Vickers Warwick The Vickers Warwick was a multi - purpose British aircraft used during the Second World War . Designed and manufactured by Vickers - Armstrongs , it was intended to serve as a larger counterpart to their Wellington bomber , sharing similar construction and design principles . Due to a protracted development , the Warwick was made effectively redundant by rapid aircraft development by rival firms . It was put into operational use by the Royal Air Force ( RAF ) as a transport , air - sea rescue and maritime reconnaissance platform . The British Overseas Airways Corporation ( BOAC ) also operated the Warwick in a civil capacity . Design and development . The Warwick was designed to meet Air Ministry specification B . 1 / 35 for a two - engined heavy ( by the standards of the day ) bomber . It was designed in parallel with the smaller Wellington , both being derived from the Vickers Type 271 design to Specification B . 9 / 32 . B . 1 / 35 was drawn up for a twin - engined heavy bomber in January 1935 ; it was intended to make use of more powerful engines then being developed and thus be both faster and carry a heavier bombload than the B . 3 / 34 specification which would be met by the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley . By the end of July , the Air Ministry was able to consider eight designs . The Vickers 284 with Hercules engines was placed first and a prototype ordered along with prototypes of the designs by Armstrong Whitworth ( AW . 39 a developed Whitley ) and Handley Page ( HP . 55 ) . Before the last two had been built they were cancelled - both Handley Page and Armstrong Whitworth preferring to work on the new specifications for medium ( P . 13 / 36 ) and heavy ( B . 12 / 36 ) bombers . Vickers chose to continue but construction was slowed by work on the Wellington , lack of engines and official expectation that the design would be surpassed by later aircraft . The specification was modified in 1936 for greater fuel and bombload and in 1937 Rolls - Royce Vulture liquid - cooled " X " engines were named as alternative powerplant and adopted in late 1938 . In February 1939 it was decided to not proceed beyond the prototypes because of the work required for the Vulture but this was reversed in the following January . Vickers - Armstrongs completed two prototypes . The first , ( serial " K8178 " ) powered by the Vultures flew from Brooklands on 13 August 1939 . The second prototype ( " L9704 " ) was originally designed to use Napier Sabre engines , but development of the Sabre was slow , with all production capacity needed for the Hawker Typhoon fighter , so " L9704 " was instead fitted with the Bristol Centaurus radial engines , flying on 5 April 1940 . The Vulture engine , needed for the Avro Manchester , was also unlikely to be available in sufficient numbers for the Warwick , and proved unreliable . While the Centaurus - powered prototype was more promising , the development of the Centaurus was at an early stage and again engines were in short supply . Use of the American Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp radial was proposed . The second prototype was converted to use the R - 2800 - S14A4 - G engines and first flew in this form in July 1941 . The Double Wasp installation was inferior to the Centaurus but the aircraft was ordered with the Pratt & Witney engine . The Warwick used Barnes Wallis ' geodesic airframe construction pioneered in the Wellesley and Wellington . In this system , a network of intersecting structural members made from duralumin were covered by wired - on fabric . The load was distributed amongst the structure , providing great redundancy in the event of damage , at the expense of complexity of construction . An initial production order for 250 Warwicks , consisting of 150 Double Wasp - powered Mk Is and 100 Centaurus - powered Mk IIs was placed on 28 December 1940 . A total of 219 Warwick Mark Is were built , the last 95 with R - 2800 - 47 engines . Operational history . The first production Warwick B Mk I was delivered to the RAF for testing at the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment , Boscombe Down on 3 July 1942 . Only 16 aircraft were delivered as bombers , as by this time more capable four - engined heavy bombers such as the Short Stirling and Handley Page Halifax were in service . Testing showed the Warwick to be under - powered and with severe handling problems especially flying single engined . The version of Double Wasp fitted to early models proved extremely unreliable with many in - flight failures . Later versions fitted with Bristol Centaurus engines had better performance but the handling problems were never resolved . The Warwick was subsequently considered for transport and air - sea rescue roles and " BV243 " was successfully converted into a transport to serve as a trial aircraft , an additional 13 Mk Is were converted on the production line as C Mk I transports for use by BOAC , being used briefly on its Middle East services before being transferred back to RAF Transport Command in 1944 . One hundred similar aircraft were built for the RAF as Warwick C Mk IIIs , and entered service with 525 Squadron in June 1944 , with three more squadrons operating the Warwick III . They were mainly used in the Mediterranean theatre , as the vulnerability of the fabric skinning to high temperature and humidity stopped plans to operate the Warwick in the Far East , the model remaining in use until retired in 1946 . The remainder of the first batch of 250 Warwicks were used by RAF Coastal Command for anti - submarine reconnaissance . From 1943 Warwicks were loaded with the Mk IA airborne lifeboat and used for air - sea rescue . The lifeboat , designed by yachtsman Uffa Fox , laden with supplies and powered by two motors , was aimed with a bombsight near to ditched air crew and dropped by parachute into the sea from an altitude of about . Warwicks were credited with rescuing crews from Halifaxes , Lancasters , Wellingtons and B - 17 Flying Fortress , and during Operation Market Garden , from Hamilcar gliders , all of which ditched in the English Channel or North Sea . A production order for 525 Warwick Mk V was placed although only 235 were ultimately completed , most of which went directly into storage in 1944 . In early 1945 , the variant was issued to 179 Squadron at RAF St Eval . The Mk V was also used by 17 and 27 Squadrons of the South African Air Force .