Vickers G.4/31 / Type 253

Flight, June 1935

NEW and EXPERIMENTAL TYPES at HENDON

Vickers G.P. Biplane: Designed to perform the duties of a General Purpose aeroplane, or to be used as a day and night bomber or as a torpedo-carrier, this machine is a single-engined tractor biplane of all-metal construction, duralumin being the chief structural material. The pilot is placed ahead of the wings, and his cockpit is closed by a transparent roof. Handley Page slots and Frise ailerons are fitted. The undercarriage has Vickers oleo-pneumatic shock absorbers and Vickers wheel brakes. The wing span is 73 ft. 7 in., the length 38 ft. 6 in., and the gross weight 10,000 lb.

Although seated in a commanding position, the pilot of the Vickers General Purpose biplane (700 h.p. Bristol "Pegasus") is well protected from the elements.

The biplane G4/31 K2771 ground-running at Brooklands in mid-1934. The fuselage used geodetics.

The Vickers Type 253 general purpose biplane, powered by a 750 h.p. Pegasus III engine, was flown by Flt Lt H. P. Fraser.

Both G4/31 interpretations performing at the Hendon Air Pageant, 1935. The G4/31 biplane (wearing the ‘New Types Park’ number 6) follows the monoplane PVO-9 ‘4‘.