A look inside the Vickers Valiant

[@derektolley623]

I was a Electrical Technician working on the Valiant from 1955 until 1956 at RAG Gaydon in Warwickshire

[@rugosetexture2716]

What a treat! It's good to see that all of the 'Vs' are being so well cared for. Thank you.

[@smitbar11]

It is a great shame that only one complete Valiant survives

[@1946nimrod]

I went to stay with my school pal Peter back in 1958 at RAF Honington, where his dad was a Wing Commander (later Air Vice Marshall, Knighted!). We stood about 30 yards from the runway at the 'rotate' mark to watch The Valiants take off. You don't forget days like that!

[@tomcline5631]

The designer of the Victor obviously watched the old Flash Gordon,and Buck Rogers serials at the movies when he was a kid!! Always loved this one,and the Vulcan!

[@Gruntol5]

My brother Bob was a Valiant pilot in he 60's. He died in July (2018) aged 80 after suffering from dementia for the last 10 years.

[@chris5634C3PO]

He served and won't be forgotten.

[@rhurbstafalcon4807]

My utmost respects...

[@mitseraffej5812]

A career as a Cold War military pilot is a life less ordinary. Heartbreaking to watch a fine human be slowly erased. Dementia is often called the “ slow goodbye “ for good reason.

[@Pauls2006]

Nice to see this again in the open air, was about 10 yrs ago 😀

[@neilurquhart8622]

Back in the 60’s Valiants we’re regular visitors to Marshalls Airport Cambridge; they were there for maintenance and modification. At that time there were complaints from the public about the noise when taking off and during ‘on ground’ engine runs, often for around an hour! Being a young plane spotter at the time I loved seeing them. Anyone else remember them at Cambridge?

[@paul-b9d]

Remember as a kid (1980s) in Rhoose airport there was a Vulcan. My dad and brother, was a very wet rainy weekend, he managed to talk to people inside and we got to sit in a Vulcan cockpit. Have photos. Amazing these days to think what we did as kids back then and what was around and in storage.

[@gaz11h]

Great memories to have

[@aaaht3810]

Man, those V bombers were beautiful aircraft. Operated with Vulcans during NATO exercises in my day but not the others.

[@georgebarnes8163]

Not forgetting the 4th bomber of the cold war, although not a "V" bomber the Short Sperrin which was never put into production deserves a mention, unusual layout with its stacked engines but with a very similar performance, range and load to the V bombers.

[@andypandywalters]

I had the privilege to go inside the Valiant cockpit (in 2000) when she was at the RAFM. I was surprised to see the crew parachutes were still in situ, and in a receptacle between the pilot's seats was the largest slide rule I've ever seen !

[@chrisp6072]

My school in Yorkshire in the 60's was close to V-bomber bases. We had regular overflies from Valiants, Victors and Vulcans. We were able to tell which V-bomber it was before seeing it from the engine sound.

[@Eric-kn4yn]

Which V bomber loudest

[@stuartmiddleton1972]

Was lucky enough (and old enough) to see Vulcans at air displays. Still the most awe inspiring, gut punching and beautiful sound ever. Also still looks contemporary. Still wish we had gone ahead with TSR2 - that would have been world beating. Still looks like something from the future even today.

[@Eric-kn4yn]

TSR2 not stealth your dreaming its 2024

[@awuma]

Great to see these historic aircraft preserved in a hangar.

[@timweather3847]

As a boy I lived within cycling distance of Wisley in the 1950s, where the Valiants were tested after being built at Weybridge, along with Viscounts, then followed by Vanguards, the Supermarine Scimitars and finally the VC10, a beautiful aircraft. All very exciting for a boy at that time. There was also a black Canberra there most of the time, but I never learnt why.

[@scopex2749]

You lucky man! I was stationed on the VC10’s for years at Brize Norton, at one stage we lived in Ockham (sadly many years after they bulldozed the factory). On leave i used to go there to visit my family and my little brother used to know the farmers son across the road who now owns Wisley airfield! Sadly i hear yet MORE UNWANTED HOUSES are going there😡😡😡 it should be preserved as an aircraft museum as sadly Brooklands is running out of room. The local people DO NOT WANT 5000 houses in that peaceful area. It will be RUINED once an estate is put there along with all the rubbish that moves in😢. NO THANK YOU. LEAVE SOME of England as it was for future generations 🤷🏼‍♂️ we do NOT need to build on EVERY SQUARE FOOT of green belt Boris!!!! I voted you in!

