Overview

In the tense decades of the Cold War, Britain's survival and global standing hinged on three extraordinary aircraft: the Vickers Valiant, Handley Page Victor, and Avro Vulcan. Together, these V-bombers formed the Royal Air Force's nuclear strike force, poised on Quick Reaction Alert to carry out missions that could change the fate of nations. Designed in response to the 1946 Air Ministry specification, they represented daring leaps of engineering-one pragmatic, one futuristic, and one iconic. This book traces the full story of the V-bombers: their conception in the shadow of Soviet power, their service as Britain's nuclear deterrent, their adaptation to low-level tactics and conventional roles, and their eventual drawdown as Polaris submarines took over the nuclear mission. From Operation Grapple's hydrogen bomb tests to the Vulcan's dramatic Black Buck raids in the Falklands, V-Bombers is a definitive account of how these aircraft secured Britain's independence in the nuclear age, and why their legacy still resonates today.

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9781923593121

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