The Vickers 170 Vanguard was a 22-passenger twin-engined biplane. When it was handed over to Imperial Airways in 1925 it was described as the World’s largest passenger aeroplane. The aircraft was withdrawn from its airline duties in October 1928 for modifications, probably to the tail. The airplane had been fitted with a new tail unit from a Vickers Virginia Mk X in an effort to eliminate control problems. On 16 May 1929 the aircraft crashed and burned at Shepperton on the shores of the River Thames. Vickers Test Pilot Flight Lieutenant Edward Rodolph Clement “Tiny” Scholefield DCM, AFC, and his Mechanic S.W. Sherratt were killed. They were test flying the Vanguard airliner from Brooklands Aerodrome when control was lost and the aircraft nose-dived from 2000 feet into the ground. The tail unit apparently failed as a result of excessive rudder force.