Vickers Warwick

The Vickers Warwick was a British twin-engined bomber designed and manufactured by Vickers-Armstrongs in the late 1930s as a larger counterpart to the Vickers Wellington. The two aircraft share similar construction and design principles. The Warwick was the largest British twin-engined aircraft to see use in the Second World War. Its first flight was on 13 August 1939 with Rolls-Royce Vulture engines, but development was delayed by a lack of suitable engines, and by the time adequate engines were available the type was obsolete. It entered production in 1942, with the Pratt and Whitney Double Wasp radial as the usual powerplant. Barely a dozen were built as bombers. Most Warwicks served as transports with RAF Transport Command and with BOAC, and as air-sea rescue and maritime reconnaissance aircraft with Coastal Command. The Polish Air Forces in exile and the South African Air Force also flew them. Warwick transports were retired in 1946.