Editing Vickers Valiant (section)

==Operational history==

===Nuclear deterrent===
[[File:YellowSunBomb2.JPG|thumb|right|Side view of a [[Yellow Sun (nuclear weapon)|Yellow Sun]] nuclear bomb under the wing of Vickers Valiant XD818 at the [[RAF Cosford]] museum]]

The first squadron to be equipped with the Valiant was [[No. 138 Squadron RAF|138 Squadron]], which formed at [[RAF Gaydon]] on 1 January 1955, with 232 Operational Conversion Unit forming at Gaydon on 21 February 1955 to convert crews to the new bomber.<ref name = "darling 40"/> Since the Valiant was part of an entirely new class of bombers for the RAF, the crews for the new type were selected from experienced aircrew, with first pilots requiring 1,750 flying hours as an aircraft captain, with at least one tour flying the Canberra, with second pilots needing 700 hours in command and the remaining three crewmembers had to be recommended for posting to the Valiant by their commanding officers.<ref name="Jones p79-2">Jones 2007, pp. 79–82.</ref> Valiants were originally assigned to the strategic nuclear bombing role, as were the Vulcan and Victor B.1s when they became operational. At its peak, the Valiant equipped ten RAF squadrons.<ref name="Osprey p92"/><ref>Wynn, pp. 564-565.</ref>

According to Gunston and Gilchrist, the Valiant had performed "extremely well" during the annual bombing competition hosted by American [[Strategic Air Command]] (SAC).<ref name = "bomber 79"/> American interest in the Valiant resulted in a visit to Vickers by USAF generals [[Hoyt Vandenberg|Vandenberg]], Johnson and [[Curtis LeMay|LeMay]]. Vickers test-pilot Brian Trubshaw believed that George Edwards was put under some pressure to build the Boeing B-47 under license. The only result from the visit was Le May's insistence that the Valiant pilot side-by-side seating be incorporated in the B-52 instead of the tandem arrangement in the B-47 and prototype B-52.<ref>Brian Trubshaw Test Pilot, Brian Trubshaw and Sally Edmondson, Sutton Publishing Limited 1999, {{ISBN|0 7509 1838 1}}, p.35</ref>

[[File:Buffalo R3 002.jpg|thumb|On 11 October 1956, Valiant B.1 WZ366 of [[No. 49 Squadron RAF|No. 49 Squadron]] became the first British aircraft to drop a live atomic bomb during the [[Operation Buffalo (1956)|Buffalo R3/Kite]] test]]

On 11 October 1956, a Valiant B.1 (WZ366) of [[No. 49 Squadron RAF|No. 49 Squadron]] piloted by [[Edwin Flavell (Royal Air Force officer)|Edwin Flavell]] was the first British aircraft to drop an  atomic bomb when it performed a test drop of a down-rated [[Blue Danube bomb|Blue Danube]] weapon on [[Maralinga]], [[South Australia]].<ref name="Mason Bomber p378">Mason 1994, p. 378.</ref> This occurred as part of the [[Operation Buffalo (1956)|Operation Buffalo]] [[British nuclear tests at Maralinga|nuclear tests in that area]]. Windscreen blinds were fitted in advance of the test to protect the crew from the intense flash of light from the nuclear detonation. Following the landing of the aircraft after deploying the weapon, WZ366 was assessed for potential damage and for [[radioactive contamination]].<ref>Blackman and Wright 2015, pp. 33–36.</ref>

On 15 May 1957, a Valiant B(K).1 (XD818) piloted by [[Kenneth Hubbard]] dropped the first British hydrogen bomb, the Short Granite, over the Pacific as part of [[Operation Grapple]].<ref name="RAF">{{cite web |url=http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/documents/collections/1994-1352-A-Valiant-XD818.pdf|title=Individual History Vickers Valiant B (K) Mk.I XD818/7894M Museum Accession Number 1994/1352/A |publisher=Royal Air Force Museum |access-date=20 November 2015}}</ref> No 49 Squadron was selected to perform the live weapon drop, and were equipped with specially-modified Valiants to conform with the scientific requirements of the tests and other precautionary measures to protect against heat and radiation.<ref>Hubbard and Simmons 2008, pp. 61, 68.</ref> However, the measured yield was less than a third of the maximum expected although achieving a thermonuclear explosion.

