Vickers 177

Effectively the seventh Type 143 airframe, the Type 177 was intended as a single-seat shipboard fighter to Specification 21/26 - for which the Type 141 was also a contender - and flew for the first time on 26 November 1929. Powered by a 540hp Bristol Jupiter XFS nine-cylinder radial air-cooled engine, the Type 177 was purely a private venture and was the final development in the line of Vickers single-seat tractor-engined fighter biplanes. Armament comprised the standard pair of synchronised 7.7mm Vickers machine guns. On 20 May 1930, the Type 177 demonstrated a terminal velocity dive from 6100m in which it attained a speed of 483km/h, and, in the following month, deck landing trials were performed aboard HMS Furious. Unaccustomed to steerable hydraulic brakes - an innovation featured by the Type 177 - one pilot applied the brakes too harshly and put the aircraft on its nose, after which these trials were discontinued. The Type 177 proved unacceptable for shipboard use and development was discontinued.