Vickers Vimy

[fernytickles]

Arrived in Oshkosh this afternoon, enroute to Toronto, Ottawa, St John's, Newfie, then off for some Guinness in Clifden, Ireland, re-enacting Alcock & Brown's 1919 flight.

Fantastic looking plane. Must be quite the rigging nightmare...

Here's the website and schedule for those interested http://www.vimy.org/vimyatlantic/flightschedule/index.html

and this one http://www.vimy.org/vimyinfo/index.html

They hope to have 4 webcams running while they are flying across the Atlantic. Even if the navigator gets lost, we will all know where they are :ok:

Hope some of you 'high-flying' guys get to say hello on the radio to them while they are enroute.

[mutt]

Good Luck to them..... but i suggest that they try to get a little bit further than Alcock and Brown, their particular landing site was too far away from the local pub :):)

Mutt.

[MrBernoulli]

I hope they don't try and re-enact the prang into an Irish peat-bog! That would be taking realism too far.

Best of luck to Will and Mark ...... from a former driver of the Vickers Funbus!!!!!!!!!

[bear11]

I see they have permission to land on a golf course near Clifden - it brings a new meaning to the term keeping it on the fairway.

[ayrprox]

Could this be ryanairs first attempt at a low cost tranatlantic service :E

[noisy]

M O'L would make you provide your own blankets. :sad:

[fernytickles]

We've woken up to not a cloud in the sky, so the trip out of Oshkosh for the guys should be straightforward, assuming everything works ok.

[Agaricus bisporus]

Bless 'em and Godspeed.

But let's remember a couple of things...

Alcock and Brown did this unsupported and on first principles with no back-up, and although flying the Atlantic in a 100mph VFR biplane is no joke sans autopilot about all that remains of a real similarity are the laws of aerodynamics.

These fellas have an airframe built and checked by modern methods and materials which may only be a small but real advantage, but what follows is out of all comparison to the original effort.

They have modern engines, a safety factor probably worth 100 crossings over the originals.

They have GPS nav. They can't get lost. They have comms even if they did...A factor of maybe 10 over A and Brown.

They have modern met forecasts. safety factor, what, 10, over the guesswork of 1920 whenever?

They have EPIRB and modern dinghy/survival gear. International ocean wide recovery agencies now exist. Even if it goes horribly wrong they will be almost certainly be rescued barring incapacitation in the ditching, and even this will be far more survivable with modern harnesses, design, build and knowhow.. A factor of probably a million?

An spectacular stunt I grant you, but risk of an infinitessimal level compared to Alcock and Brown.

Still, wish 'em luck!

[fernytickles]

And your point is?

For your info, they do not have GPS. The navigator will be using all the same methods as used in 1919 - sextant, drift meter, DR etc, etc.

I think to call it a "stunt" is a bit harsh. A dream fullfilled perhaps? Or an ambition achieved. "Stunts" are what wanna-be rock stars do to get their picture in Hello or Okay or People magazines.

[Rollingthunder]

A brave adventure. Still getting my head around the .
Mercedes engines. They lost one of those on the England to Australia flight.

Does it carry a life raft? Undercart does not look amenable to ditching in the Atlantic or anywhere else for that matter.

[fernytickles]

There was a large, dayglow orange container sticking up just behind the cockpit which we assumed was a liferaft, tho' never thought to ask....:hmm: Hopefully they won't need to test it or the undercarriage's ability to float!

[Skylark4]

I saw her at the PFA Rally some years ago with the original engines which sounded fine and I saw her at Oshkosh in 2001 when she had the BMW engines which sounded awful, like a couple of two-strokes. One of the above posts mentions Mercedes engines but I havent been able to follow that up. How do they sound?
(Could probably have got away with a couple of big turbo diesels from a truck).

Mike W

[fernytickles]

Dunno about Mercedes, but the Canadian Orenda engines sounded quite like rotax engines when they started up and shut down. Once they were running, they sounded just fine.

I am reliably informed by someone standing next to me and reading this post over my shoulder that the Vimy never had Merc engines on it - 1st Chevy engines, then BMW and now Orendas.

[Rollingthunder]

I stand corrected. Memory going.


