Hello,
Vickers Type 487 were Wellington Mk.XVII's. Do you mean Vickers Type 436 (which was a Mk.IX). If so, the first conversion was P2522.
"The transport Wellingtons could carry up to nine passengers or eighteen troops, with Mk.IC [sic]* P2522 of the Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment (AFEE) at Sherburn-in-Elmet being the first conversion, emerging as a T.Mk.IX." (p.200).
Wellington Variants & Production. Variants and Vickers type numbers.
Mk.IX Type 437.
Converted Mk.IA for Transport Command, total number unknown. (p.230).
* Should read Mk.IA.
See:
Wimpy A Detailed Illustrated History of the Vickers Wellington in Service, 1938-1953
Bond,Steve
London:Grub Street,2014
p.200.
Air-Britain's Royal Air Force Aircraft P1000-R9999 (1996 ed.)/Halley, p.19, mentions the following:
18 Wellington IAs delivered in December 1939 and January 1940 by Vickers, Weybridge, to Contract No. 781439/36 to replace RNZAF aircraft. (P2515-P2532).
P2522
Converted to DWI
To 1 GRU
To RAE
To 3 GRU
To AFEE
To 24 Sqn.
Struck off Charge 10.3.43
No mention of Mk.IX conversion.
Bruce Robertson in "The Bible", British Military Aircraft Serials 1878-1987 (p.110), mentions:
P2515-P2532 - Vickers Wellington IA (18).
Conversions -
P2518 - DW.I
P2522 - DW.I, then Mk.IX
P2519, P2521, 2528 - Mk.XV
P2517 - became 2794M
With the following Caveat:
Mk IX - Type 437 (all conversions).
This was the formal designation applied to an unknown number of Mk IC, II, III and IV aircraft converted to carry 18 troops or equivalent payload, with turrets replaced by fairings (which had originally been designed to allow Wellingtons to be flight-tested when turrets were not available). (p.21)
http://www.sirbarneswallis.com/files...References.pdf See: Chapter 1 - The Wellington Story, p.21.
ie,
Wellington IC T2977
Converted to VIII
To 221 Sqn
Converted to IX
To 1422 Flight
Hit by Defiant AA416 while parked, Heston, 12.1.43.
Struck off Charge 8.3.43 as Beyond Economical Repair.
A-B/ RAF A/C T1000-V9999 (1997)/Halley/p.25.
Col.