V Bombers

The 'V bombers' were nuclear armed jet bombers of the 1950s and 60s. The three were Avro Vulcan, Handley Page Victor and Vickers Valaint. The latter proved to be the least successful following the discovery of fatigue issues with the wing spars. The government of the day decided that the expense of carrying out repairs could not be justified and Valiants were withdrawn from service in 1965 whilst the Vulcan carried on until 1984 and the Victor, in tanker form, until 1993. The Vulcan has survived in the greatest numbers with 19 airframes extant. With the recent scrapping of the RAF Marham gate guard only 4 Victors remain but the Valiant only has one complete survivor and this can be found at Cosford. Also at Cosford are a Victor and Vulcan so all three airframes can be seen at just one location. There are also a handful of Valiant nose sections in existence one of which has recently been acquired by the IWM at Duxford. Since Duxford also has a complete Victor and Vulcan on display this is the only other place where it is possible to get a flavour of the three aircraft in one location. The Valiant is a bit weather beaten and will be restored in due course.