Valiant aircraft on parade
Title
Valiant aircraft on parade
Description
Airmen climbing into a Valiant bomber and five aircrew sat in a decompression chamber accompanied by a report of the lifting of security over the aircraft.
Creator
Date
1956-03-21
Coverage
Language
Format
Two newspaper cuttings
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
Identifier
SIvesonD19171121v10016
Transcription
DAILY MAIL; WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21; 1956
A-BOMB FLEET ON PARADE
The security curtain is lifted on the Vickers Valiant long-range bombers
[break]
[photograph]
Personnel. Five of the élite with their Valiant bomber.
[page break]
[photograph]
Preparation. Flying crew of a Valiant in the decompression chamber which simulates the effects of flying
[break]
From NOEL MONKS
R.A.F. STATION, Gaydon, Warwickshire.
PRESENTING the new race of R.A.F. pilots being trained here in what must be the world’s most exacting flying school.
They are the men who will fly the first of Britain’s V-bombers, the Valiant, now in squadron service.
Today some of the security that has cloaked the mighty four-engined Valiant in secrecy, was lifted by the Air Ministry. I was able to inspect at close quarters the plane built to carry Britain’s A-bomb and meet the men being trained to fly them.
No pilot being trained here has less than 2,000 flying hours to his credit – 1,750 as first pilot. All were highly recommended by the last three squadrons they served with.
They are the élite of the R.A.F. and every pass during their course here has to be 100 per cent.
The same goes for the second pilot, two navigators and a signaller (soon to be an electronics officer) who make up the Valiant’s five-man crew.
The course covers six weeks at ground school, including many hours in the £250,000 flying simulator, and six weeks flying.
So realistic is the simulator that it even reproduces the noise made by a plane’s undercarriage wheels as they touch the ground on landing.
[symbol]
I went out on the tarmac with a pilot and his crew who were going to put on a flying show. I had an hour’s wait by the giant aircraft while the crew carried out compulsory checks before take-off.
The pilot personally checked 70 external items from wheels to tailplane before he even entered the aircraft. As he called them out his co-pilot called “check” and made a tick on a printed card.
Inside the A-bomber there were another 40 checks before the pilot fastened his seat-belt.
Then came cockpit drill, when another 60 items on the pilot’s instrument panel were ticked off. Finally the four powerful Rolls Avon jet engines were started up and the Valiant took off.
The V-force aircrews pass out from here to the Valiant squadrons now in service and others forming. Because of the great experience they had to have before coming here, the average age of these super-flyers is between 29 and 30 – two years below that American A-bomber crews.
The Valiant has 38 miles of wiring inside and 85 electric motors. The complex electrical equipment is housed in a centre bay which the crews call the “organ loft”.
A-BOMB FLEET ON PARADE
The security curtain is lifted on the Vickers Valiant long-range bombers
[break]
[photograph]
Personnel. Five of the élite with their Valiant bomber.
[page break]
[photograph]
Preparation. Flying crew of a Valiant in the decompression chamber which simulates the effects of flying
[break]
From NOEL MONKS
R.A.F. STATION, Gaydon, Warwickshire.
PRESENTING the new race of R.A.F. pilots being trained here in what must be the world’s most exacting flying school.
They are the men who will fly the first of Britain’s V-bombers, the Valiant, now in squadron service.
Today some of the security that has cloaked the mighty four-engined Valiant in secrecy, was lifted by the Air Ministry. I was able to inspect at close quarters the plane built to carry Britain’s A-bomb and meet the men being trained to fly them.
No pilot being trained here has less than 2,000 flying hours to his credit – 1,750 as first pilot. All were highly recommended by the last three squadrons they served with.
They are the élite of the R.A.F. and every pass during their course here has to be 100 per cent.
The same goes for the second pilot, two navigators and a signaller (soon to be an electronics officer) who make up the Valiant’s five-man crew.
The course covers six weeks at ground school, including many hours in the £250,000 flying simulator, and six weeks flying.
So realistic is the simulator that it even reproduces the noise made by a plane’s undercarriage wheels as they touch the ground on landing.
[symbol]
I went out on the tarmac with a pilot and his crew who were going to put on a flying show. I had an hour’s wait by the giant aircraft while the crew carried out compulsory checks before take-off.
The pilot personally checked 70 external items from wheels to tailplane before he even entered the aircraft. As he called them out his co-pilot called “check” and made a tick on a printed card.
Inside the A-bomber there were another 40 checks before the pilot fastened his seat-belt.
Then came cockpit drill, when another 60 items on the pilot’s instrument panel were ticked off. Finally the four powerful Rolls Avon jet engines were started up and the Valiant took off.
The V-force aircrews pass out from here to the Valiant squadrons now in service and others forming. Because of the great experience they had to have before coming here, the average age of these super-flyers is between 29 and 30 – two years below that American A-bomber crews.
The Valiant has 38 miles of wiring inside and 85 electric motors. The complex electrical equipment is housed in a centre bay which the crews call the “organ loft”.
Collection
Citation
Noel Monks, “Valiant aircraft on parade,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed July 12, 2026, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/collections/document/44793.