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Informationen zum Autor Andrew Brookes completed RAF pilot training after reading history at Leeds University. Following reconnaissance and strike tours on Victors, Canberras and Vulcans, during which he logged 3,500 flying hours, he served as a UK nuclear release officer in NATO and was the last operational RAF Commander at the Greenham Common cruise missile base. He was coordinator of airpower studies at the RAF Advanced Staff College and Aerospace specialist at the International Institute for Strategic Studies from 1999-2009. He is now Director of the Air League in London. He publishes and broadcasts widely, and he received the Defence Aerospace Journalist of the Year Award in 2004 and 2006. He has written numerous aviation books, including Vulcan Units of the Cold War, Victor Units of the Cold War and Valiant Units of the Cold War for Osprey’s Combat Aircraft series. Andrew is a Liveryman of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators, a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and a Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute. Chris Davey has illustrated more than 70 titles for Osprey's Aircraft of the Aces and Combat Aircraft series since 1994. Based in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, as one of the very last traditional airbrush artists in the business, he has become the company's illustrator of choice for both USAAF fighters and RAF subject matter, proving his undoubted skill when dealing with large aircraft subjects such as the Halifax, Sunderland, Lancaster, and Stirling. Klappentext The RAF's first Cold War strategic bomber, the Vickers Valiant, was procured as an insurance measure in case either the Vulcan or Victor was found to have a serious flaw. The Valiant was the equivalent of the US B-47 Stratojet, and it blazed the trail for the British airborne nuclear deterrent as the aircraft enjoyed a far more active service career than later V-bombers. It was the launch platform for all British free fall nuclear weapons tests both in the Pacific and in central Australia, it took part in the Suez campaign in 1956 and it was the only V-bomber to drop (conventional) weapons in anger until the Falklands operation in 1982. The Valiant was modified to serve in the electronic warfare, strategic reconnaissance and airborne tanker role, but it had to be grounded in early 1965 when the aircraft succumbed to metal fatigue. Zusammenfassung A detailed, illustrated history of the Valiant, the first V-bomber to see combat when it dropped bombs on Egyptian airfields at the very start of the Suez campaign in October 1956. Inhaltsverzeichnis Valiant creation /The first V-bomber into service ¿ trailblazer for high level Cold War bombing tactics /The Suez Campaign /Christmas Island nuclear weapons tests /High level bombing capability and Cold War organisation /The Versatile Valiant (strategic reconnaissance and tanking) /Allocation to SACEUR for low-level operations in the tactical nuclear role /Metal fatigue and sudden demise /Appendices: Detailing all units equipped with the Valiant and where they were based; Comprehensive plate commentaries...
