Vickers’ versatile ‘flying classroom’

DEVELOPMENT | VICKERS VARSITY First Varsity prototype VX828 in flight. BAE SYSTEMS The Vickers Varsity has its origins in Specification T13/48, which required “a crew training aircraft by 1952 to replace the Wellington T10”. It went on to state that the aircraft “will be used by day and night in the following training roles: (a) Air navigation/bomb aiming (b) Pilot training (c) Signals training”. Unusually, the RAF envisaged a new design rather than an adaptation of an existing aircraft to