Britains V bombers

Britain’s V bombers comprised the RAF’s strategic nuclear strike force aircraft during the Cold War. The three models of bomber were the Vickers Valiant, the Handley Page Victor and the Avro Vulcan, which famously flew extremely long-range ground attack missions against Argentine positions in the Falklands War in 1982.

 

The V bombers were also capable of dropping conventional weapons, supported by a complex analogue computer system known as the Navigation and Bombing System that allowed accurate bombing even over very long ranges.

 

The Valiants were removed from service in 1964 after problems with metal fatigue of their wings became apparent.

 

First generation

 

The UK nuclear strike force became known officially as the V force or Main Force. V force assets at the end of 1958 were:

 

No. 7 Squadron, RAF Honington, Valiant B.1

 

No. 10 Squadron, RAF Cottesmore, Victor B.1

 

No. 15 Squadron, RAF Cottesmore, Victor B.1

 

No. 18 Squadron, RAF Finningley, Valiant B.1

 

No. 49 Squadron, RAF Wittering, Valiant B.1

 

No. 83 Squadron, RAF Waddington, Vulcan B.1

 

No. 90 Squadron, RAF Honington, Valiant B.1

 

No. 101 Squadron, RAF Finningley, Vulcan B.1

 

No. 138 Squadron, RAF Wittering, Valiant B.1

 

No. 148 Squadron, RAF Marham, Valiant B.1

 

No. 207 Squadron, RAF Marham, Valiant B.1

 

No. 214 Squadron, RAF Marham, Valiant B.1

 

No. 543 Squadron, RAF Wyton, Valiant B.1

 

No. 617 Squadron, RAF Scampton, Vulcan B.1

 

Second generation

 

The development of effective jet fighters and anti-aircraft missile defences promised to make the nuclear deterrent delivered from bombers flying at high altitudes increasingly ineffective

 

Modifications were made to the Victor B.1 in 1959. These included the addition of an in-flight refuelling probe, new electronic countermeasures (ECM) equipment, tail-warning radar, drooped leading edges and a strengthened pressure cabin. This modified version was known as the Victor B.1A.

 

The V Bomber force reached its peak in June 1964, when 50 Valiants, 70 Vulcans and 39 Victors were in service.

 

Nuclear mission

 

The British government was well aware of the devastation that a nuclear war would bring. A 1953 report estimated that an attack on the UK with 132 fission weapons would generate 2 million casualties. A follow-on study, which considered the possible effect of hydrogen bombs, estimated that as few as ten could reduce the entire UK to a radioactive ruin.

 

The United States now agreed to supply the V bombers with megaton weapons in place of the Mark 5, in the form of Mark 15 and Mark 39 nuclear bombs.

 

Avro Vulcan XH558

 

The Vulcan was the second of the Royal Air Force’s ‘V bombers’ and like the Valiant and Victor provided part of Great Britain’s nuclear deterrent force for fifteen years, until the Royal Navy’s Polaris submarines took over that responsibility in 1969.

 

The prototype B1 first flew on 30 August 1952; four years later, work began on an improved B2 design. The increased performance offered by the Vulcan B2 made it ideal for modification to carry the Blue Steel nuclear stand-off bomb.

 

By 1966 Soviet missile defences had become so effective that Vulcan's switched from high- to low-level penetration. In 1970, following their withdrawal from the nuclear deterrent, Vulcans switched to the conventional bomber role in support of NATO forces in Europe.

 

The Vulcan’s range could be greatly increased by in-flight refuelling, which was used to such good effect in the long range attacks on the Falkland Islands from Ascension Island in 1982. The last Vulcan's retired from operational service in 1984.

 

Victor XH649

 

The Handley Page Victor was a British-built strategic bomber. It was the third V-bomber built after the Avro Vulcan and Vickers Valiant.

 

The United Kingdom's atomic weapons program began officially in January 1947 with the research and development of nuclear weapons.

 

The Ministry of Defence issued guidelines for a nuclear bomb that would not be longer than 24 feet two inches and have a maximum diameter of five feet while not weighing more than 10,000 lbs.

 

The Victors were the last V-bombers to serve in the Royal Air Force and were eventually replaced as tankers by the Vickers VC10 and the Lockheed Tristar in October 1993.

 

Vickers Valiant

 

Built by Vickers-Armstrongs at Weybridge, the Vickers Valiant was a four-jet, high-altitude, strategic bomber and was the first, and most conservative in design, of the V-Bombers (the others being the Handley Page Victor and the Avro Vulcan).

 

The first prototype was flown at Wisley, just a few miles from Weybridge, on 18th May 1951, although sadly it was lost following an in-flight fire on 12th January 1952.

 

Two additional prototypes were built, the last of these being the sole Valiant B.Mk 2 (WJ954), which was designed for low-level night penetration missions, but not ordered for production.

 

The production Vickers Valiant B.Mk 1 served in pure bomber, photo-reconnaissance and tanker roles. The Vickers Valiant featured a moderately swept, shoulder-mounted wing on a circular section fuselage with swept cruciform tail surfaces. Power was provided by four Rolls-Royce Avon engines that were buried in the inner wing, with wing root intakes and trailing edge exhausts.

