Vickers Wellesley

[Neil Wakefield]

176 Vickers Wellesley were built. Service use began in 76 Squadron on 20/3/37, followed by 7 more squadrons in UK and Middle East. Wartime use was restricted to 3 squadrons in North Africa (14, 47 and 223).

When was the last Wellesley delivered to the RAF?
Does anybody have any information on Wellesley losses pre-war and during the war?

Thanks,

Neil

[Laurent Rizzotti]

The book you need is 'RAF Bomber losses in the Middle East 1 Mediterranean volume 1: 1939-1942' (I bought mine 25 euros in France).

A quick scan of the book shows about 14 Wellesley lost from 1 Sep 39 to 9 June 40, then around 50 lost until the end of 40 and more lost later.

[Graham Boak]

The appropriate Air Britain serial book (The K Register, I think? Or more likely the L?) will give the known history of the Wellesley fleet, including all dates of losses. Look on their website for availability.

[Neil Wakefield]

Thanks for the info. I'll try to get hold of a copy of the K file book