Designed as a WWI era five-place heavy bomber, the 68 foot span Vickers Vimy was produced too late to see combat service. The design was not to be forgotten, however, as several examples were used to accomplish early postwar record flights. Some of the 1919 and 1920 record flights in this type included a trans-Atlantic flight, a flight from England to Adelaide, Australia, and a flight from England to Cape Town, South Africa (completed in a De Havilland D.H.9 after the second Vimy crashed enroute). There are at least two of these record setters preserved in museums, and no less then two full size replicas of this type have been completed in later years. One of these replicas was used to successfully reenact the England to Australia record flight, despite one forced landing and some very inclement weather along the way, and also the London to Cape Town route without incident.