On 8 November 1957 a British hydrogen bomb detonated with its planned yield in the Grapple X test.<ref name = "hub and sim 157">Hubbard and Simmons 2008, p. 157.</ref> The Grapple series of tests continued into 1958, and in April 1958 the Grapple Y bomb exploded with ten times the yield of the original "Short Granite".<ref name = "hub and sim 167">Hubbard and Simmons 2008, p. 167.</ref> Testing was finally terminated in November 1958, when the British government decided it would perform no more air-delivered nuclear tests.<ref name = "bomber 79"/>

Originally the bombing role was to have been carried out at high altitude, but following the shooting down in 1960 of the [[Lockheed U-2]] flown by Gary Powers by an early Soviet [[SA-2]] Guideline missile, the SAM threat caused bomber squadrons to train for low-level attack as a means of avoiding radar detection when flying within hostile airspace. They were repainted in grey/green camouflage with normal markings, replacing their [[anti-flash white]] scheme.<ref name = "flint 133"/> By 1963, four Valiant squadrons (49, 148, 207 and 214) had been assigned to [[Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe|SACEUR]] in the low-level tactical bombing role.<ref name = "bomber 79"/> By this point, there had been a noticeable decline in flying rates for the type.<ref name = "bomber 79"/>

===Conventional warfare===
[[File:vickers valiant camouflaged on ground arp.jpg|thumb|Camouflaged Valiant at [[Bristol Filton Airport|Filton]], [[England]]. Circa mid-1960s]]
Peacetime practice involved the dropping of small practice bombs on instrumented bombing ranges, and a system of predicted bombing using radio tones to mark the position of the bomb drop over non-range targets, the bomb error being calculated by a ground radar unit and passed either to the crew during flight or to a headquarters for analysis. Use of the Valiant's Navigational and Bombing System (NBS) and the high quality of assigned crews, who were typically veterans and often had been previously decorated for wartime service, meant a high level of bombing accuracy could be achieved, greater than that of aircraft during the Second World War. According to Gunston and Gilchrist, Valiant crews were able to place practice bombs from an altitude of {{convert|45000|ft}} within a few meters of their assigned target.<ref name = "bomber 79"/>

In October and November 1956 the Valiant was the first of the V-bombers to see combat, during the Anglo-French-Israeli Suez campaign. During [[Operation Musketeer (1956)|Operation Musketeer]], the British military operation in what became known as the [[Suez Crisis]], Valiants operating from the airfield at Luqa on Malta dropped conventional bombs on targets inside Egypt. Egyptian military airfields were the principal target; other targets included communications such as [[radio station]]s and transport hubs.<ref>Bowman 2016, p. 158</ref> On the first night of the operation, six Valiants were dispatched to bomb [[Cairo West Air Base]] (which was aborted in flight due to potential risk to US personnel in the vicinity) while six more attacked [[Almaza Air Base]] and a further five bombed [[Kibrit Air Base]] and Huckstep Barracks.<ref name = "black wright 42">Blackman and Wright 2015, p. 42.</ref><ref name = "darling 42">Darling 2012, p. 42.</ref>

Although the Egyptians did not oppose the attacks and there were no Valiant combat losses, the results of the raids were reported as disappointing. Although the Valiants dropped a total of {{convert|842|LT}} of bombs, only three of the seven airfields attacked were seriously damaged.{{#tag:ref|The Valiants had not yet been fitted with their operational Navigational and Bombing System (NBS) and were using Second World War bomb-aiming techniques.|group=N}} The Egyptian Air Force had been effectively destroyed in a wider series of multinational attacks of which the Valiant bombing missions had been a part.<ref>Bowman 2016, pp. 158, 161.</ref> It was the last time RAF V-bombers flew a live combat mission until Avro Vulcans bombed Port Stanley airfield in the Falkland Islands during the [[Falklands War]] in 1982.<ref>McClelland, pp.175–178.</ref>

