6/22/05:

Here is a picture that my Dad took from the air while serving with the RAF in Iraq in 1935.  The caption under the photo is: "Vic in the Mire Yas".  There is quite a riddle here which I have been trying to solve for years. 
 
What is a Vickers Vimy doing in the Iraq desert in 1935?  Exactly where is the Mire Yas anyway?  Note that the plane has RAF roundels on the wings which means it was either being used in a military capacity, or on some sort of publicity tour.  
 
Anyway, I thought you may find it of interest.
 
Good luck with your flight.

Peter Colley

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6/22/05:

Dear Samara:

By all means post it on your web site. You can add the copyright notice that it was taken by Squadron Leader Thomas Colley in 1935. He was serving with RAF 203 Flying Boat Squadron based in Basrah, Iraq at the time.

By the way, I sent a copy to Steve Fossett, as we have a mutual friend.

Happy flying!

Peter

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6/22/05:


Dear Samara:

Regarding the 1935 air-to-ground photo you just posted on vimy.org...

Personally, I don't think it is a Vimy at all! Why? The wingtips are the wrong shape (too square) and also the shading on the fuselage implies that the cross-section of the fuselage is round rather than square. Therefore I conclude that it is very probably some other kind of Vickers aircraft, oerhaps a Vickers Victoria. I sincerely hope someone more expert than I can shed further light on this mystery photo!

Regards,

Alan Greenwood
Webmaster, Toronto Aerospace Museum

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6/22/05:

The photograph published today on the Atlantic website is not of a Vimy but a Vickers Victoria troop carrier. The caption to the original print is "Vic in the Mire Yas". The Victoria was a descendant of the Vimy, with an enclosed, oval-section fuselage accommodating 22 passengers on inward-facing folding canvas seats. it was used by the RAF in policing various remote roadless parts of the Empire, notably Afghanistan and Iraq; plus ca change, etc....

Other offspring of the Vimy were the Valentia troop carrier, with a bloated, more circular fuselage, and the Virginia heavy bomber.

Hope this solves part of Peter Colley's riddle; I can't help with the location, though.

I first saw your Vimy at Oshkosh some years ago, and have followed her adventures from the start. I spoke with Mark at Downsview, Toronto and again a few days later when to my surprise we met at Ottawa. I took a very evocative digital photo of him with the charts for Eastern Canada taped together and laid out along the lower wing whilst he drew a straight line from Gatineau to St. John's, but unfortunately I seem to have erased it.

Yours,
Michael Green,
Toronto

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6/22/05:

Dear Vimy team,

The photograph that you have just uploaded is of a Vickers Valentia and not a Vickers Vimy (note the slightly swept back wings and rounded fuselage). The design of the Vimy was followed by the larger Virginia, then the Victoria and finally the Valentia. All were used with the RAF for many duties including troop transport. Even the Vimy was used up to the Munich Crisis in 1938 as a target aircraft for searchlight crew training, and at Henlow for parachute training.

Regards,

Neil Farley.
HP42Project

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6/23/05:

Further to my e-mail of last night, I find that Vimys were used in the Middle East in the 1920's. Also another bulbous-bodied derivative, the Vickers Vernon, a transport and ambulance aircraft. Both were used on the Cairo - Baghdad mail service.

Given that several Vickers types were used in that region I think that "Vic" is more likely to be an abbreviation of Victoria rather than Vickers, and the fuselage doesn't look right for a Vimy. I don't know whether the latter were inservice there as late as 1935, but the photo looks as though it could be of a forced landing. Perhaps the aircraft had been abandoned some time ago, and that is why it was interesting enough to be photographed.

Mihael Green,
Toronto

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6/23/05:

Greetings from Belize. Great website. I'm originally from Ireland and know Clifden well, was there only two weeks ago. Wish I could go back for the 'arrival'.

I think you'll find that the mystery 'plane in the pic today is not a Vickers Vimy but actually a Vickers Victoria troop carrier (also hence the caption 'vic in ....). They were made from 1922 on though only 97 were built. They did see use in Iraq.

Any prizes for guessing the mystery.... like a quick trip to Clifden? Nope... oh well.

Congrats again,

Philip Milliken

Go to link and scroll down for other pic of Vickers Victoria in Iraq 1935

http://www.lyneham.raf.mod.uk/70Sqn/Page_2_History.htm

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6/23/05:

 

Back again, I'm afraid. When looking at the photo before, I concentrated on the fuselage and didn't look at the wings.

So, first, it's definitely not a Vimy - it has no projecting horn balances on the ailerons and it has Handley Page slats on the upper wings.

It is either a Virginia bomber or a Victoria troop carrier. Both had wing tips as shown; the Virginia had slats but at present I cannot confirm whether the Victoria did. The nose does not look as bulbous as I'd expected for a Victoria, but on the other hand there is no sign of the front gunner's position nor the bomb-aimer's window of the Virginia.

On balance I'd say, with the caption writer, that it is a Vic(toria) in the Mire Yas.

The photo seems to show something on the port wing inboard of the engine - could the machine be being worked on, perhaps after a forced landing?

Yours,
Michael Green,
still in Toronto