The Vulcan was one of three ‘V’ bombers built as replacements for the 4 engined Lincoln, a derivative of the WW2 Lancaster bomber.  The other two V’s were the Valiant and the Victor. Both of these were to suffer to a greater or lesser degree from metal fatigue. The Valiant suffered most, and had to be withdrawn from service after serious cracking was fouind in the main spar.  By that time though it had become the first and only one of the V’s to drop a nuclear weapon during the ‘Grapple’ tests.

The Valiant The Victor Lovely head-on shot of Victor under braking

Valiant.

The oldest of the V bombers was the Valiant, the only one to drop a British nuclear weapon during trials.  It also took part in the Suez crisis in 1956. Of the three aircraft this one looks most as though it came from the 1950’s.

Photo J Dillon

I have been looking at some of the files in the National Archive that are now released to the public.  When the fatigue caused the Valiant to be withdrawn there was serious concern, up to Prime Minister level, as to how this should be told to the Americans and SACEUR. The withdrawal meant that the UK could cover 48 fewer targets in the event of war. Politically this was a bit of a problem!

Photo by Gerry Hitch from the Thunder and Lightnings web site.

This photo is also by Gerry Hitch and I think is an excellent one for showing the aircraft.  I remember from my time as an RAF Apprentice at Halton that the undercarriage on the Valiant was a bit unique in that it was rasied and lowered electrically, not hydraulically as with most aircraft. For some reason that fact has stuck with me.

Photo J Dillon.  Valiant at RAF Museum Hendon taken nose on with a very wide angle lens giving a rather different view.  The nose was only a few inches from the camera lens.

Victor.

The Victor was probably the ‘prettiest’ of the three V’s, with its crescent wing.  I think it was probably the best crew area layout, certainly better than the Vulcan.  Fundamentally all three V’s had the same layout; two pilots up front, three rear crew facing backwards.  However, with the Victor I think the rear crew floor was a little higher than that of the pilots, and they got a good deal of daylight from the pilots area. One advantage both the Victor and the Valiant had over the Vulcan was the access door, on both of these it was on the side of the crew area, which was a lot better if you had to jump in an emergency.  According to the National Archives files the Victor also had metal fatigue, this was on four panels on the wing near the engines, and at the time the cost was some £17,000 per aircraft to repair. That was a fair bit in those days. Again, following the problem with the Valiant the politicians had a problem, how would they break the news to the Americans. It is interesting that according to these files, while the UK had a policy of testing airframes to destruction to find metal fatigue, the Americans were not testing, they were relying on the theoretical calculations of the engineers.  As the UK was at that time talking to the US about F111 aircraft, they wanted reassurance that the calculations were correct, as their own experience showed that the engineers did not always get it right.

Photo J Dillon

This is a great shot of XL231, the only fully working Victor and the only one to carry out high-speed taxi runs.Victor, one of those kept in ‘running nick’ for taxi runs. Privately owned and stored at the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington, York, it opens each of the 2 days of the annual Yorkshire Air Show with a high-speed taxi run. 'Flown' by Barry Neal who was on the same entry as myself at Halton and then on the same Cadet course at Cranwell. He was enjoying himself (!) along with the aircraft's owner and 2 other ex-Victor rear-crew.

A great head-on shot.