Vickers

Wibault Scout

The Vickers Ltd (Aviation Department) company entered into an agreement with Marcel Wibault to jointly exploit the latter's patents for all-metal aircraft construction and the first product of this agreement was the Vickers Wibault Scout. This aircraft, allocated Vickers Type number 121, was a licence-built version of the Wibault 7.C1, fitted with a Bristol Jupiter engine.

 

The Wibault designs used fabricated light alloy structural members for the main load paths, with thin external light alloy skins for both the wings and fuselage. They were thus of all-metal construction although they were not strictly stressed skinned given that the major loads were supported by the underlying structural components.

 

In 1925, Vickers commissioned a demonstrator 7.C1 aircraft, built in France by the Marcel Wibault concern and fitted with the Jupiter engine, together with British instruments and equipment. This aircraft (F-AHFH) was delivered to Brooklands in February 1926, the only major change made by Vickers was to replace the main wing struts with ones of stronger design.

 

 

The demonstrator aircraft was displayed to a Chilean Air Mission with the favourable outcome of an order for 26 Vickers Wibault Scouts to be built in England. Following this sales success, the demonstrator aircraft was returned to the Wibault concern in France.

 

The first Vickers-built aircraft was flown for the first time by Flt Lt ‘Tiny’ Schofield in June 1926. During this flight, Schofield had the misfortune to place the aircraft in an inverted spin from which it refused to recover.

 

Fortunately, Schofield was wearing a parachute and managed to abandon the aircraft at below 2,000 ft, landing in the grounds of the Vickers Sports Club at Byfleet.

 

 

The 26 aircraft ordered by Chile were duly delivered between September and November 1927 and appear to have given satisfactory service, although it is not clear whether all of these aircraft were assembled and actually flown.