===Tanker operations===
Valiant tankers were flown by No. 214 Squadron at [[RAF Marham]], operational in 1958, and No. 90 Squadron at Honington, operational in 1959.<ref name = "hub and sim 26"/> The two squadrons became dedicated tanker squadrons on 1 April 1962.<ref>Brookes 1982, p. 142</ref> Aircraft assigned to the tanker role were fitted with a Hose Drum Unit (HDU or "HooDoo") in the bomb bay. The HDU was mounted on bomb-mounting points and could be removed if necessary; this arrangement meant that the bomb bay doors had to be opened in order to transfer fuel to a receiver aircraft. A control panel at the radar navigator station in the cockpit was used to operate the HDU.  The HDU equipment was removable so that the aircraft could be reverted to the bomber role if required.<ref>Tanner 2006, pp. 113–114.</ref>

Long-range demonstration flights were made with in-flight refuelling by other Valiant tankers that had been positioned at airfields along the route. In 1960, a Valiant bomber flew non-stop from Marham in the UK to Singapore and in 1961 a Vulcan flew non-stop from the UK to Australia.<ref name = "hub and sim 26">Hubbard and Simmons 2008, p. 26.</ref> The two tanker squadrons regularly made long range flights. These included non-stop flights from the UK to [[Nairobi]], [[RAF Gan]] and [[Singapore]].<ref>Brookes 1982, pp. 141–142</ref> Other aircraft refuelled by Valiants at this time included Victor and Vulcan bombers, [[English Electric Lightning]] fighters, and [[de Havilland Sea Vixen]] and [[Supermarine Scimitar]] fighters of the Royal Navy.<ref>Wynn 1994, p. 168.</ref>

===Countermeasures and reconnaissance roles===
Valiants of [[No. 18 Squadron RAF]] at [[RAF Finningley]] were modified to the "radio countermeasures" (RCM) role—now called "[[Electronic warfare support measures|electronic countermeasures]]" (ECM). These aircraft were ultimately fitted with American APT-16A and ALT-7 jamming transmitters, [[Airborne Cigar]] and Carpet [[Radar jamming and deception|jammers]], APR-4 and APR-9 "sniffing" receivers, and [[Chaff (countermeasure)|chaff]] dispensers. At least seven Valiants were configured to the RCM role.<ref>Brookes 2012, pp. 45–46.</ref>

Valiants of No. 543 Squadron at [[RAF Wyton]] were modified to serve in the photographic reconnaissance role. In one notable operation in 1965, Valiants of No. 543 Squadron photographed around {{convert|400000|sqmi}} of [[Rhodesia]] across an 11-week period.<ref name = "hub and sim 26"/>

===Fatigue failures and retirement===
In 1956, Vickers had performed a series of low level tests in WZ383 to assess the type for low level flight at high speed. Several modifications to the aircraft were made, including a metal radome, debris guards on the two inboard engines, and after six flights the aileron and elevator artificial feel was reduced by 50%. Pilots reported problems with cabin heating and condensation that would need remedying. The aircraft was fitted with data recording equipment and these data were used by Vickers to estimate the remaining safe life of the type under these flying conditions. Initially a safe life of 75 hours was recommended, which became "the real figure might be less than 200 hours".<ref>Morgan p. 66-68</ref> The number of hours flown by each Valiant in a year was an operational issue for the RAF.<ref>Valiant Units of the Cold War, Brookes p. 88.</ref>

[[File:15 Vickers Valiant WZ397 (15216077444).jpg|thumb|left|Vickers Valiant on display]]
Later the [[Royal Aircraft Establishment|RAE]] ran a similar series of tests that more closely resembled actual operational conditions including low level and taxiing; the corresponding report published in 1958 produced data that could be used to get a better grasp on which flight conditions produced the most damage, and enable a better projection of the future life span for the type.<ref>[http://naca.central.cranfield.ac.uk/reports/arc/cp/0521.pdf "Fatigue Loadings in Flight-Loads in the Nose Undercarriage and Wing of a Valiant."] E.W. Wells, ARC C.P. No. 521.</ref>

In May 1957 ''Flight'' reported an "incident at Boscombe Down, when the wing rear spar cracked after a rocket-assisted takeoff at overload weight (the reason for the rocket-assistance)"<ref>''Flight'' 17 May 1957, p. 651</ref> This aircraft was the second prototype WB 215 and had not been modified with the production fix for the known weakness in the rear spar;<ref>Properly to Test Book One "The Early Years",Noble 2003,{{ISBN|0 9544507 1 X}},p.96</ref> the aircraft was subsequently broken up for wing fatigue testing after it had flown 489 hours.<ref>Morgan p. 44 & p. 89.</ref>

