Valiant Highlights
Extract from memoirs.
I flew on a few of the contractor flights with Vicker's pilots. Their chief test pilot was then Brian Trubshaw and we got to know each other very well. He later went on to be the Chief British Test pilot on Concord.
We test pilots used to attend various meetings at the aircraft contractor's works for discussions on testing progress and to give feedback from the sharp end. It was during a meeting at Vickers, at Weighbridge, one day during the Suez crisis, that the meeting was interrupted by someone entering and speaking in a low voice to the chairman. He went pale and some of us jumped to the conclusion that a Valiant must have been lost in the previous night attacks on Cairo targets.
He recovered his composure and announced to the meeting that he had just received grave news. He said, "Last night Vickers Valiants of RAF Bomber Command dropped bombs on Cairo airport. Two Vickers Viscounts on the ground were destroyed during the attacks."
Brian Trubshaw and I could not refrain from a burst of laughter at the irony of the situation, this causing the chairman to remark that Vickers could hardly accept that there was any humour in the situation.