Many thanks Stacey and Oldlae for your stories and taking the time to post them.
My Dad was in 22 Squadron 'D' flight based at RAF Manston (October '62 -September '64)
They did Search and Rescue. Heres a picture of what i believe to be XP347 (There is an entry in his log book in April 7th '64 for Daily Mail pictures in 347 and I'm thinking these are the shots they took.)
I remember him telling me the story of a 'scramble' where the bell rang and off they ran, jumped in, helmets on and strapped in. After taking off and flying out to sea, my dad felt a 'rustle' in his helmet and had to flip it off. There was a rat inside that jumped out and ran about causing havoc in the back until they kicked it out! I remember as a kid, If he ever heard a bell (fire alarm, etc) he was always ready to run and scramble.
Heres a picture from his log book, the entry 26th May '64 in aircraft 347 reads Valiant "wheels up" in the details.
Heres another he flew quite regularly, XP350 - This happened on the 13th Febuary 1963.
I had a look into what became of this craft and found a few nice pictures of it. Here it is on display to the public at Flambards Theme Park, Helston, Cornwall (Thanks to Tristan for use of the photo)
Lost a bit of the sheen in this picture in its current resting place by M Lawson (thanks to him and
Demobbed - Out of Service British Military Aircraft for permission to use)
Its been living since 2003 at the national Paintball fields, Bassetts pole. Thanks to Chris at NPF for letting me use these pictures of the old girl back in action and offering me a look around it under 'cease fire conditions', he tells me people have come as far as the Netherlands to see it.
Strangely I went to NPF as part of my 'stag do' in 2010 and saw the whirlwind there, but didn't go too close for fear of getting trapped in a corner of it and being shot to bits.
A nice little coinsidence none the less.
Ben