The twin-engined replica bomber is the world's largest flying biplane, has a 70' wingspan and 4-bladed 10' propellers, stands over 15' high and will weigh over 6 tonnes fully laden on takeoff. It is built of wood, metal and fabric - just as was the original some 86 years ago, but as the original Rolls Royce Eagle V-12 engines are, understandably, hard to find, the aircraft has been powered by a number of different automotive-based engines - first from Chevrolet and then BMW - and now by a pair of 8.4 litre Canadian-built Orenda V8's, aero motors developed from a General Motors truck engine design.

[Lou Scannon]

The press, back in 1919 had a problem in remembering who was who in the Vimy crew.

This was reportedly resolved by Flt Lt Alcock calling from the cockpit:

"Remember...it's Alcock in front..."

followed by Flt Lt Whitten-Brown adding...:

"...and a Brown behind!".

Brave, brave men.:ok:

[ShyTorque]

At least one original Vimy had Fiat enines. I've got the photo somewhere, inherited from my father, who surprised the RAF Museum with it.

[fernytickles]

They've made it to Newfie, eh :ok:

[Rollingthunder]

Up to the top because I'm looking forward to following this.

[fernytickles]

RollingThunder - thanks for that. If you hadn't, I would have.

I was thinking that it would be nice if they had a messages page on the website, but I guess that adds even more work for the team...

I'm really looking forward to seeing the webcam shots.

[Oshkosh George]

Planned to be airborne at 2230 BST tonight with arrival expected to be 1600 BST sunday.

These are brave men too,but a better chance of rescue should,god forbid,anything go wrong.

[Kolibear]

Whatever happened to Alcock & brown's Vimy? It used to be in the Science Museum in London.

[Rollingthunder]

Apparently FedEx and UPS don't go to St. John's. :D

According the Science Museum's site - it's still on display.

[Rollingthunder]

Word just in from Newfoundland - the Vimy crew has scheduled a transatlantic departure for tomorrow, July 2, 2005 at 7 p.m. NFLD time - with an approximate arrival in Ireland at 4 or 5 p.m., Ireland time, on July 3, 2005.

[Cyclic Hotline]

This just in......................

For Immediate Release:


Vimy to Depart St. John’s, Newfoundland Saturday, July 2, 2005

July 1, 2005: The Vickers Vimy is scheduled to depart from the IMP Hangar, off Torbay Road, St. John’s International Airport at 7:00 PM Newfoundland time (5:30 pm Eastern), Saturday, July 2, 2005, bound for Clifden Ireland.

Piloted by renowned aviator Steve Fossett, and co-pilot and navigator, Mark Rebholz, the Vimy will re-create the historic first non-stop transatlantic flight by John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown in 1919.

The flight is expected to take 18 – 20 hours with the Vimy landing at Connemara Championship Golf Links in Clifden, County Galway, Ireland.

A brief press conference will be held beginning at 6:00 PM Newfoundland time at the IMP Hangar. The general public is invited to attend the press conference and to see the Vimy off on its re-creation of this great event in aviation history. Doors to the hangar will open at 5:00 PM. Media are asked to attend the Press Conference, as no individual interviews will be scheduled prior to departure.

Following its departure from St. John’s Airport, the Vimy will be visible as it flies toward Signal Hill and the Narrows making its way due-east out over the Atlantic Ocean.

[Rollingthunder]

Two American adventurers have left Newfoundland in a Vickers Vimy biplane replica, on a long-delayed attempt to recreate the first transatlantic flight.


Millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett, 60, and co-pilot Mark Rebholz, 52, battled high winds as they lifted off from St. John's International Airport shortly after 7 p.m. NDT on Saturday

CBC

[Simtech]

They made it!


http://www.clifdenchamber.com/vimywatch.htm


:ok:

[Rollingthunder]

Saw a nice overhead photo of the Vimy landing on the golf course. I was hoping there would be more information on the details of the flight itself, but I haven't found any. Reserved for the documentary?

[Rood]

Where has the Vimy been this weekend (9/10 July) ?

Just saw it heading west across West Sussex about 6pm.

Amazing sight, just wish I`d got the camera faster

[R for Robert]

Now based at Dunsfold for at least the next few weeks.,

[RJM]

Tucked away in a building in the carpark at Adelaide Airport is the Vickers Vimy flown from England to Australia in 1919 by Capt Ross Smith MC DFC AFC, his brother Lt Keith Smith and mechanics Sgt J M Bennett AFM MSM and Sgt W H Shiers MSM. It's worth a look next time anyone is way down here.

I'm new here - if anyone can tell me how to post a pic on this forum, I'll do so.