Vickers Type 170 Vanguard

The Vickers Vanguard of the 1920s was a British airliner developed by Vickers Limited from the Victoria. It had a wider fuselage than the Victoria and was a 22-passenger twin-engined biplane. It was originally built for the Air Ministry as the Type 62, powered by two 450 hp Napier Lion engines, and first flew on 18 July 1923. In 1925 it was re-engined with two 650 hp Rolls-Royce Condor III engines and redesignated the Type 103, and it was handed over to Imperial Airways that year. The aircraft was reconditioned in 1928 and redesignated the Type 170 for route proving trials with Imperial Airways from May 1928, flying the London to Paris route in about two and a half hours and then the London, Brussels and Cologne service. It set a world load carrying record on 6 July 1928.