[@maxwellfan55]

Had Valliants at RAF Bassignbourne early 60's, able to explore inside during camp's open days and crawl down the bomb sight, what a treat for a boy! RAF was one big family.

[@maxwellfan55]

Correction, Honnington!

[@tulduncan8495]

1961 I have photos of the aircraft .I was on Canberra PR Flight

[@mikeandtriciajohnson7241]

XD818 used to be at RAF Marham preserved in the low level camouflage, in 1974 I was an ATC Cadet at Marham for summer camp, our camp photo was taken with us lined up with the Valiant as the back drop.

[@wirdy1]

I'm sure I recognise some of those instruments on the navigators position.... As a flight systems trainee going through Cosford in the 1980's those smiths, sperrey, decca nav, etc systems were used for training RAF techies.

[@argosafe]

TFSDE48, then MFS27 then TFS FT 61for me!

[@scopex2749]

One of my old mates in the RAF found the first huge crack in the wing spar on the Valiant, that put an early end to them. 😕 VERY unusual being made by Vickers😧🤔 I was an engineer on the VC10 for years, the greatest subsonic airliner ever built

[@tomnorcross824]

Keyboard Krazy was that in the Valiant flown by Taff Foreman at the Gaydon OCU

[@richardthomas6890]

How fantastic to listen to that gentleman talk about the valiant Thank you for sharing and yes I’ve subscribed for more👍🏻

[@gorankeem8126]

Yep. Should be a 50 hrs. video with that guy alone. I'll watch it. Always fascinating to hear them talk.

[@davehodges6258]

I was one of many co- pilots to the Victor K2, 1985-1994,.

[@vole12]

Met a Valiant pilot this weekend . What a privilege . Taking off knowing your country and family probably gone ?

[@raymondrichards4880]

Enjoyable stuff.. Many happy memories of seeing the v force aircraft and the likes of the Hunter, Lightning, Canberra etc on a daily basis in the 1960's when my late father was in the Service. Thanks for posting.

[@stephengould7024]

That's an amazing video Cold War Jets the planes that were flying around to keep away the Russians nicely put together informative and great camera shots too thank you Gaz11h

[@gazof-the-north1980]

Nice to see "The forgotten V-bomber".

[@stadium79]

You might enjoy this video! Cheers! kzbin.info/www/bejne/eZzLdHWpi7RrqrM

[@rovercoupe7104]

I saw this aircraft when I was an Air Cadet at RAF Marham in 1977. M.

[@brycepilkingtonstone5934]

i used to fly one of these all over in the 1960s

[@maxwellfan55]

Bryce Fascinating. As a boy, my RAF father arranged for me to look inside a Valliant, including the lower bomb sight position, and I never forgot it. This was during a station open day where we were based at RAF Honington, Suffolk, around 1962-63. As I recall these airplanes were based there, possibly with Victors too. I don't think my parents particularly liked the married quarter houses, but we were very happy there, especially as kids. As families, the air force was our entire life, and we were better off for it.

[@hertzair1186]

Bryce Pilkingtonstone : why did it have a short service life...airframe fatique?

[@xvdd1]

@@hertzair1186 Since nobody responded I found this on Wiki "By late 1964 it was found that all variants of the Valiant showed premature fatigue and inter-crystalline corrosion in wing spar attachment forgings, traced to the use of a poorly understood aluminium alloy"

[@RB747domme]

@@xvdd1 did you know, that that alloy was used on the very first prototype Concorde built in the UK? The 001 was using Hiduminium, also known as aluminium 2618, but as a controlled experiment, 002 was using a separate alloy for some of the spars to see how they would work under specific loads with the fuel being pumped around during flight. In the end it was decided to use the standard Hiduminium throughout the aircraft for the production version. The inter crystalline fatigue came as a pleasant shock for Concorde's design team. A sigh of relief I should think!

[@xvdd1]

@@RB747domme Interesting, thanks.

[@dygi7631]

GREAT VIDEO! I CAN'T WAIT TO DO THIS IS DECEMBER!

[@kroghsmachineshop4708]

It would have been cool to hear more about what the old gentleman has to tell.

