Vickers Wellesley

what is it?

The Vickers Wellesley was a medium bomber that was designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Vickers-Armstrongs at Brooklands near Weybridge, Surrey. It was one of two aircraft to be named after Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, the other being the Vickers Wellington. The Wellesley was developed during the early 1930s in response to Specification G.4/31.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 22.7 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 367 km/htop speed
• size 5,670 kgmax take-off weight
• built 177made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 91 years ago, in 1935.
• 🏎️Top speed is 2.8× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 22.7 m: about 5 cars parked nose to tail.

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1935-06-19

introduced

1937

retired

1944

status

retired

number built

177

role

general purpose bomber

makers

Vickers-Armstrongs

engines

1× Bristol Pegasus XX

crew

3

length

12 m

wingspan

22.7 m

height

4.7 m

max take-off weight

5,670 kg

top speed

367 km/h

cruise speed

290 km/h

range

—

ceiling

7,772 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.