Vickers Valentia

Three Valentia prototypes were built by the Vickers Company at their Barrow works (Walney Island perhaps), having been ordered in May 1918 as a potential replacement for the Felixstowe F.5. The hull was built by S.E.Saunders works at Cowes. The first of the three (Serial Number N124) first flew on 5 March 1921, when Stanley Cockerell began test-flying it over the Solent.^[2] N124 was damaged on landing in June 1921 and was dismantled, the second N125 forced landed on its delivery flight on 15 March 1922^[3] The third flying boat N126 was delivered in 1923 and used for trials until it was withdrawn from use in November 1924.

The name was later re-used for a transport aircraft, the Vickers Type 264 Valentia.

Data from Vickers Aircraft since 1908 ^[4]

General characteristics

• Crew: 5^[5]
• Length: 58 ft 0 in (17.68 m)
• Wingspan: 112 ft 0 in (34.14 m)
• Empty weight: 10,000 lb (4,536 kg)
• Gross weight: 21,300 lb (9,662 kg)
• Powerplant: 2 × Rolls-Royce Condor water-cooled V12 engine, 650 hp (480 kW) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 105 mph (169 km/h, 91 kn)
• Endurance: 4 hr 30 min^[6]
• Time to altitude: 9.5 min to 6,000 ft (1,800 m)^[5]

Armament

• Guns: Provision for two Lewis guns. Tested with COW 37 mm gun^[6]

• Canadian Vickers – Felixstowe F-III built for transatlantic attempt

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

• Felixstowe F.5
• Phoenix P.5 Cork
• Short N.3 Cromarty
• Supermarine Swan
• Saunders A.14

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vickers Valentia.

• Andrews, C.F and Morgan, E.B. Vickers Aircraft since 1908. London:Putnam, 1988. ISBN 0-85177-815-1.
• London, Peter. British Flying Boats. Stroud, UK:Sutton Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0-7509-2695-3.