The Vickers-Armstrongs Valiant
The Vickers-Armstrongs Valiant was a British four-jet bomber, once part of the Royal Air Force's V bomber nuclear force in the 1950s and 1960s. The Valiant was the first of the V bombers to become operational, and was followed by the Handley Page Victor and the Avro Vulcan; however it was noticeably less advanced than its counterparts. Several Valiant’s were soon converted to perform various support roles, such as aerial refuelling tankers and [/size]reconnaissance aircraft.
The Valiant was originally intended for operations as high-level strategic bomber; advances in anti-aircraft technologies meant that a low-level mission profile was assumed. However, continuous low-level flight led to a number of serious problems as the Valiant's wing spar attachment castings showed premature fatiguing and inter-crystalline corrosion traced to the use of an inappropriate type of aluminium alloy. Rather than proceeding with an expensive rebuilding program, the Valiant was formally retired in 1965. Its duties were continued by the other V-bombers which remained in service until the 1980s.
Prototypes
The first prototype, serial number WB210 took to the air on 18 May 1951,[7] as George Edwards had promised, and beat the first Short Sperrin into the air by several months. It had been only 27 months since the contract had been issued. The pilot was Captain Joseph "Mutt" Summers, who had also been the original test pilot on the Supermarine Spitfire, and wanted to add another "first" to his record before he retired. His co-pilot on the first flight was Gabe "Jock" Bryce, who succeeded Summers on his retirement soon afterwards.
The Vickers Type 660 was given the official name of "Valiant" the next month, recycling the name from the Vickers Type 131 general-purpose biplane of 1931. The name Valiant was selected by a survey of Vickers employees.
The Valiant jet bomber prototype was lost due to an in-flight fire in January 1952, all the crew escaping safely except for the co-pilot, who struck the tail after ejecting. After modifications to the fuel system (thought to be the cause of the fire), the second prototype, serial number WB215, the Vickers Type 667, flew on 11 April 1952. It was fitted with RA.7 Avon engines with 7,500 lbf (33 kN) thrust each, rather than the Sapphires originally planned, with more rounded air inlets replacing the narrow slot-type intakes of the first prototype, in order to feed sufficient air to the more powerful engines. The short delay before the second prototype was available meant that loss of the initial prototype did not seriously compromise the schedule.
An initial production order for 25 Valiant B.1 (Bomber Mark 1) aircraft had already been placed in April 1951. The first production aircraft flew on 21 December 1953, again within the schedule Edwards had promised, and was delivered to the RAF on 8 February 1955. Britain's "V-bomber" force, as it had been nicknamed in October 1952, was now in operation. The Victor and Vulcan would follow.
Of the three prototypes, two were Mark 1s and one was for a developed version, the Valiant B.2, intended as a Pathfinder to mark targets for the main bomber force and to reach its targets at low level and high speed. To cope with the rougher ride compared with high altitude operations, the B.2 had a strengthened airframe. In particular, the wing was strengthened by removing the large cut-outs in the wing structure into which the main wheels retracted, allowing the wing torsion box structure to be uninterrupted and giving more room for internal fuel storage; instead the main landing gear, which had four wheels instead of the two large wheels of the B.1, retracted backwards into large fairings to the rear of the wings. The B.2 had a lengthened fuselage with a total length of 112 ft 9 in (34.37 m), in contrast to a length of 108 ft 3 in (32.99 m) for the Valiant B.1, with the extra length giving room for more avionics.
The prototype B.2, serial number WJ954 first flew on 4 September 1953.[19] Finished in a gloss black night operations paint scheme, it became known as the "Black Bomber". Its performance at low level was superior to that of the B.1 (or any other V-bomber), with the aircraft being cleared to 580 mph (930 km/h) at low level (with speeds of up to 640 mph (1,030 km/h) being reached in testing). This compared to the B.1s sea-level limit of 414 mph (666 km/h). The Air Ministry ordered 17 production B.2s, which were to be powered by Rolls-Royce Conway turbofans. However, although the Valiant B.2's low-level capabilities would later prove to be highly desirable, the B.2 program was abandoned as the RAF realised that the Pathfinder concept, born in a time of mass raids, was obsolete in the nuclear era. The B.2 prototype was used for tests for a few years, including testing use of rockets to boost take-off, before being scrapped in 1958.
Nuclear deterrent
The first squadron to be equipped with the Valiant was 138 Squadron, which formed at RAF Gaydon on 1 January 1955, with 232 Operational Conversion Unit forming at Gaydon on 21 February 1955 to convert crews onto the new bomber. Since the Valiant was part of an entirely new class of bombers for the RAF, the crews for the new type were selected from experienced aircrew, with first pilots requiring 1,750 flying hours as an aircraft captain, with at least one tour flying the Canberra, with second pilots needing 700 hours in command and the remaining three crewmembers had to be recommended for posting to the Valiant by their commanding officers. Valiant’s were originally assigned to the strategic nuclear bombing role, as were the Vulcan and Victor B.1s when they became operational. At its peak, the Valiant equipped nine RAF squadrons.
A Valiant B.1 (WZ366) of No 49 Squadron was the first RAF aircraft to drop a British operational atomic bomb when it performed a test drop of a down-rated Blue Danube weapon on Maralinga, South Australia, on 11 October 1956.
On 15 May 1957, a 49 Squadron Valiant B(K).1 dropped the first British hydrogen bomb, the "Short Granite" (AKA "Green Granite Small"), over the Pacific as part of Operation Grapple. The test was largely a failure, as the measured yield was less than a third of the maximum expected and while achieving the desired thermonuclear explosion the device had failed to operate as intended. The first British hydrogen bomb that detonated as planned, "Grapple X Round A" (AKA "Round C1"), was dropped on 8 November 1957. The Grapple series of tests continued into 1958, and in April 1958 the "Grapple Y" bomb exploded with 10 times the yield of the original "Short Granite". Testing was finally terminated in November 1958, when the British government decided it would perform no more air-delivered nuclear tests.
General characteristics
• Crew: five - two pilots, two navigators (one navigator plotter + one navigator bomber), air electronics officer
• Length: 108 ft 3 in (32.99 m)
• Wingspan: 114 ft 4 in (34.85 m)
• Height: 32 ft 2 in (9.80 m)
• Wing area: 2,362 ft² (219 m²)
• Empty weight: 75,881 lb (34,491 kg)
• Max. takeoff weight: 140,000 lb (63,600 kg))
• Powerplant: 4 × Rolls-Royce Avon RA28 Mk 204 turbojet, 10,000 lb (44.6 kN) each
Performance
• Maximum speed: 567 mph (493 knots, 913 km/h) at 30,000 ft (9,150 m)
• Range: 4,500 mi (3,910 nmi, 7,245 km)with underwing tanks
• Service ceiling: 54,000 ft (16,500 m)
• Rate of climb: 4,000 ft/min (20 m/s)
Armament
• Bombs:
• 1 × 10,000 lb (4500 kg) Blue Danube nuclear bomb or
• 21 × 1,000 lb (450 kg) bombs
The aircraft above Whisky Zulu 404 is the actual aircraft I will be building.
Love The Interior Detail In The Kit
