Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
The Vickers Swallow was a Mach 2.5 supersonic aircraft project headed by Barnes Wallis, working at the British aircraft company Vickers-Armstrongs.
The Vickers Swallow lacked conventional features, such as a vertical stabiliser and rudder, instead using the movement of variable geometry wings and swiveling engines mounted on pylons far out on the wing tips as its primary means of flight control.
Multiple roles were envisioned for the full-scale Swallow. It was initially viewed as suitable for a very long distance airliner; projections of its range would have enabled a non-stop England-Australia route to be served. Later on, the Swallow was increasingly viewed as a potential supersonic successor to the subsonic Vickers Valiant, one of the RAF's V bombers.
The Vickers Swallow was a Mach 2.5 supersonic aircraft project headed by Barnes Wallis, working at the British aircraft company Vickers-Armstrongs.
The Vickers Swallow lacked conventional features, such as a vertical stabiliser and rudder, instead using the movement of variable geometry wings and swiveling engines mounted on pylons far out on the wing tips as its primary means of flight control.
Multiple roles were envisioned for the full-scale Swallow. It was initially viewed as suitable for a very long distance airliner; projections of its range would have enabled a non-stop England-Australia route to be served. Later on, the Swallow was increasingly viewed as a potential supersonic successor to the subsonic Vickers Valiant, one of the RAF's V bombers.
