Vickers Vimy

Why didn't they keep it flying? It would have been a lovely addition to somewhere like Old Warden

The Vimy was classed as a homebuilt and would have been ultra expensive to modify to put on the British register (it had been operated on an 'N' reg),also it was a large aircraft and difficult to find indoor 'space' for.From the Brooklands website...

The Vimy was built under the FAA’s Experimental Airplane regulations, and remains on the FAA Experimental register for which there is no UK equivalent. To transfer it to the UK civil aircraft register with a UK Permit to Fly would be an expensive and time-consuming process which a small charity of limited resources such as the Museum could not justify on its own. The costs of that transfer and the significant operating costs of the biggest biplane flying in the world could not be recovered through the limited payments available on the UK Airshow circuit;
As an aircraft operating on a restricted foreign registration, the Vimy can only be flown in UK airspace under a special exemption from the CAA. Both because of and in spite of the unusual circumstances of this unique aircraft and its place in aviation history, the CAA has generously granted more, and more flexible, exemptions than it would normally allow in order for the Vimy to be displayed in celebration of the 90th anniversaries of those great flights in 2009 but does not regard the issuing of further exemptions as justifiable;

rgds baz

Dietmar wrote:

Why didn't they keep it flying? It would have been a lovely addition to somewhere like Old Warden

I agree though, it would have been a perfect addition to the Shuttleworth Collection. They'd have to build another Hangar for her first though. It did appear at Old Warden at one of their shows during 1996.

I last saw it at RIAT 96 where it took off to start it's display but hastly landed again after performing a circuit where it looked like it was slowly losing height.. One of the engines had failed so an emergency landing was performed & once safely landed & taxying the other engine then failed!! The pilot certainly did the right thing that day.

Steve

Just to confirm that the RAFM's Vimy is currently stored dismantled in Stafford but Brooklands Museum's example was relocated from the Bellman hangar to a new purpose-built temporary hangar (supplied and erected by De Boer) on 15th September 2016 - it is being maintained in ground-running condition and remains on public display.

Julian

Yes, indeed - this is one of the reasons why we have housed it in its own hangar on the edge of our Aircraft Park but with access to the nearby former Race Track's Finishing Straight where it will be able to demonstrate it with engines running and hopefully with room even to taxy it as well. After being kept in the Wellington Hangar since November 2009 and with its engines inhibited for the last few years, the Vimy was restored to ground-running condition in September 2015 and demonstrated on our Great War Day.

Until the current major HLF project is completed late next Summer, it will not be possible to get the Vimy onto that area of the site and at present the Vimy is facing the back wall of the hangar until other works are completed on the building and several other aircraft exhibits can be re-housed in our new Flight Shed nearby. The following photos show NX71MY during and soon after its recent move. The large roller-shutter door was only fitted to the new hangar after the Vimy had been parked inside.

Julian