- Publisher: Grub Street
- Year: 2024
- Format: Hardback
- Pages: 352pp
- Illustrated: Yes
- Dimensions: 238x164mm
- Condition: New
- Weight: 1.1kg
- ISBN: 9781911667872
- Product code: 542631
V-Bombers
Britain's Nuclear Frontline in the Cold War
Tony Redding New Hardback Illustrated
Postscript summary
Before the British nuclear deterrent was transferred to Polaris submarines in 1969, it was strategically reliant on the so-called V-bombers – the Valiant, Victor and Vulcan aircraft. Based on fresh material and interviews about the weapons, vulnerabilities and tactics for attacking Soviet targets, Tony Redding explores the capability and credibility of this modest force of subsonic bombers, and considers how it would have coped in the event of an attack.
Product information
Full publisher description
This is the story of a very British deterrent. Much has been written about the V-bombers - the Valiant, Victor and Vulcan - but virtually nothing has been said about their strategic nuclear strike role. How would Britain's small force of subsonic bombers have retaliated following a Soviet attack? Would they have succeeded in visiting thermonuclear catastrophe on their Soviet targets?
V-Bombers: Britain's Nuclear Frontline in the Cold War is the first detailed account of the operational capability and credibility of the airborne nuclear deterrent during the peak years of confrontation with the Soviet Union.
This book is the product of seven years of research by the author, Dr Tony Redding. It includes a great deal of fresh material on V-Force weapons, war mission, targeting, vulnerabilities and tactics for attacking targets within Soviet Russia. Over 70 V-Force aircrew and ground crew were interviewed and over 300 operational research reports and other official documents reviewed. The author demonstrates how the V-bombers retained a unilateral capacity to destroy a small number of the very largest cities in the Soviet Union in the period until the handover of the strategic nuclear deterrent to the Polaris submarines in 1969.
This core retaliatory threat, centred on the destruction of Moscow and Leningrad, was judged severe enough to undermine Russia's position in relation to the United States. In short, a few British V-bombers had the destructive capacity to destabilise the balance between the superpowers.
The book concludes that, within the first few hours, a small force of surviving V-bombers could have unleashed the explosive power of all Allied bombs dropped on Germany in six years of war.
A sobering thought and a fascinating and necessary read for all those interested in this period of history.
V-Bombers: Britain's Nuclear Frontline in the Cold War is the first detailed account of the operational capability and credibility of the airborne nuclear deterrent during the peak years of confrontation with the Soviet Union.
This book is the product of seven years of research by the author, Dr Tony Redding. It includes a great deal of fresh material on V-Force weapons, war mission, targeting, vulnerabilities and tactics for attacking targets within Soviet Russia. Over 70 V-Force aircrew and ground crew were interviewed and over 300 operational research reports and other official documents reviewed. The author demonstrates how the V-bombers retained a unilateral capacity to destroy a small number of the very largest cities in the Soviet Union in the period until the handover of the strategic nuclear deterrent to the Polaris submarines in 1969.
This core retaliatory threat, centred on the destruction of Moscow and Leningrad, was judged severe enough to undermine Russia's position in relation to the United States. In short, a few British V-bombers had the destructive capacity to destabilise the balance between the superpowers.
The book concludes that, within the first few hours, a small force of surviving V-bombers could have unleashed the explosive power of all Allied bombs dropped on Germany in six years of war.
A sobering thought and a fascinating and necessary read for all those interested in this period of history.
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542631
V-Bombers
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Before the British nuclear deterrent was transferred to Polaris submarines in 1969, it was strategically reliant on the so-called V-bombers – the Valiant, Victor and Vulcan aircraft. Based on fresh material and interviews about the weapons, vulnerabilities and tactics for attacking Soviet targets, Tony Redding explores the capability and credibility of this modest force of subsonic bombers, and considers how it would have coped in the event of an attack.
Hardback
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rrp_info:£25.00
productId:176635
bic_code:HBLW3, HBW, JWMN
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£25.00
Tony Redding
General
238x164mm
Grub Street
No
Hardback
Postwar to c.2000
