Dimensionally, the Valiant was given a running length of 33 meters with a wingspan of 35 meters. Wing area was 2,362 square feet. The airframe was cleared to carry upwards of 21,000lbs of internal ordnance including both nuclear and conventional munitions. The Valiant served as an important testbed for British engineers to perfect the free-fall nuclear bomb concept.
The first squadron-strength group was formulated in January of 1955 through No. 232 OCU training group at Gaydon (Warwickshire), beginning the career of the Vickers Valiant. The RAF was handed its first example on February 8th, 1955. It was almost immediately pressed into service during the Suez Crisis which committed British, Israeli and French forces to the Middle East against Egypt in attempting to protect the vital waterway to the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean from nationalization. During the intervention that followed, Valiants were outfitted with conventional drop bombs and charged with neutralizing Egyptian airfields to minimize the aerial-based threat posed by the Egyptian Air Force on friendlies.
A more notable effect on British military aviation history that the Valiant held was in the dropping of the nation's first atomic bomb, this in October of 1956 in Australia. Another drop (of a hydrogen bomb) followed in May of the 1957 on Christmas Island and testing continued into 1958. On July 9th, 1959, a Valiant belonging to No. 214 squadron was credited with the first-ever nonstop flight from the British Isles reaching Cape Town, South Africa. To compensate for its limited internal fuel load, the aircraft was refueled twice in-air during the flight. In March of 1960, another No. 214 Valiant covered 8,500 miles on the longest non-stop flight by a RAF aircraft to that point. In May of 1960, yet another No. 214 Valiant reached Singapore from Britain during a non-stop flight. By 1963, Valiant strength was removed from its nuclear and strategic high-level bombing role and rolled into a medium-to-low-altitude, tactical-level bombing role once Soviet air defense missile technologies ruled high-level bombing moot.
To the original B.Mk I bomber stable was then added the B(PR). Mk I photoreconnaissance platform outfitted with specialized cameras and applicable mission equipment. Some were then converted to a multirole form to undertake bombing sorties, reconnaissance missions and in-flight refueling for other RAF aircraft in faraway theaters. A multirole bomber/tanker platform also existed as B(K).Mk I. The B.Mk II series (based on the third prototype) was a proposed high-speed, low-altitude penetrator based on the existing Mk.I though this one-off development did not proceed beyond its prototype phase. Final Valiant production wrapped in August of 1957.
The last of the Valiant aircraft were retired in full by 1965 mainly due to their airframes exhibiting fatigue stresses (primarily at the wing spars). The final Valiant flight was recorded back in December of 1964. It proved cost-feasible to retire the lot than to process them through some expensive repair program. In all, the bomber formed the strength of Nos. 7, 18, 49, 90, 138, 148, 199, 207, 214 and 543 squadrons. Squadron No 49 served as the nuclear trials detachment. No 138 became the first formal Valiant operator while No 232 OCU (Operational Conversion Unit) at Gaydon served as the training group until disbanded in February of 1965.
Total Valiant aircraft production topped 107 units. In all, 39 B.Mk 1 bombers were produced followed by 8 B(PR).Mk 1 bomber/photographic-reconnaissance versions. 13 B(PR)K 1 bomber/reconnaissance mounts then followed leading up to 44 of the B(K)Mk 1 tankers. Add to these the three prototypes and this completes the Valiant production story.
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