Known collectively as the V-bombers - Valiant, Victor and Vulcan all completed successful and varied service careers. However, it is often forgotten that a couple of other designs in the same category were flown as prototypes though they didn't enter service. One was a completely separate design, the Short Sperrin, while the other was a major development of the Valiant. In February 1945 Short Brothers ('Shorts') was asked by the Air Ministry to study a jet-propelled high-speed bomber with a range of 5,000 miles (8,045km). The resulting SA.4 proposal produced in November was powered by six Rolls-Royce AJ.65 (later Avon) turbojets, but it was revised into a smaller airframe with just four of these units.
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