[@graemehunter5403]

More on this please

[@michellemarshall3667]

The Valiant was the first of the V bombers and this particular aircraft XD818 dropped the first British Hydrogen bomb on Bikini Atoll in 1956. The whole Valiant fleet was withdrawn in 1966 due to airframe fatigue due to sress caused by its new role in the early 60s as a low to medium altitude bomber. All aircraft were quickly scrapped and 818 is the sole survivor. A couple of cockpit sections also survive,a great shame. Rick M

[@RB747domme]

@Iranian Bob sorry Bob, you are completely wrong. He was right. 15th of May1957, XD818 dropped grapple 1, the first ever, in a series.

[@felixthecat265]

Christmas Island.. not Bikini!

[@arthurrsaker8893]

@@RB747domme Britain's entry into the H bomb club did not happen in May 1957. That did not happen until well into the Grapple X and Y series of tests on Christmas Island and Malden Island, also in the Pacific but a long way to the east of Christmas Island. Britain's first very large nuclear bomb was the Nov 58 detonation of what many thought was an H bomb, but was in fact a very large boosted atom bomb. I was there to see it and from a distance of roughly 20 miles it was the most hideously awe inspiring sight imaginable.The explosive yield of that weapon was estimated to have been around 800 kilotons. It was built by a team of scientists led by William Penny, and was referred to in the UK tabloid press as a Penny Cracker, after the small low priced fireworks of that name. Under Penny's leadership, the Grapple X and Y series of tests successfully carried out further large weapon tests which did produce the H bomb they were trying to make. I know nothing of the test on Malden Island except that the detonation was audible as a low rumble, on Christmas Island, a couple of hundred miles to the west. So we assumed that Maldens remoteness was a factor in its choice as a test site, along with an expected high yield of the weapon. So, pretty big then.

[@givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935]

Sakharov’s Vienna Cake H-bomb got there with a fraction of the development time of Teller’s super bomb studies.

[@allgood6760]

Thanks! 👍✈️🇳🇿

[@psmiddx2096]

Fine, amazing aircraft, among Britain's best

[@gunner678]

Valiant looks like WW2 vintage were as the vulcan and Victor project visions of James bond and scifi.

[@RB747domme]

Note that their engines are all in a similar position at the roots. Funny how three different teams arrived at the same solution, when they had Carte Blanche to do what they wanted.

[@myparceltape1169]

@@RB747domme Commet also had wing root engines.

[@spamcan61]

Agreed, but then the Valiant was the low(er) risk backup plan for the much higher risk Vulcan and Victor designs. Then there's the Short Sperrin!

[@robertduncan7618]

Did the RAF drop the Valiant due to metal fatigue ?

[@gaz11h]

Yes it was when the V force went from high level to low level operations that the Valiant wasn't suited to which caused fatigue cracks in the rear wing spar

[@Twirlyhead]

Can't imagine the MOD since this ever sanctioning the full production and commissioning of three entirely different major aircraft, with three separate manufacturers at the same time for the same job. Plus it all worked out well: one (this one) fell by the wayside of changing mission requirements and the other two went on to have long and positive careers through changing missions and beyond the nuclear with their different strengths proving useful.

[@givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935]

It might have made a decent tanker if it hadn’t been flying to destruction at low level.

[@myparceltape1169]

This might be nonsense, but I was curious why they were built to be subsonic and the reason I was given was that they had an advantage over an interceptor because it would have to fly just as it was going supersonic to fire on the bomber and so be slightly unstable. Not applicable to homing rockets, of course.

[@gaz11h]

interesting point the V bombers were divised in the late 40's and designed built and entered service in the 50's at a time when there were very few supersonic aircraft and most aircraft in service were subsonic so they didn't see the need for the bombers to be supersonic

[@felixthecat265]

This goes back to the first generation nuclear bomb Blue Danube.. they had very large diameters because of the spherical design of the Hurricane physics package. There was a need to develop a jet bomber with sufficient range and bomb bay capacity to carry it to its intended targets. Nobody had built large jets at the time, so the Air Staff launched three development programmes on the basis that at least one would be successful. To meet the desired time scales, it was decided to have a "Low risk" design with a potentially shorter development timescale.. this was the Valiant, which was the least optimised design, and using mostly proven technology..

