Vickers Vagabond

The Vickers Vagabond, the Type 98, was Vickers' entrant for the second Lympne light aircraft competition, held in 1924. After the first trials of 1923 for single-seat motor-gliders, the Air Ministry organised a similar event for low-powered two-seat aircraft with an engine limit of 1,100 cc and folding wings. The Vagabond was a conventional small single-bay, wire-braced biplane with equal-span staggered wings, ailerons on both wings and an unusual method of longitudinal trimming: instead of moving the tailplane, the whole rear part of the fuselage was hinged ahead of the lower wing trailing edge and controlled by a handwheel between the cockpits. It first used a 32 hp Bristol Cherub III and then a three-cylinder 1,095 cc Blackburne Thrush radial, and flew well enough at Lympne but was eliminated in the preliminary rounds. Only one was built, registered G-EBJF in July 1924 and deregistered in January 1928.