June 1919: Versatile Vimy

Our latest look back into the archive provides a glimpse into early efforts to design an aircraft capable of taking passengers on flights across the Atlantic.

The first commercial transatlantic flight took place in 1939, when passengers paid $375 for a one-way Pan American flight between New York and Southampton.

Twenty years earlier, Vickers had completed construction of the transatlantic Vickers Vimy Rolls at the company’s Weybridge Aeroplane Works. Within a week of The Engineer’s report, John William Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown would complete the world’s first transatlantic flight in a Vimy, which was originally designed as a WWI bomber.

Our correspondent noted that ‘this airplane is practically similar in every respect to the standard Vimy bombing machine, as supplied to His Majesty’s Government.’

It was equipped with two standard 350HP Rolls-Royce engines and the capacity of the petrol tanks and lubricating oil tanks were increased to 865 gallons and 50 gallons respectively.

“With these quantities of fuel and oil, the aeroplane has a range of 2440 miles,” The Engineer said. “The maximum speed is over 100mph, but during the flight across the Atlantic the engines, it is intended, will be throttled down to give an average cruising speed of 90mph. The span of the machine is 67 feet and its overall length 42 feet and eight inches. The cord of the planes is 10 feet 6 inches.”