Vickers Valiant

The Vickers Valiant was a British high-altitude jet bomber designed to carry nuclear weapons, and the first of the three V bombers to become operational with the Royal Air Force, ahead of the Handley Page Victor and the Avro Vulcan. Vickers-Armstrongs developed it against Air Ministry Specification B.35/46 of January 1947, offering a simpler and less advanced design than its rivals but promising an early first flight, which came on 18 May 1951. It was powered by four Rolls-Royce Avon turbojets. A total of 107 were built, including three prototypes, and production ended in August 1957. Valiants flew conventional bombing missions over Egypt during the 1956 Suez Crisis and were the only V bombers to drop live nuclear weapons in testing, all eight British weapons ever dropped from an aircraft falling from Valiants of No. 49 Squadron. In 1964 fatigue and corrosion were found in the wing rear spar attachments, and the fleet was retired in early 1965.