I cannot remember it and I've had a look at my Valiant pictures and none of them have it either, albeit they were tankers. Not a skid or even a warning as the fuselage would scrape just behind the bomb bay deflector door. (not me guv, 'onest). Not apparant from the picture because the nose was jacked, nosewheel retracted and the nose lowered to fit the bomb in through the back.
The underwing tanks, some 12,500 lbs of fuel each, had their own pumps and nitrogen system installed in the tank nose which is why there is a door there.
A static discarge, possibly, as the orange putter radome was at the extreme aft of the fuselarge, and then found unneccessary.
They only additional ariel added to my knowledge was in about 1963/4 when a trial airborne Tacan station was fitted to assist fighter aircraft to find the tanker. They never got round to fitting it fleetwise before they were scrapped.
Last edited by Fareastdriver; 9th Sep 2008 at 08:02.