After years of front-line service, in July 1964, a cracked spar was found in one of the three Valiants (either WZ394 – Wynne, or WZ389 – Morgan) on Operation Pontifex.<ref>Wynn p. 469.</ref> This was followed on 6 August by a failure of the starboard wing rear spar at 30,000&nbsp;ft,<ref>Brookes, Victor Units of the Cold War, p. 67.</ref> in WP217, an OCU aircraft from Gaydon captained by Flight Lieutenant "Taffy" Foreman. The aircraft landed back at Gaydon but without flap deployment because damage to the starboard rear spar caused the flap rollers to come out of their guides so that the flap would not lower on that side. Later inspection of the aircraft also showed the fuselage skin below the starboard inner plane had buckled, popping the rivets; the engine door had cracked and the rivets had been pulled and the skin buckled on the top surface of the mainplane between the two engines.<ref name = "darling 39 40">Darling 2012, pp. 39–40.</ref> Both of these aircraft were PR variants.<ref>Morgan, App 2, Individual Valiant Histories pp. 89–94.</ref>

Inspections of the entire fleet showed that the wing spars were suffering from fatigue at between 35% and 75% of the assessed safe fatigue life, probably due to low level turbulence.<ref name = "darling 40">Darling 2012, p. 40.</ref> After this inspection, the aircraft were divided into three categories, Cat A aircraft continuing to fly, Cat B to fly to a repair base, and Cat C requiring repair before flying again. The tanker squadrons had the highest proportion of Cat A aircraft because their role had been mainly at high level.<ref name = "darling 40"/> This also caused the methods of assessing fatigue lives to be reviewed.<ref>Wynn 1996, p. 465.</ref> By the time the type was scrapped, only about 50 aircraft were still in service; the rest had been slowly accumulating at various RAF Maintenance Units designated as "Non effective Aircraft".<ref>Morgan App2, pp. 89–94.</ref>

Initially there was no question of retiring the type, or even a majority of affected aircraft. Repairs were actively taking place at Valiant bases such as Marham using working parties from Vickers plus RAF technicians from the base.  In January 1965, the Wilson government with [[Denis Healey]] as [[Secretary of State for Defence]] decided that the expense of the repairs could not be justified, given the short operational life left to the Valiant, and the fleet was permanently grounded as of 26 January 1965.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wGNAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nKMMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5895,4007485&dq=vickers+valiant&hl=en "Valiants to be Scrapped."] ''Glasgow Herald'', 27 January 1965.</ref> The QRA alert that had been in place for [[SACEUR]] was maintained until the final grounding.<ref>Wynn 1996, pp. 464–471, 500.</ref> When asked to make a statement regarding the Valiant's scrapping in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]], Denis Healey stated that it "was not in any way connected with low-level flying" and that the "last Government took the decision to continue operating the Valiant force for another four years after its planned fatigue life was complete".<ref>{{citation |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1965/feb/01/royal-air-force-valiant-aircraft#column_725|title=ROYAL AIR FORCE (VALIANT AIRCRAFT) |work=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]] |date=1 February 1965 |volume=705|at=cc723-7}}</ref>

Aviation author Barry Jones commented in his book that: "A question has to be asked. For two years before the demise of the Valiant, Handley Page at Radlett had 100 [[Handley Page Hastings|Hastings]] go through their shops. They were completely dismantled and rebuilt, having DTD683 components removed and replaced by new alloy sections. What was so special about the Hastings and why was the Valiant not treated similarly? Perhaps we will know one day – but I doubt it."<ref>"V-Bombers" Barry Jones p. 117.</ref> A ''Flight'' report about the scrapping states "Fatigue affected all Valiants ... not only those that had been used for some low flying".<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1965/1965%20-%200310.html|title=End of the Valiants|work=Flight International |date=4 February 1965 |page=184}}</ref>

On 9 December 1964, the last Valiant tanker sortie in XD812 of 214 Squadron was refuelling Lightning aircraft over the North Sea and was recalled to land back at Marham before the scheduled exercise was completed. On the same day, the last Valiant bomber sortie was carried out by XD818.{{#tag:ref|XD818 was also the aircraft which had dropped nuclear weapons during [[Operation Grapple]].|group=N}}