Vimy stocked the inventories of No. 7, No. 9, No. 24, No. 45, No. 58, No. 70, No. 99, No. 100, No. 216, No. 500 and No.502 squadrons of the RAF. Its numbers dictated that she become the backbone of the British heavy bomber force for years following the war and some were then utilized in training up-and-coming British bomber crews. It was not until the arrival of the twin-engined Vickers Virginia heavy biplane bomber that the now-outdated Vimy was steadily removed from frontline service. The Virginia emerged in 1924 and served until World War 2 in 1941, 124 examples being produced in all. The last of the Vimys saw a rather unceremonious end to their active tenures, being utilized as targets for the training of ground-based searchlight personnel well into the 1930s. The final Vimy was retired in 1933. A military-minded transport derivative was also produced as the "Vickers Vernon" and purchased by the RAF in number (55). Similarly, the RAF relied on an air ambulance variant as well.
However, it was in the private sector that the Vimy clearly made a name for itself. It was the source of several long-distance records of the time with one achieving a complete non-stop crossing of the Atlantic in June of 1919. The success of the Vimy in the civilian market prompted production of a civilized variant known as the "Vimy Commercial". This form sported a bulbous streamlined fuselage lined with porthole windows while the remainder of the design stayed largely faithful to the original work. Power was served through 2 x Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII series piston engines. First flight of this design occurred on April 13th, 1919.
China purchased approximately 100 Vimys with about 40 ultimately received due to a lack of payment. Modified versions were then used in anger during the 2nd Zhili-Fengtian War of 1924 where they initially gave a good account of themselves in the low-level bombing role. These Vimys managed a non-descript existence until the arrival of the Japanese prior to World War 2. After that they were largely retired from service, the rest being destroyed during the Japanese occupation.
The "Vimy" name came from the "Battle of Vimy Ridge", the April 1917 engagement on French soil between a joint Canadian-British force comprised of five divisions against three divisions of the Imperial German Army (170,000 personnel versus 40,000). The battle resulted in a victory for the Canadian-British force at the cost of some 7,000 souls. The outnumbered Germans suffered 4,000 war dead.
The Vimy served China, France, Spain and the United Kingdom as a civilian passenger hauler.
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