Vickers Varsity

AirJim,
Presume you have seen the photo in post 33.

Yes, at one point I had a copy of the photos of the whole landing sequence. Sadly I can’t find them. I knew the pilot that turned it into the swing wing Varsity.

Jim

AirJim,

Presume you have seen the photo in post 33.

Here is an update- who needs a spar when you have a nifty little stone wall?

It ended up bellying-in in the southwestern States and was then cobbled-up for static display.

WJ948 which crashed at West Texas Airport in 1983. I’ll try to dig up my pics of it.

Jim

More Thanks, AR

PIG!!!!

Yes, I have heard MANY people refer to the Varsity as the Pig. Indeed, I have heard people call many types of aircraft the pig, the queen of the skies, what have you. The fact remains, however, that the origins of the name lie with the old Valetta for the reasons given before. Many RAF personnel – in ignorance – transferred the name to the Varsity when the Valettas were scrapped. A large proportion of these could not tell the difference between the two! In conclusion, I will not argue that technicians, etc. referred to the Varsity as the pig; I have heard them myself over the years. But when both the Valetta and Varsity were still in service, NO-ONE called the Varsity pig!

There were plans years ago to keep WL626 flying but nothing came of it, unfortunately. I would love to see – and hear – one fly again. Even better, I would love to fly it!

The Beverly may (to some) apear to be ugly on the outside but its whats inside that counts, a grand master in the easy to load stakes and thare wasnt much it couldnt carry, just ask any MAMS team that had to work on them.

As we have some ‘quality viewers’, here are another four:
1) WJ911 of 115 Sqn. RAF Signals Command at Lyneham 12th July 1968.
2) WL673 of 6 FTS in white/grey/dayglo scheme touching down at Colerne 4th July 1970.
3) WL688 of 5 FTS in red/white/grey scheme taking off from Lyneham 21 April 1972.
4) Finally – my favourite shot of the RAE’s radar-nosed WF379 at Abingdon on 15th September 1978 lit by a small shaft of sunlight with a thunderstorm brewing the background. 5 minutes later it tipped down!!!

Luvly, tks Albert

Thought you might like to see some of my Varsity slides that I took at Little Rissington during 1968-70.

At Finningley in the last days of the Varsity some of the groundcrew were instructed that if they wished there was a Varsity they could vent some of their frustration on with sledgehammers !

RobAnt,

You must have been hiding yourself away in 1973/4 at Finningley then! The Varsity squadron was the largest on the station with 14 aircraft allotted and my recollection is that the damm things were everywhere!

A225HVY,

There were 14 left on their last day of service which was April 2nd 1976, they were flown away over the next few months with just 2 or 3 remaining plus one on the fire dump and another wingless as a ground instructional airframe.

You must be mixing up your dates or airfields over Hastings flights, they all left Lindholme in 1972 for Scampton. Nothing but gliders flew out of Lindholme until it was briefly reopened as an RLG for METS in the late 70’s. (also had helicopters there during Royal Review in 77)

Russ Snadden,

I can assure you that the Varsity most certainly WAS called the pig! Especially by groundcrew or anyone else who had to touch those engines and their cowlings!

Lovely aircraft, should be at least one flying, just because one UK preserved machine crashes in most unfortunate circumstances the poor thing is somehow condemmed.

bin looking for a bit of history on my thread about this aircraft mystery solved

Here’s a shot of the cockpit of the ex Newton Varsity’s cockpit that I took where it presently resides behind a garage near Hull. I took this (with permission) earlier this year.

From Newton to Hull and subsequently the nose section that was featured up there behind a garage.

Yes it was a Varsity behind the mess at Newton. I had a close look at it a few years ago and it was in a heartbreaking state then. On my last visit there just before Newton closed, the aircraft had gone. I would imagine it must have been scrapped as I would be surprised if anyone could have acquired it in that condition.

I hope I am surprised!

I remember Varsities flying over are house in 1964-68 at Histon,day in day out

Anyone remember the swing-wing Varsity?

This was the last time it performed this particular trick!

El Paso, Texas

Was that an OLD Varsity at the rear of the Sgt’s Mess at RAF Newton andif so WHAT happened to it ??? :confused:

Varsity ‘pod’

‘Fraid not. I think you may be referring to the gondola (forgive me if I am wrong) which housed a prone student bomb-aimer and instructor seated conventionally forward of a small bomb bay. As you will see from photographs of the old girl, it was very close to the ground. A good friend of mine can testify to this. He came with me on a navigation exercise and while I was concentrating on where we were up front, he had free range of the aircraft. Returning to Oakington, my instructor suggested I show him a glide approach. The Varsity went down at a very steep angle to maintain the appropriate airspeed against windmilling props. and the idea was to flare at the appropriate time (so easy to get wrong!) and touch down fairly close to normal position on the runway. That little feat successfully demonstrated, I was taxying in when I noticed my friend standing behind with ashen face. He had been lying on the bomb-aimers couch during the exercise!

Yes, the old Varsity leaked copiously but the rain came in through the panel outside of the main winshields. This was a three-piece plexiglas affair. By unscrewing a knob on the centre portion, this could be brought towards the pilot and pulled up. Great for fresh air but the lack of a seal allowed water ingress – and it all ended up in my left boot!

Good to hear Russ! The Channel Airways crews had to wear wet-weather gear if rain was forecast!

On a general note, didn’t some of the Varsities carry a pod underneath? I have heard stories about hapless student pilots scraping them on runways when forgetting to lower the small round rubber things