Vickers Vireo

Le monomoteur Vickers Vireo vu sur Wikipedia.en

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Vickers Vireo was an experimental low wing all-metal monoplane built to explore both all-metal service aircraft and the use of catapult launched ship board fighters. Only one was built.


Development

The Vickers-Wibault construction method was based on the patents of [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], who began working with Vickers in 1922.

It was a way of producing an all-metal aircraft with an airframe built up from simple, non-machined metal shapes, covered by very thin (0.4 mm or 0.016 in) corrugated light alloy sheets.

On the wings the corrugations were aligned along the chord and longitudinally on he fuselage.

The resulting fuselage was not a monocoque, but was internally braced, and the skin on the wings was not stressed.

Panels were riveted to each other and to the underlying structure. Vickers first experience of the method was with the licence built [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

The first Vickers design using this construction was the Vireo.

The Vireo (named after a Latin word thought to mean Greenfinch) was built to [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], intended to evaluate both all-metal aircraft and low powered, catapult launched, carrier borne fighters.

It was a low-winged single-engined monoplane of rather angular appearance with a flat-sided, deep fuselage except immediately aft of the engine.

Forward of the overwing open cockpit the nose fell away, giving it a slightly humped look.

The flying surfaces were all without external bracing; the wing was tapered, of deep section and incorporated twin machine guns.

The horizontal stabilser had a straight leading edge but tapered at the rear.

There was a square topped, balanced rudder but no fin.

The Vireo was powered by an uncowled 230 hp (170 kW) [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] IV radial engine driving a two-bladed propeller.

The specification called for the fitting of either wheels or floats and both were used, though the Vireo took its Ministry tests as a landplane.

These tests began at [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] a month after the initial flights in March 1928.

The long gap between the tender submission in December 1925 and the first flight was partly because the novel structure had undergone structural and aerodynamic pre-flight tests at the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

There were a few minor incidents during the tests, but more serious was a tendency to drop heavily at touchdown, which led to some rear fuselage damage.

This was later attributed to root interference of the highly cambered wing leading to nasty stall characteristics.

Nevertheless, by July the Vireo was on board [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] for deck landing trials.

The Air Ministry's interest in low-powered on-board fighters, catapult-launched to compensate for their small engines, waned when the Vireo proved no faster than the conventional ship board aircraft like the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

The Vireo experience gave Vickers enough confidence in all-metal fighters to proceed with their later [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] designs.

Specifications


Data from [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], pp. 222

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
  
• Length: 27 ft 8 in (8.43 m)
  
• Wingspan: 35 ft 0 in (10.67 m)
  
• Height: 11 ft 5 in (3.45 m)
  
• Wing area: 214 ft² (19.88 m²)
  
• Empty weight: 1,921 lb (871 kg)
  
• Gross weight: 2,553 lb (1,158 kg)
  
• Powerplant: 1 × [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] IV 7-cylinder radial, 230 hp (170 kW)
  

Performance

• Maximum speed: 120 mph (193 km/h)
  
• Service ceiling: (service) 14,750 ft (4,496 m)
  

Armament

• 2× [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] (type E) machine guns in wings