Valiant Units of the Cold War
by Andrew Brookes, Osprey Publishing, Oxford, UK, 2012, $22.95
In 1959 I was a member of RAF No. 232 Operational Conversion Unit at Gaydon, Warwickshire. We were proud of our sleek Handley-Page Victor nuclear bombers, and looked down our noses at the older Vickers Valiants sharing the base. During a conversation with the Valiant squadron’s commanding officer, however, he pointed out to me that their airplane, the RAF’s first Cold War strategic bomber, was the only British jet to use conventional bombs in anger (Suez, 1956) until the 1982 Falklands War, and had dropped Britain’s first atomic bomb in May 1957. As if to emphasize the CO’s point, that same week a 214 Squadron Valiant made an 8,110-mile nonstop flight from England to Singapore. Soon after, another set a UK–Johannesburg record, covering 5,845 miles in 11 hours.
Andrew Brookes’ excellent book covers those achievements and much more. The Valiant was the first of what came to be called the “V-Bombers” (Valiant, Victor and Vulcan), which resulted from a 1946 Air Ministry operational requirement inviting firms to compete for a bomber to carry Britain’s first atomic bomb (then still under development) at 575 mph to a target 1,725 miles away. Brookes describes the challenges cash-strapped Vickers faced in meeting this specification, and how the company beat five other manufacturers to the punch when, on May 8, 1951, test pilot Captain Joseph “Mutt” Summers took off in the prototype Valiant. In the late 1950s, Valiants dropped several hydrogen bombs.
Brookes explains how austerity and a shortage of materials in postwar Britain resulted in such bizarre practices as Vickers using builders’ scaffolding and concrete for jigs for the fuselage, wings and tail, and being unable to make flying scale models. The bomber had to be right straight off the drawing board. Despite that, the Valiant, with a top speed of Mach 0.86, was actually faster than the sleek, fighter-like English Electric Canberra, which was one-third its weight. The later Victor and Vulcan benefited from pioneering high-speed research work done by the Vickers design team.
Valiants served in the strategic bomber, electronic warfare, reconnaissance and airborne tanker roles, and were slated to remain in service until the 1970s. In August 1964, however, Valiant WP217 experienced a cracked spar during one flight. The trouble was traced to the use of a new zinc-bearing alloy that was both lighter and stronger than conventional aluminum. Unfortunately, it also proved to be brittle and suffered from early stress fatigue. Similar cracks were found on many other Valiants, resulting in the entire fleet being withdrawn from service. It was a sad ending for a jet with such splendid achievements, described by one pilot as “one of the few aircraft which all who have flown it speak of only with affection.”
Originally published in the March 2014 issue of Aviation History. To subscribe, click here.
