Vickers Vimy Replicas

There have been two airworthy replicas made of the Vimy. Firstly in 1969 the Vintage Aircraft and Flying Association built a replica to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of the first non-stop North Atlantic flight in June 1919. G-AWAU first flew on 3^rd June 1969. It was repainted as H651I and damaged by fire at Manchester Airport. Repaired, the Vimy is now in the RAF Museum, Hendon.

An American businessman, Peter McMillan, completed the second replica "Shell Spirit of Brooklands" in 1994. A full history of the building of this replica and its flights can be found on the official website www.vimy.org. The Vimy undertook a number of appearances in 1996 and attended many air shows including Biggin Hill, Woodford, Waddington, International Air Tattoo ‘96 and Farnborough ’96. The Vimy was the star of each show it attended and attracted a lot of interest, including sponsorship by BMW to supply new engines. In 1999 the Vimy headed off to South Africa and since 2001 after being taken back to the USA, the Vimy has been getting ready for its third flight, recreating the famous Transatlantic crossing by Alcock and Brown from America to Ireland. The Vimy will attend air shows in the United Sates before hopefully flying back to England in June 2002.