Vicks Warwick? - Aircraft of World War II

Harrier Bill · 09-30-2008, 08:18 AM

Hi,
I,ve been a member for a while but only in a passive role. I'm based in the Uk with 20plus years RAF experience and 13 years with the Royal Saudi Air Force.
I recently found the two attached photos on a Dive website, supposedly a Vickers Wellington howe ver Underwater 2 shows an apparent mid-upper turret. As far as I know no Wellington had a mid-upper turret.

A little research shows that only four types of geodetic aircraft were built, the Wellesley, Wellington, Warwick and Windsor. Both the Wellington and Windsor were twin-engined therefore I suspect this is a Warwick but the only Warwicks I can find with upper turrets have the turret further aft between the wing trailing edge and the fin.

Has anyone any ideas? If it is a Warwick then given the apparent good condition of the aircraft it would be a very worthwhile recovery project.

Airframes · 09-30-2008, 05:05 PM

Hi there, Harrier Bill. Having had a good look at the photos, it seems that the fuselage length aft of the wing would suggest that it's a Wellington. As you pointed out, the upper turret on the Warwick was situated further back. Also, the apparent 'turret' seems rather small in diameter to be a gun turret, and there isn't much evidence of the 'turret' bin inside the fuselage. Also, the structure that is clearly visible is in about the right place for the astrodome on a Wellington, but it looks too large to be a standard astrodome, and appears to possibly have some sort of former or framework. I can only suggest that it could be a Wellington T10, or perhaps one of the other Marks that were converted to crew trainers or transports, particularly those operating in the Mediterranean area.

wingnuts · 10-06-2008, 11:53 PM

Looks more like a "Wimpy" (Wellington) to me too, what looks like a gun turret is more likely to be an astrodome.... it's in the right position.

<simon> · 10-09-2008, 04:44 AM

Yeah, i'm with wingnuts on that one

10-09-2008, 04:44 AM	#4
<simon> Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Heyfield, Victoria Posts: 280	Yeah, i'm with wingnuts on that one __________________ Control tower to aircraft that just landed - "Bear right, next intersection" Pilot - "Roger, we have him in sight"

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09-30-2008, 05:05 PM	#2
Airframes Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 9,062	Hi there, Harrier Bill. Having had a good look at the photos, it seems that the fuselage length aft of the wing would suggest that it's a Wellington. As you pointed out, the upper turret on the Warwick was situated further back. Also, the apparent 'turret' seems rather small in diameter to be a gun turret, and there isn't much evidence of the 'turret' bin inside the fuselage. Also, the structure that is clearly visible is in about the right place for the astrodome on a Wellington, but it looks too large to be a standard astrodome, and appears to possibly have some sort of former or framework. I can only suggest that it could be a Wellington T10, or perhaps one of the other Marks that were converted to crew trainers or transports, particularly those operating in the Mediterranean area.

10-06-2008, 11:53 PM	#3
wingnuts Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 115	Looks more like a "Wimpy" (Wellington) to me too, what looks like a gun turret is more likely to be an astrodome.... it's in the right position.