[@myparceltape1169]

@@felixthecat265 Thanks. I knew there was a repetition of the number of types of WW2 heavies and I certainly follow your explanation. The spherical design of the bomb however, had totally escaped me, but it makes it sound like a Plutonium bomb where the reaction goes critical too quickly for a linear design. Rather a sphere must be crushed by a layer of explosive. I suppose that would account for the early nuclear 'power stations'. A secondary purpose. I never did believe the reason for staying just subsonic but looking back at the prize given out for an engine oil additive for Concorde, prolonged fast work was impossible then.

[@givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935]

The Victor was partially area ruled _before_ the concept was widely recognised. Its net cross sectional area over length was smoothed using calculations solved by slide rule. It was the most aerodynamically advanced of the three types and is believed by some to have made Mach One in an uninstrumented development flight. Many large jets were brought up to high subsonic speeds in testing, at Mach 0.99 there would be no local flow actually subsonic. Remaining under control at such speeds would be important for evasive manoeuvring. The initial 747 was believed to be controllable at Mach 0.99. A short supersonic dash would achieve little and would consume a lot of fuel reducing range. The Rockwell B-1B entered production as a subsonic at low level bomber.

[@125brat]

​@@givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935If If I'm not mistaken, when the B2 Victors were converted to K2's and the underwing fuel tanks were added, the Kuchelman carrots as they were named were also added to the aft upper wing to maintain the area rule. The Blackburn Buccaneer is possibly one of the airframes that appears to demonstrate the rule by it's unusual shape. Of course, all the calculations for these aircraft were made using a "Guessing stick" long before the advent of computers 😁

[@peterkirgan2921]

I love this

[@brianwillson9567]

We will never know the answer to this, but the ‘interim’ v bomber , with a much reduced technical development, produced 90% of the victor and vulcan capability on half the power. Wing spar problems excepted, would the valiant have been a successful deterrent in the Cold War WITHOUT the other two Vs. And would the aborted B2 have successfully filled the role of low level, which the Vulcan adapted to and the victor would never have been able to. Although I am an ardent supporter of both Avro and Handley Page Vs , I think the answer to my questions could well have been ‘yes’.

[@gaz11h]

Good point

[@maniakmobmusic]

i have an entrance ladder for one of these planes is it worth anything at all ??🤔

[@morgannagrom8336]

Yes

[@clockgarae]

Where is this ?

[@gaz11h]

the main parts of the video were shot at the Royal Air Force Museum at Cosford the Vulcan was shot flying over Newark Air Museum and the Victor was shot at Bruntingthorpe during a cold war jets day

[@joshskilling6247]

RAF Cosford in Shropshire, UK.

[@racerdeth]

Brilliant. I went to Cosford in the late 90s and loved it. Been planning a trip back; didn't know they had the Valiant!

[@gaz11h]

the Valiant was taken to Cosford to be a part of the Cold war Exhibition which opened in 2007 and has all 3 V bombers under 1 roof certainly well worth another visit

[@garethonthetube]

And there's a garden centre just down the road for those who may not be interested in being dragged round one of the best aircraft museums in the world.

[@Eric-kn4yn]

USA had different policy with jet bombers B47 B58 B52 had tail gun defensive armament

[@Yosemite-George-61]

they look o good in white...

[@williamjordan5554]

Brits used to love to make jet engines as hard to service as possible.

[@Twirlyhead]

Aerodynamics, old bean. The B52 by contrast has its engines hanging all over the place like a flying Christmas tree; but a very effective flying Christmas tree I must concede.

[@rednaughtstudios]

Had a chat with a former RNZAF mechanic. He said the A4 Shyhawks were very easy to do an engine swap on and the Strikemasters were as you have described William.

[@williamkennedy5492]

They are still gleam machines !

[@Kabul81]

Nice to see a "camera" being used to take photos and not a phone! I had thought maybe cameras were obsolete?🤔 Jman👀

[@gaz11h]

know just what you mean

[@Eric-kn4yn]

Select star crew hedgehoppers annonymous

[@__sno__3820]

The vulcan The victor And.......the other one

[@JustMe00257]

That's what DP DAVIES called 'agricultural'... Makes Russian old timers look like star Wars ships.

[@mrpistonrecaro6483]

Paint job is ugly as hell

[@brianswan921]

Anti flash white was a protective measure.