Vickers Vimy operational sortie

[RobL]

In the thread about British bomber raids against Germany in WWI, someone mentioned that the RAF mounted one operational sortie using the Vickers Vimy in the last days of the war. Does anyone have any more information about this?

Many thanks, Rob

[Dolphin]

Rob

Only one of the three Vimys then in RAF service went to France before the Armistice, but it was not used operationally. Had the War continued into 1919 the Vimy would have equipped units of the Independent Force, RAF.

However, there was an operational sortie of sorts by another twin-engined bomber. No 104 Sqn of the Independent Force received DH 10 F1867 in late September 1918, and on 10 November Capt E J Garland and 2Lt W E Bottrill unoffically took part in a raid on Sarrebourg by DH 9s from No 104 Sqn. Bombs were dropped om Sarrebourg aerodrome and some shots were fired at apparent enemy fighters - fortunately these missed, as the aircraft were French Spads.

Regards

Gareth

[centurion]

My understanding is that F9569 a Rolls Royce engined prototype joined the RAF Independent Force on 10th Oct 1918 'for evaluation' being mainly based with no 3 AD. In those days 'evaluation' often meant 'trying it out on the enemy' and the Vimy apparently carried out an attack on a relatively soft target. Whether of not this counts as operational is a matter of interpretation.