The Valiant was the first of the famous trio of British V-bombers to enter Royal Air Force service and is regarded as being the most conventional of the three designs. The first V-bomber to drop bombs in anger, when they were sent to attack Egyptian airfields during the Suez campaign, the Valiant was also the first RAF aircraft to drop a Hydrogen bomb, which it did during the Operation Grapple tests of 1957. The service career of the aircraft was cut short after the discovery of serious fatigue problems with its rear spar, which lead to a number of fatal accidents and the subsequent grounding of the fleet.