Vickers Jockey

Type 151 Jockey
Vickers Type 151 Jockey
Role	Interceptor fighter
National origin	United Kingdom
Manufacturer	Vickers Ltd.
Designer	Rex Pierson and J. Bewsher
First flight	April 1930
Number built	1
Variants	Vickers Venom

The Vickers Type 151 Jockey was an experimental low-wing monoplane interceptor fighter powered by a radial engine. It was later modified into the Type 171 Jockey II that had a more powerful engine and detailed improvements. Only one was built and this was lost before its development was complete, but the knowledge gained enabled Vickers to produce the more refined Venom.

Development

In the late 1920s, the idea of the interceptor fighter was forming. To deal with the faster and higher flying bombers, fighters had both to be fast at height and quick to get there. The Air Ministry was keen to determine the best aircraft configuration and sought, under Air Ministry specification F.20/27, manufacturers to build biplanes and both low- and high-wing monoplanes. Vickers were asked for a prototype low wing fighter and this became (somewhat unofficially) called the "Jockey", or sometimes the Jockey I. The name covered Vickers Types 151 and 171; the Jockey II was an early name for the later Venom.^[1]

Vickers Type 151 Jockey

The Type 151 Jockey was a compact and rather angular, low cantilever wing monoplane, built using the Wibault-Vickers corrugated skinned all-metal method as used on the Vireo. The unstressed skin was riveted onto a largely duralumin structure, a few steel tubes forming highly stressed members. The parallel chord, square tipped wing used the thick, high-lift RAF 34 cross section that Vickers had employed on the Viastra. The tailplane was equally rectangular and the fin clipped. All control surfaces apart from the rudder were unbalanced. The pilot's open cockpit was at the highest part of the fuselage at mid-chord. The 480 horsepower (360 kW) Bristol Mercury IIA 9-cylinder radial, was initially mounted without a cowling. A single axle undercarriage had legs attached to front and rear wing spars.^[1]

The Jockey was taken to RAF Martlesham Heath for its first flight in April 1930 and subsequent testing.^[2] A rear fuselage vibration was at first thought to be aerodynamic but proved to be structural; it was cured after Barnes Wallis redesigned the internal bracing. The rudder was modified, its balance removed and a trim tab installed. Spats were added to the undercarriage and a Townend ring enclosed the engine. The same aircraft was re-named the Type 171 Jockey when the Mercury was replaced by a 530 horsepower (400 kW) supercharged Bristol Jupiter VIIF. The intention to power the Jockey with a supercharged Mercury IVS2 was never realised, after the sole Jockey was lost to a flat spin on 5 July 1932, crashing at Woodbridge, Suffolk, the pilot bailing out at 5,000 feet (1,500 m).^[3] The results of the tests had been sufficiently good to encourage Vickers to refine its design into the Vickers Venom.^[1]

Variants

Type 151 Jockey

Prototype single-seat fighter, one only (J9122).

Type 171 Jockey II

Early name for Vickers Venom, a Jockey development.

Type 196 Jockey III

Single-seat fighter, same engine as Type 171. Started but not completed. Registered G-AAWG reserved by Vickers 5 April 1933.^[4]

Specifications (Type 171)

Data from Andrews & Morgan 1988, p. 254

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 23 ft 0 in (7.01 m)
• Wingspan: 32 ft 6 in (9.90 m)
• Height: 8 ft 3 in (2.51 m)
• Wing area: 150 ft² (13.94 m²)
• Empty weight: 2,260 lb (1,025 kg)
• Gross weight: 3,161 lb (1,434 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × Bristol Jupiter VIIF nine cylinder radial, 530 hp (395 kW)

Performance

• Maximum speed: (at 10,000 ft, 3,048 m) 218 mph (351 km/h)
• Service ceiling: (absolute) 31,000 ft (9,450 m)
• Rate of climb: ( to 10,000 ft, 3,048 m) 2,083 ft/min (10.6 m/s)

Armament

• provision for 2 Vickers machine guns

References

Notes

1. Andrews & Morgan 1988, pp. 238–41, 254, 515
2. Andrews & Morgan 1988, pp. 240–1
3. Mason, Francis K., "The British Fighter since 1912", Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 1992, Library of Congress card number 92-63026, ISBN 1-55750-082-7, pages 228.
4. Andrews & Morgan 1988, p. 515

Bibliography

• Andrews, C. F.; Morgan, E. B. (1988). Vickers Aircraft since 1908 (2nd ed.). London: Putnam. ISBN 0-85177-815-1.