Valom 72150 Vickers Valetta C.1 (Operation Musketeer)

The Vickers Valetta was a British military transport plane in the low wing configuration, with a classic landing gear - retractable in flight from the Cold War period. The prototype flight took place in June 1947. Serial production was carried out in the years 1948-1951. Approximately 250 aircraft of this type were created in its course. In the C.1 version, the length of the machine was approximately 19.2 meters with a wingspan of 27.2 meters. The drive was provided by a single two Bristol Hercules 230 engines with 2,000 hp each. The machine did not have a permanent on-board armament.

The presented plane was developed primarily for the needs of the British Air Force (RAF) and in its essence was a military version of the civilian passenger machine called Viking, which in turn, on a large scale, used technical solutions known from other machines of the Vickers factory, i.e. Wellington and Warwick bombers. Four main versions of the Valetta were produced in the course of production: C.1 (basic transport version), C.2 (VIP version), T.3 (training version) and T.4 (school version, but with an added radar). Aircraft of this type were used primarily in the Middle and Far East. They were used in combat, inter alia, in the course of fights with the communist guerrillas in Malaya (1948-1960). Vickers Valetta aircraft were withdrawn from service with the RAF in the early 1960s.