 

The aircraft was reliable in service, but when transitioned to a low-level penetration role in 1964, wing spar fatigue cracks soon became apparent and the type was prematurely withdrawn from service in January 1965.

 

Suez crisis

 

The first V bomber to see combat use with conventional bombs was the Valiant in Operation Musketeer, the Anglo-French military response in the Suez Crisis in 1956. It was the first and only time the Valiant's dropped bombs in combat operations.

 

The Valiant's were neither trained nor equipped for such a mission. Not all the Valiant's were equipped with the Navigation and Bombing System (NBS) and it was not serviceable in all of those that were.

 

Preservation

 

On 8 February 2007, the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford opened the National Cold War Exhibition at RAF Cosford in Shropshire to tell the story of the Cold War. This exhibition brought together static displays of all three types of V bomber in one location for the first time.

 

Specifications (Valiant B.1)

 

Vickers Valiant

 

Data from Vickers Aircraft since 1908,] Jet Bombers

 

General characteristics

 

Crew: five – two pilots, two navigators (one navigator plotter + one navigator radar), air electronics officer

 

Length: 108 ft 3 in (32.99 m)

 

Wingspan: 114 ft 4 in (34.85 m)

 

Height: 32 ft 2 in (9.80 m)

 

Wing area: 2,362 sq ft (219.4 m2)

 

Empty weight: 75,881 lb (34,419 kg)

 

Max takeoff weight: 140,000 lb (63,503 kg)

 

Powerplant: 4 × Rolls-Royce Avon RA28 Mk 204 turbojets, 10,000 lbf (44 kN) thrust each

 

Performance

 

Maximum speed: 567 mph (912 km/h, 493 kn) at 30,000 ft (9,100 m)

 

Range: 4,500 mi (7,200 km, 3,900 nmi) with underwing tanks

 

Service ceiling: 54,000 ft (16,000 m)

 

Rate of climb: 4,000 ft/min (20 m/s)

 

Armament

 

Bombs:

 

1× 10,000 lb (4,500 kg) Blue Danube nuclear bomb or

 

1× B28 nuclear bomb

 

Avro Vulkan

 

Specifications (B.1)

 

Data from Polmar, Laming

 

General characteristics

 

Crew: 5 (pilot, co-pilot, AEO, navigator radar, navigator plotter)

 

Length: 97 ft 1 in (29.59 m)

 

Wingspan: 99 ft 5 in (30.30 m)

 

Height: 26 ft 6 in (8.08 m)

 

Wing area: 3,554 sq ft (330.2 m2)

 

Airfoil: root: NACA 0010 mod.; tip: NACA 0008 mod.

 

Empty weight: 83,573 lb (37,908 kg) equipped and crewed

 

Max takeoff weight: 170,000 lb (77,111 kg)

 

Fuel capacity: 9,280 imp gal (11,140 US gal; 42,200 L); 74,240 lb (33,675 kg)

 

Powerplant: 4 × Bristol Olympus Mk.101 / Mk.102 / Mk.104 twin-spool turbojet engines, 11,000 lbf (49 kN) thrust each

 

Performance

 

Maximum speed: 561 kn (646 mph, 1,039 km/h) at altitude

 

Maximum speed: Mach 0.96

 

Cruise speed: 493 kn (567 mph, 913 km/h) / M0.86 at 45,000 feet (14,000 m)

 

Range: 2,265 nmi (2,607 mi, 4,195 km)

 

Service ceiling: 55,000 ft (17,000 m)

 

Thrust/weight: 0.31

 

Armament

 

21 × 1,000 pounds (454 kg) of conventional bombs

 

1 × Blue Danube nuclear gravity bomb

 

1 × Violet Club 400 kt nuclear gravity bomb

 

1 × U.S. Mark 5 nuclear gravity bomb supplied under Project E

 

1 × Yellow Sun Mk.1 400 kt nuclear gravity bomb

 

1 × Yellow Sun Mk.2 1.1 Mt thermonuclear gravity bomb

 

1 × Red Beard nuclear gravity bomb

 

1 × WE.177B parachute-retarded nuclear gravity bomb

 

Handley Page Victor

 

Specifications (Handley Page Victor B.1)

 

Data from Handley Page Aircraft since 1907

 

General characteristics

 

Crew: 5

 

Length: 114 ft 11 in (35.03 m)

 

Wingspan: 110 ft (34 m)

 

Height: 28 ft 1.5 in (8.573 m)

 

Wing area: 2,406 sq ft (223.5 m2)

 

Airfoil: Root: 16% Modified RAE Airfoil; Tip: 6% Modified RAE Airfoil

 

Empty weight: 89,030 lb (40,383 kg)

 

Max takeoff weight: 205,000 lb (92,986 kg)

 

Powerplant: 4 × Armstrong Siddeley A.S.Sa.7 Sapphire turbojet engines, 11,050 lbf (49.2 kN) thrust each

 

Performance

 

Maximum speed: 545 kn (627 mph, 1,009 km/h) at 36,000 ft (11,000 m)

 

Range: 5,217 nmi (6,004 mi, 9,662 km)

 

Service ceiling: 56,000 ft (17,000 m)

 

Bombs:

 

Up to 35 × 1,000 lb (450 kg) bombs or

 

1× Yellow Sun free-fall nuclear bomb