Vickers Type 264 Valentia

The Vickers Valentia, company designation Type 264, was a British biplane bomber transport built by Vickers for the Royal Air Force in the mid 1930s. It grew out of the earlier Vickers Victoria, itself derived from the Virginia. By 1932 the Napier Lion engines of the Victoria were becoming obsolete, so the design was re-engined with more powerful Bristol Pegasus radials and given a strengthened airframe, strut-braced landing gear, wheel brakes and a tailwheel. The Valentia Mk I first flew in 1934. Twenty-eight were built new to Specification 30/34 and 54 more were converted from Victorias. It entered service with No. 70 Squadron at Hinaidi in Iraq and was used for transport and air policing in India, Persia and Iraq, with bomb racks fitted when needed. Valentias flew night bombing sorties in the Western Desert in 1940, took part in the defence of RAF Habbaniya in 1941 and stayed in service until 1944.