Vickers Valiant B2

[@Gruntol5]

Hats off to Bill Gunston who died just recently. He wrote an incredible number (300!) of aircraft and related, books. He did so much to pass on his inside knowledge of all things aviation to us enthusiasts. Splendid fellow!

[@wavodavo]

Thanks for your comment. The Valiant B2 is my favourite aircraft. I have obtained several rare photos of the B2 from various sources. This helped me construct a 1/144 scale model from virtually scratch.

[@Gruntol5]

Thanks a million for this film! Valiant B Mk2 was one of my favourite aircraft from the 1950's. Photographs of it only ever show same old image everytime, so great to see this extended film coverage. Shame it was never put in production. Looked devilishly good in glossy black, despite Bill Gunston's incredulity.

[@nervo6321]

Fabulous footage...looked beautiful in gloss black...

[@targatop1]

Great piece of footage! The terrible tragidy with the Mk1 was the destructive corrosion caused by 'dissimilar metal syndrome' and the fatigue cracking in the wings which led to a Valiant crash, and subsequent premature scrapping of all Valiants. A terrible shame, but Vickers learned a lot from it.

[@SSCFPA]

What a gem! A unique version of a not well known aircraft. Gunston is right, the RAF should have made the B.2 the main production Valiant. As he said, from 1963 the V Force had to go low level, when the Valiant B.1's did so, they very soon suffered serious fatigue problems and the whole fleet was scrapped. Luckily the Victor did not spend too long at low level before becoming tankers, the Vulcan though, could handle the rougher air at low level with ease.

[@ToonandBBfan]

Imagine if we'd had low level flying Valiant B2's and TSR 2 in service!

[@EricIrl]

Gunston is one of the best aviation writers around. He is quite opinionated - which I like. His books "Plane Facts" and "Back to the Drawing Board" are very interesting.

[@bigdmac33]

According to an in-depth article in the February edition of Flypast magazine, the aircraft was painted gloss black in anticipation of night ops.

[@CharlieGolfAviation]

Fantastic!! Thanks for sharing.

[@TSR1989FF]

Great Work putting this together, i didn't even know there was any film of this largely (& wrongly) forgotten MK-2 Valiant (found this Video by pure chance while conducting a Still Image / Photo Search for this Aircraft). A utter tragedy she wasn't saved from destruction like "XD818" was, especially as she must have been in far better condition than any of her B1 Elder Sisters.

[@fyorbane]

What a magnificent aircraft.

[@fundiebasher]

That's Bill Gunston, a legendary aviation author, historian, and journalist.

[@chuckcawthon3370]

Agreed. My favorite Military Aircraft Author.

[@timbermicka]

B-52s, Tu-95s and Xian H-6s from the same era are still operational. If the UK had more cash this could've been a nice long term standoff missile plateform. As I understand it, the structural weaknesses of the Valiant B1 were corrected in this B2 variant.

[@ToonandBBfan]

I think the idea behind painting it black was so everyone would instantly distinguish it as a completely new airplane from the ordinary Valiant!

[@ToonandBBfan]

The Irony is, the Valiant mark 2 being specifically designed for low altitude would probably have been better than the Vulcan at low level.

[@TSR1989FF]

@ToonandBBfan Indeed. She was also the Aircraft to Drop "Orange Herald" (to this day the Most Powerful Conventional Atom Bomb ever Built, let alone actually Detonated).

[@TorontoChannel]

One of the best aircraft ever :D

[@hippieking]

Thumbs up for Gunston!

[@Volunteer-per-order_OSullivan]

Should have built this after the U2 incident.

[@Bomberguy]

nice one, thanks

[@JackFirebrace1917]

Monster!!

[@kizitoutube]

One mean looking machine :D

[@Thunderchief35]

Bill Gunston is God! Been reading his books since I was a kid in the 70s.

[@ToonandBBfan]

The only British aircraft to drop a live hydrogen bomb (operation Grapple). The Valiant was a nice airplane - such a shame that the RAF didnt have a crystal ball and opt for the B2.

[@lecturer09]

The 'V' bombers at Newbury and Reading in the 1950s -symbolic of the cold war.

[@mrrolandlawrence]

whoops. the uk does it again.. sigh

[@mcwolfus]

Chocks away Ginger.

[@ianjarrett2724]

They always tested the V bombers from Farnborough over Reading and Newbury.