Vickers Wellesley

Light bomber · Vickers-Armstrongs · United Kingdom

Vickers Wellesley
ⓘ licence & credit(via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)
Typical crew2
Engines1 × Bristol Pegasus
First flight1935
Number built177

Photographs

w:Vickers Wellesley
ⓘ licence & creditEmoscopes / CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vickers_Wellesley.pngView source & full licence →
Vickers Wellesley light bomber. Photograph published in: Aircraft of the Fighting Powers Vol I Ed: H J Cooper, O G Thetford and D A. Russell Harborough Publishing Co, Leicester, England 1940. Photographer not identified, so UK Copyright contended to have lapsed 50 years after publication. Picture prepared for Wikipedia by Keith Edkins in April 2004.
ⓘ licence & creditPublic domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vickers_Wellesley.jpgView source & full licence →
IWM caption : Wellesley Mark I, L2673 ‘KU-C’, of No. 47 Squadron RAF based at Agordat, Eritrea, in flight over the rugged landscape of Eritrea.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vickers_Wellesley_MKI.jpgView source & full licence →
Vickers Wellesley Mk I of No. 47 Squadron RAF in flight over the mountains of Eritrea, 1941. Wellesley Mark I, L2673 ‘KU-C’, of No. 47 Squadron RAF based at Agordat, Eritrea, in flight over the rugged landscape of Eritrea.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vickers_Wellesley_Mk_I_of_No._47_Squadron_RAF_in_flight_over_the_mountains_of_Eritrea,_1941._ME(RAF)845.jpgView source & full licence →
Vickers Wellesley Mk I of No. 47 Squadron on a bombing mission to Keren, Eritrea, 2 April 1941. Wellesley Mark I, K7775 ‘KU-N’, of No. 47 Squadron RAF based at Agordat, Eritrea, in flight during a bombing mission to Keren.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer, Hensser (Mr) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vickers_Wellesley_Mk_I_of_No._47_Squadron_on_a_bombing_mission_to_Keren,_Eritrea,_2_April_1941._CM645.jpgView source & full licence →
ⓘ licence & creditneznámý (unknown) / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vickers_Wellesley_a_Walter_Pegas_X.jpgView source & full licence →
Vickers Wellesley in flight.
ⓘ licence & creditOfficial photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vickers_Wellesley_2.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force - East Africa Command, 1940-1945 Armourers of of No. 47 Squadron RAF fill Small Bomb Containers with incendiaries before loading them into the underwing panniers of Vickers Wellesley Mark I, K8527, at Kassala, Sudan, for a bombing raid on Italian positions in Eritrea. K8527 was shot down by Italian fighters over Keren on 16 March 1941. Note that this aircraft is fitted with a lengthened cockpit canopy.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vickers_Wellesley_-_Sudan_-_Royal_Air_Force_-_East_Africa_Command,_1940-1945_ME(RAF)889.jpgView source & full licence →
IWM caption : Pilot Officer Kennedy of No. 47 Squadron RAF Detachment inspects the damage to his Vickers Wellesley, K7715 'KU-H', at Agordat, Eritrea, after he was attacked by two Fiat CR 42s while on a bombing sortie over Keren on 25 March 1941. His air gunner, Sergeant German, was mortally wounded and the port wing was set on fire. Kennedy executed a vertical dive to put out the flames and returned to the Detachment's base at Agordat, where he crashed on landing.
ⓘ licence & creditHensser H (Mr), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pilot_officer_Kennedy_of_47_Squadron_RAF_Mar_1941_IWM_CM_658.jpgView source & full licence →
Croydon Airport
ⓘ licence & creditFOTO:Fortepan — ID 54183: Adományozó/Donor: Nagy Gyula. archive copy at the Wayback Machine / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Croydon_rep%C3%BCl%C5%91t%C3%A9r._Fortepan_54183.jpgView source & full licence →
Aircraft of the Royal Air Force 1939-1945- Vickers Wellesley. Wellesley Mark I, K7740, of the Torpedo Development Unit, at Gosport, Hampshire, following conversion for tests as a torpedo-bomber.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aircraft_of_the_Royal_Air_Force_1939-1945-_Vickers_Wellesley._MH135.jpgView source & full licence →
AIRCRAFT OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE 1919-1939 The pilot of a Vickers Wellesley of 14 Squadron, Royal Air Force, is assisted with his harness prior to take off from RAF Amman in Transjordan.
ⓘ licence & creditUnknown authorUnknown author / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AIRCRAFT_OF_THE_ROYAL_AIR_FORCE_1919-1939_H(AM)379.jpgView source & full licence →
IWM caption : Wellesley Mark I, K7775 ‘KU-N’, of No. 47 Squadron RAF based at Agordat, Eritrea, in flight during a bombing mission to Keren.
ⓘ licence & creditHensser (Mr), Royal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:47_Squadron_RAF_Wellesley_over_Eritrea_WWII_IWM_CM_645.jpgView source & full licence →
Image from the Charles Daniels Photo Collection album "British Aircraft." SOURCE INSTITUTION: San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive
ⓘ licence & creditSan Diego Air & Space Museum Archives / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:15_Vickers_Wellesley_Bristol_Pegasus_(15650911647).jpgView source & full licence →

About

The Vickers Wellesley was the first aircraft to take Barnes Wallis’s geodetic construction into RAF service, the forerunner of the method that would make the later Vickers Wellington so tough. A single-engined monoplane built to a 1930s specification, it carried its bombs in streamlined panniers slung beneath the wings, because designers were unsure how the lattice airframe would cope with a conventional internal bomb bay.

The Wellesley’s most spectacular feat was a record-breaking one: in November 1938 three of them flew non-stop from Egypt to Australia, over 7,000 miles, setting a world long-distance record that showcased the efficiency of its very high-aspect-ratio wing. Obsolete as a bomber by 1939 and withdrawn from home squadrons, it nonetheless saw real action in the East African campaign of 1940–41, flying raids against Italian forces in Eritrea and Ethiopia from bases in the Middle East.

Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including Vickers Wellesley — BAE Systems Heritage and Vickers Wellesley — Wikipedia. The text is original and has been written from factual source material; no source text has been copied unless specifically quoted and attributed.

Engines