Vickers Vagabond

Vickers · United Kingdom · first flew 1924 · light aircraft

The Vickers Vagabond was Vickers' entry for the second Lympne light aircraft competition, held in 1924. It was a conventional small biplane with a very unusual method of trimming, and only one was built.

Recognition (WEFT)

W — Wings	Mid-mounted, straight
E — Engines	1 × piston, nose-mounted
F — Fuselage	Rear fuselage hinged just ahead of the lower wing trailing edge for trimming
T — Tail	Conventional

WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.

Spot it by:

Single-bay wire-braced biplane with equal-span, marked-stagger wings
Small cutout in the trailing edge of the top wing above the pilot
Rear fuselage hinged just ahead of the lower wing trailing edge for trimming

Instead of changing the tailplane angle, the whole rear fuselage was hinged ahead of the lower wing trailing edge and raised by a handwheel between the cockpits. The pilot and passenger sat in open cockpits.

Specifications

The Vickers Vagabond has a length of 6.65 m (22 ft).
It has a wingspan of 8.53 m (28 ft).
Its maximum speed is 124 km/h (77 mph).
Typical crew: 1.

Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.

History

The 1924 trials were for low-powered two-seat aircraft with an engine limit of 1,100 cc, and the wings had to fold. The Vagabond was the Vickers Type 98 and was registered as G-EBJF on 1 July 1924.

Variants

Only one was built. It was flown with a three-cylinder 1,095 cc Blackburne Thrush radial engine after the engine mountings were stiffened.

Where you'll see it

It flew well enough at Lympne but was eliminated in the preliminary rounds. It was deregistered on 24 January 1928.

Related aircraft

AircraftIQ — the aircraft field guide: 8,606 recognition guides, live overhead identification, works offline.