Vickers Valparaiso
Vickers · United Kingdom · first flew 1923 · bomber
The Vickers Valparaiso was a British light bomber biplane of the 1920s. It was designed by Vickers as an export development of the Vixen.
Recognition (WEFT)
| W — Wings | Mid-mounted, straight |
|---|---|
| E — Engines | 1 × piston, nose-mounted |
| F — Fuselage | Steel tube fuselage |
| T — Tail | Conventional |
WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.
Spot it by:
- Single-bay biplane with wooden wings
- Steel tube fuselage
- Napier Lion engine in the nose
A single-bay biplane with wooden wings and a steel tube fuselage, with an upper span of 40 ft and a lower span of 34 ft 6 in.
Specifications
- The Vickers Valparaiso has a length of 8.84 m (29 ft).
- It has a wingspan of 12.19 m (40 ft).
- Its maximum speed is 219 km/h (136 mph).
- Typical crew: 2.
Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.
History
It was renamed Valparaiso to distinguish it from the Vixen, which used classified government equipment and so could not be exported. Other than the engines, the Valparaisos were very similar to the Vixen I.
Variants
The Type 93 Valparaiso I used the Napier Lion and the Type 92 Valparaiso II used the Rolls-Royce Eagle. The Type 168 Valparaiso III was a Jupiter-radial version built under licence in Portugal, 13 in all.
Where you'll see it
Portugal ordered ten Valparaiso Is and four IIs, and two flew a long-distance tour to Angola and Mozambique and back in 1928. A Valparaiso I was sold to Chile in 1924, which led to an order for 18 more as the Vixen V.
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- Vickers Viget
- Vickers Vixen
- Vickers Vagabond
- Vickers Venture
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- Douglas DT-2
- Fairey Fawn
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