Vickers Valiant

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Vickers 667 Valiant
Vickers 667 "Valiant"
Vickers 667 "Valiant"
Type: Strategic bomber
Design country:

United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom

Manufacturer:

Vickers-Armstrongs

First flight:

May 18, 1951

Commissioning:

1955

Production time:

1952 to 1957

Number of pieces:

107

First prototype at Farnborough, 1951
Vickers Valiant at Filton Airport , Bristol, England

The Vickers 667 Valiant was a four-engined British bomber from the Cold War era . It was developed as a nuclear bomber in the early 1950s , based on the specification B.35 / 46 from March 1947, like the Avro 698 Vulcan and the Handley Page HP80 Victor . It was considered the most conventional design of the three V-bomber types of the Royal Air Force .

development

The shoulder wing had swept wing in Razorwing form (greater sweep angle at the blade root) with a laminar profile of 12% in thickness. It was powered by four jet engines of the type Rolls-Royce RA.28 Avon (per 44.7 kN thrust), which were incorporated into the wing roots.

The first flight took place on May 18, 1951. The Valiant was presented to the public in Farnborough that same year . A total of 107 units were produced by August 1957.

The Valiant was also the last fighter aircraft built by Vickers and the V-bomber with the shortest service life.

commitment

The first squadron from January 1955 was the 138th Squadron based on RAF Gaydon in Warwickshire and the retraining unit, the 232nd Operational Conversion Unit , was also set up in Gaydon a short time later.

A Valiant of the 49th Squadron dropped the first British atomic bomb over the Maralinga Range ( South Australia ) on October 11, 1956 . Another Valiant of the same squadron (XD-818) dropped the first British hydrogen bomb on Malden Island in the Pacific on May 15, 1957 .

After the full influx, the RAF Bomber Command had nine squadrons of Valiant bombers.

In addition to the strategic role, Valiants were also armed conventionally and were used in the 1956 Suez Crisis . Several machines were involved in air strikes on Egyptian airfields.

After the two other strategic V-bomber types had been completely added, the three squadrons lying in RAF Marham were subordinated to NATO - SACEUR and were henceforth kept ready as carriers of tactical US American "Mark 28" bombs. In addition, part of the Valiant fleet had already been converted into tankers at the end of the 1950s and was in service in this version with two previous bomber squadrons, the 214th and 90th Squadron . In addition, there were some converted Valiant units for electronic warfare and photo reconnaissance in service with the 18th and 543rd Squadron , the latter having already used the bomber version. The aircraft were stationed at RAF Finningley , RAF Gaydon, RAF Honington , RAF Marham and RAF Wyton .

In December 1964, the entire fleet was shut down due to cracking.

Military use

United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom

Incidents

From the first flight in 1951 to the end of operations in 1964, Vickers Valiant caused 12 total aircraft losses. In 5 of them, 24 people were killed.

Technical specifications

Two side view Vickers Valiant
Parameter Data
crew 5
length 33 m
span 34.85 m
height 9.80 m
Wing area 219.43 m²
Empty mass 34,420 kg
Max. Takeoff mass 63,600 kg
Top speed 912 km / h
Service ceiling 16,500 m
Range 7200 km
Engines 4 × Turbojet Rolls-Royce Avon RA28 Mk 204 with 44.6 kN each
Armament up to 9450 kg conventional / atomic in the weapon bay

Preserved copies

The only completely preserved machine is the XD 818 , which is in the Royal Air Force Museum at RAF Cosford .

Web links

Commons : Vickers Valiant  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Vickers 667 Valiant. September 9, 2012, accessed September 18, 2012 .
  2. ↑ a b Vickers Valiant: heavy bomber for the dropping of British nuclear weapons. Retrieved September 18, 2012 .
  3. ^ Thunder & Lightnings - Vickers Valiant - History. April 12, 2012, Retrieved September 18, 2012 .
  4. ↑ Vickers Valiant B1 (XD818). Retrieved September 27, 2017 .
  5. ↑ 1000 aircraft. Nauman & Göbel Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, p. 219.
  6. ↑ List of accidents with Vickers Valiant , Aviation Safety Network WikiBase , accessed on July 26, 2018.