The Vickers Windsor was a Second World War British four-engine heavy bomber, designed by Barnes Wallis and Rex Pierson at the Vickers-Armstrongs factory at Brooklands.
Only three examples (the original plus successive prototypes known as Type 457 and Type 461) were built.
This was due to refinements in the existing Lancaster bomber, rendering it suitable for the role for which the Windsor had been designed.
The first prototype flew on 23 October 1943, the second on 15 February 1944, and the third on 11 July 1944.
All three were built at Vickers’ secret dispersed Foxwarren Experimental Department between Brooklands and nearby Cobham.
The two latter prototypes were tested until the end of the Second World War, when further development and production were cancelled.
Variants
Type 447
First prototype, serial DW506, powered by four 1,315 horsepower (981 kW) Rolls-Royce Merlin 65 engines.
Type 457
Second prototype, serial DW512, powered by four 1,635 horsepower (1,219 kW) Merlin 85 engines.
Type 461
Third prototype, serial NK136, powered by four 1,635 horsepower (1,219 kW) Merlin 85 engines, armed with a pair of 20mm guns in each remote-controlled barbette in rear of outer engine nacelles, aimed from the unarmed tail position.