Editing Vickers Valiant (section)

===Prototypes===
[[File:Vickers Valiant Farnborough 1951.jpg|thumb|First prototype at the [[Farnborough Airshow]], 1951]]
On 18 May 1951, the first prototype, [[United Kingdom military aircraft serials|serial number]] WB210 took to the air for its maiden flight,<ref name="Andrews Vickers p439">Andrews and Morgan 1988, p. 439.</ref> within the deadline that George Edwards had promised, only 27 months since the contract had been issued. This was several months before the competing Short Sperrin; the Sperrin had straight (not swept) wings and was not ordered.  The Valiant pilot was [[Joseph Summers|Captain Joseph "Mutt" Summers]], who had also been the original test pilot on the [[Supermarine Spitfire]], and wanted to add another "first" to his record before he retired. His co-pilot on the first flight was Gabe "Jock" Bryce, who succeeded Summers as Vickers' chief test pilot upon his retirement shortly after.<ref name="Turpin p. 72">Turpin 2002, p. 72.</ref><ref name = "black wright 10">Blackman and Wright 2015, p. 10.</ref><ref>McLelland 2013, p. 68.</ref> The next month, the Vickers Type 660 was given the official name of "Valiant", reusing the name given to the [[Vickers 131 Valiant|Vickers Type 131]] general-purpose biplane of 1931.{{#tag:ref|Traditionally, RAF bombers had been named after towns and cities, for example Lancaster, [[Handley Page Halifax|Halifax]] and [[English Electric Canberra|Canberra]], but new jet aircraft technology reflected a new tradition. The name also fitted in with a tradition of alliteration in aircraft names.|group=N}} The name Valiant had been selected by a survey of Vickers employees.<ref name="Jones p31,3">Jones 2007, pp. 31, 33.</ref>

On 11 January 1952, the first Valiant prototype was lost while making internal noise measurements for the [[Vickers V-1000|V.1000]] programme. Testing included engine shutdowns and re-lights,<ref>Andrews 1965, p. 4.</ref> one of which caused a fire in the starboard wing; most of the crew managed to escape the aircraft safely, except for the co-pilot, who struck the tail after ejecting.<ref name="Flight p13">''Flight'' 4 July 1958, p. 13.</ref><ref>Blackman and Wright 2015, pp. 11–16.</ref>

On 11 April 1952, the second prototype WB215 made its maiden flight, after modifications to the fuel system.<ref name="Andrews Vickers p440">Andrews and Morgan 1988, p. 440.</ref> It was fitted with more powerful RA.7 Avon engines with {{convert|7500|lbf|kN}} thrust each, rather than the originally planned Sapphires. It also featured more rounded [[Components of jet engines#Air intakes|air inlet]]s, replacing the narrow slot-type intakes of the first prototype, to feed sufficient air to the more powerful engines. The short delay until the second prototype became available meant that loss of the prototype did not compromise the development schedule.<ref name="Turpin p74">Turpin 2002, p. 74.</ref><ref name="Jones p34">Jones 2007, p. 34.</ref><ref name = "black wright 17"/>