Westland Wapiti (and Vickers Vimy)

A great day in Australian aviation was 10 December 1919, when Ross and Keith Smith, with Bennett and Shiers, landed in Darwin and won the £10,000 prize for the first flight from England to Australia.

The aircraft used was a Vickers FB27 A Vimy IV (ex-F8630) with the civil registration G-EAOU. In 1920 the Vimy was presented to the Commonwealth, and in 1921 it was entered on the RAAF register as A5. The aircraft was never used, and in the years that followed it was successively, stored, transferred to the War Museum, returned to the RAAF, dismantled, re-assembled, partially burnt, and finally rebuilt. In 1958, it came to a peaceful rest at Adelaide Airport, where it is now on permanent display.

With the Vimy in storage the number A5 became redundant so, in 1928, it was re-allotted to the Westland Wapiti. This perplexing situation of having a 1928 aircraft (A5 Wapiti) between two 1921 types (A4 Sopwith Pup and A6 DH 9), has caused many headaches for historians.

The first batch of Wapitis, which arrived in 1929, were Mk Is. These were later followed by the Mk IIA, which had a more powerful engine and a split-axle undercarriage. Subsequently the Mk Is were modified to Mk IIA standard. One Mk I Wapiti was temporarily fitted with skis before delivery, and photographs of this aircraft, A5-2, have become collector's items.

TECHNICAL DATA: Westland Wapiti

DESCRIPTION:

Two-seat general-purpose light bomber.

POWER PLANT:

One 550hp Bristol Jupiter XFA.

DIMENSIONS:

Span 14.15 m (46ft 5in); length 9.90 m (31ft 8in); height 3.61 m (11ft 10in).

WEIGHTS:

Empty, 1442 kg; loaded, 2449 kg.

PERFORMANCE:

Speed 214 km/h (133mph); range 580 km (360 miles); ceiling 20,000ft (6096 m).

ARMAMENT:

One fixed Vickers gun forward, one Lewis aft; bomb load 227 kg (500lbs).

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