No. 138 Squadron
The first of the new V-Bombers, the Vickers Valiant, entered service with No. 138 Sqn at RAF Gaydon, Warwickshire in January 1955. 138 moved to RAF Wittering and became fully operational in July 1955. Wittering had been home to the RAF's slowly increasing stockpile of nuclear weapons since 1953 and now finally the RAF had bombers and bombs in the same place.
During the Suez Crisis Valiants of 138, 148, 207 and 214 squadrons were deployed to RAF Luqa in Malta and the first Valiant attacks against Egyptian airfields began on 31 October 1956. After failing to stop Egyptian and Israeli fighting around the Suez Canal, RAF Canberra and Valiant bombers flying from Malta and Cyprus, in conjunction with French Air Force aircraft, attacked twelve airfields in the Canal Zone. Airfield attacks continued until 4 November, by which time the Egyptian Air Force had been decimated.
In 1964, the entire Valiant fleet was retired.
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