Geoffrey Wikner continued

The Wico Wizard
Photo from Keypublishing forum

After a series of engineering positions Wickner started an aircraft company with V. Foster and J. F. Lusty. Initially production was at Lusty's furniture factory in East London but later the Forster Wikner Aircraft Company moved to Southampton.

The first Forster Wickner aircraft, the F.W.1was based on the Wicko Sports and powered by a Ford V-8 engine. The F.W.2 had a  Cirrus Minor engine and the F.W.3 a Cirrus Major. The last nine production aircraft had Gipsy Major engines and where designated G.M.1

There is some confusion about the naming of the FW1. The 30th of July 1936 issue of flight has a line diagram of the FW1 but it refers to it as the 'Wizard'. It may have been the intention of Forster Wickner Aircraft to call it the Wizard but the name never stuck.

Foster Wikner FW 3  Photo avistar.org
Foster Wickner FW 3 Specification

2 Seat high wing monoplane
Length: 23 ft 3 in (7.09 m)
Wingspan 31 ft 6 in (9.60 m)
Height: 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Wing area: 153 ft² (14.21 m²)
Empty weight: 1,255 lb (569 kg)   MTW 2,000 lb (907 kg)
Powerplant: 1× de Havilland Gypsy Major  4-cylinder inverted inline piston, 130 hp (97 kW)

Performance  VNE 140 mph (225 km/h)     Cruise 120 mph (192 km/h)
Range 480 miles (770 km)
Service Ceiling 20,000 ft (6,100 m)
Rate of Clinb 800 ft/min (4.06 m/s)

Foster Wickner ceased aircraft production at the outbreak of WW 2 and eight of the production FW 3's saw service with the RAF as the 'Warferry'


The Warferry.
Photo 1000aircraft photos courtesy Maurice A. Collier

Geoffrey Wikner flew with the Air Transport Auxiliary for the duration of the war and survived two crashes. One of these crashes is rumoured to have been caused by a design fault in the Lancaster Bomber he was flying that caused all propellers to 'feather' if the pilot feathered the propeller on one engine.

After the war Wikner decided to return to Australia. He bought a war surplus Handy Page Halifax Bomber that became G-AXGA (originally named 'The Kelly Gang' and renamed 'Waltzing Matilda') and flew back to Australia with his family and a group of paying English immigrants.

This was the first group of English immigrants to arrive in Australia by air. This aircraft sold to a consortium and became VH-BDT but was not a success as a commercial carrier and was scrapped in 1948.

The story of 'Waltzing Matilda' is captured in a book , the biography of Geoffrey Wikner.

Geoffrey Wickner established a caravan park in Nelsons Bay  where he lived until his death in 1990.

As a aircraft designer and as a aviation pioneer Geoffrey Wikner belongs to the large group of Australian pioneers who contributed so much to early aviation but remain relatively unknown.

Editors Note. In some sources Geoffrey Wikner's aircraft are referred to as 'Wico's and some English sources refer to the Foster Wickner aircraft as Wick's or Wicko's. Also Geoffrey's name is usually spelt Wikner but sometimes it is spelt Wickner. Wikner seems to be correct.

There is one beautifully restored flying Foster Wikner in Great Britain, G-AFJB, and there is an excellent website devoted to it. G-AFJB is a GM1, used in WW2 as a Warferry, and restored to original civilian mint condition. See the Foster Wikner website

David Young