Vickers Vernon

The Vickers Vernon was a British biplane troop carrier used by the Royal Air Force. It entered service in 1921 and was the first dedicated troop transport of the RAF. It was a development of the Vickers Vimy Commercial, a passenger variant of the famous Vimy bomber, and was powered by two Napier Lion or Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII engines. Fifty-five were built. In February 1923 Vernons of Nos. 45 and 70 Squadrons airlifted nearly 500 troops to Kirkuk in Iraq after the civilian area of that town was overrun by Kurdish forces, the first strategic airlift of troops. Vernons were replaced by the Vickers Victoria from 1927.