14.94m by 11.48m by 4.47m |
| Weight | 4724-8500 lbs 2143-3900 kg |
| Maximum speed | 156 mph at 5000 feet 251 km/h at 1500 meters |
| Climb rate | 14 feet per second 4.3 meters per second |
| Service ceiling | 19,000 feet 5800 meters |
| Power plant | 1 825 hp (615 kW) Bristol Perseus VIII nine-cylinder radial driving a three bladed propeller. |
| Armament | One 0.303
machine gun in nose One 0.303 machine gun in rear cockpit |
| External stores | 18" (46 cm) torpedo or 1000 lb (450 kg) bomb |
| Range | 625 miles 1000 km |
| Production | A total of 209 Vildebeeste and 197 Vickers by 1937, |
| Variants | The Vincent was a variant with a larger fuel
capacity used as an Army cooperation aircraft. |
The Vildebeest was a biplane torpedo bomber which
had the distinction of
being even more
obsolete than the Swordfish.
It
was present in some numbers in Malaya
in late 1941, mostly
because it wasn't wanted anywhere else.
The design dated back to the late 1920s, the prototype flying in April 1928 and the first production aircraft being delivered in November 1932. A small number went to Spain. The Vildebeest was the only torpedo bomber in RAF service when war broke out in 1939, illustrating the shocking neglect by RAF of its Coastal Command.
All those operating in the Far East were lost by
March 1942. A few continued patrols from Ceylon
until August 1942.
References
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007, 2009 by Kent G. Budge. Index
