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THE
COLD WAR WARRIOR
Great
Britain's Airborne Nuclear Deterrence 1955 - 1970
By
Wing Commander Gordon Rayfield BA RAF (Ret’d)
Royal
Air Force Bomber Command aircrews carried the fight to the enemy throughout the
entire Second World War. The aircrew, mainly very young, bombed their targets
with minimum experience and inadequate equipment and suffered 55,000 fatalities.
On
16 July 1945, and in the twinkling of an eye, this style of warfare was rendered
obsolete with the detonation of the world’s first atomic bomb. The very next
day, the Potsdam Conference began where the ‘big three’ Russia, the USA and
GB, carved up the world into spheres of influence. Shortly after in August the
dropping of 2 atomic bombs on Japan hastened the end of WW2. A year later
Russia’s bid for world domination was not evident to many but Churchill, now a
backbencher after losing the 1945 election, warned of Soviet intentions in his
‘an iron curtain has descended over eastern Europe’ Speech at Independence,
Missouri.
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Potsdam
July 1945 |
In July 1945, The British
Chiefs of Staff deliberated on the future of atomic weapons. They concluded
‘The only answer to the atomic bomb is to use it in retaliation ..... to do
this might well deter an aggressive nation’. This was probably the first time
nuclear deterrence was postulated as a written statement. A year later in July
1946, planning began for British nuclear weapons. In December the same year the
Air Staff drafted Operational Requirement 229 for a 4-engined jet bomber. At
this time height and speed were regarded as the means of salvation of any future
bomber force. OR 229 called for an aircraft that had an initial cruising
altitude of 45,000’, flew at Mach 0.87, to deliver a 10,000 lb weapon
over a 3,350 mile range anywhere in the world, in any weather, day or night. |
Ballistic
Missile Warning System (BMEWS) |
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month later the first specification for a strategic bomber was issued to
selected aircraft companies that included Vickers, Handley-Page, and Avro.
Theses aircraft would constitute the V-Force. To be a credible deterrent the
aircraft had to scramble within the 4 minutes warning time from the Ballistic
Missile Early Warning System at RAF Fylingdales. The Quick
Reaction Alert (QRA) posture was
developed to meet this challenge. The V-Force comprised a large number of
weapons systems held at high readiness, armed with thermo-nuclear weapons, whose
destructive power was immense. |
The
3 V-Bombers |
The
first of these new aircraft to fly was the Vickers Valiant on 18 May 1951, and
the Avro Vulcan and the Handley-Page Victor followed shortly after enabling the
V-Force to become operational by mid-1955. At its peak in 1962 there were 167
V-bombers on 17 squadrons. They operated from 10 bases and had 26 dispersal
airfields spread over the entire country. In periods of heightened tension the
Force would be dispersed to create a targeting problem for the enemy and this
was practiced regularly. |
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As
Soviet surface-to-air-missiles (SAMs) improved, and their targets were defended
in depth, maybe out to a 50 mile radius, so weapons and tactics evolved. High
level mass strikes preceded by massive jamming gave way to low level strikes by
stealth sometime using BLUE STEEL stand-off missiles. The
missile was introduced in 1962 and designed to be released at least 100 miles
from the target.
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Aircrews
underwent 20 weeks initial training to become familiar with the aircraft and its
systems. After that when they arrived on their squadrons, crews continued
structured training to bring them to operational status within 6 months. When
operational, crews were allocated their war targets and, having satisfied wing
staff they were proficient to prosecute their war mission, were rostered for QRA.
This was the raison d’être of the V-force. Each squadron mounted a QRA
aircraft and crew 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This amounted to crews pulling
3 to 6 days a month. While on QRA, crews were subjected to random call-outs
throughout the day and night to continuously test the readiness posture.
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To
launch the force quickly, aircrews and stations were directly linked to the
Bomber Controller at HQ STC. Deep his Bunker, when the Bomber Controller
announced “Readiness State 05!” the crews ran to their aircraft. On board
and breathless, the crews awaited further Readiness State changes. |
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| Next came
either “Readiness State 02” or “Scramble”. At RS02, all engines were
started simultaneously at the press of a single button. Alternators and powered
flying controls automatically started and came on line. |
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The aircraft was ready
to taxi within 20 seconds of hitting the button. The average time taken for all
4 aircraft to be airborne from “Scramble” was 1 minute 47 secs, but there
are recorded occasions when all 4 were airborne within a minute.
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GV
Crew 1970 |
It
is remarkable that some 50 years ago the Royal Air Force had aircraft that could
fly at Mach 0.93, at heights of 64,000 ft, armed with missiles with inertial
navigation equipment, and flew low-level using terrain following radar. The
V-Force had immense striking power and was the nation’s main nuclear deterrent
for about 15 years before it passed to Polaris in 1969. It was the very
culmination of the Royal Air Force’s strategic bombing philosophy of which
Lord Trenchard was an ardent advocate. It lifted the Royal Air Force into a new
era and left a great legacy of pride, professionalism and expertise upon which
later aircrew could draw.
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