Price: £80.00

Vickers Valiant B1

The British government after the second world war was desperate to acquire an effective nuclear deterrent. Apart from the war head itself an effective delivery system was vital. The bomber had to strike targets deep in the Soviet Union at 70,000 ft, at speeds close to the speed of sound. Radical proposals from Avro and Handley Page which resulted in the Vulcan and Victor were ordered "off the drawing board", but as an insurance against the failiure of these projects, a more conservative aeroplane was required which would enter service as quickly as possible.

Designed by George Edwards at Vickers Armstrong the Valiant first flew in May 1951, (nearly 50 years ago to the day as I write this) flown by Mutt Summers and Jock Bryce. The Valiant was a strikingly attractive aeroplane and performed as well as anyone could have wished. Several notable firsts were scored by the Valiant, most importantly it was the first British bomber to deliver a live thermonuclear bomb. The Valiant also served as the RAF's first air to air tanker. After Gary Power's was shot down in 1960 the "V Force" was switched to low level, which was the death knell for the Valiant, as the strains of low level flying resulted in cracking of the rear wing spars of the Valiant fleet, all Valiants were grounded in 1965 and scrapped soon after. The subject of this model, (XD818) was the Valiant which delivered the first British thermonuclear bomb and is the only surviving Valiant airframe which is displayed at the RAF museum at Hendon.

Performance

Top Speed: 567mph at 30,000 ft.
Weight: 159,042 lbs fully loaded.
Ceiling: 54,000 ft
Powerplant: Four Rolls Royce Avon RA28 turbojets, (10,000 lb static thrust).
Armament: One 10,000 lb thermonuclear bomb, or 21*1000lb iron bombs.