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V bomber

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The term V bomber was used for the Royal Air Force aircraft during the 1950s and 1960s that
comprised the UK's strategic nuclear strike force. The bombers were the Valiants (first flew 1951),
Victors (first flew 1952) and Vulcans (first flew 1952). The V-Bomber force reached its peak in June
1964, with 50 Valiants, 39 Victors and 70
The RAF Bomber Command ended World War II with a policy of using heavy four-piston-engined
bombers for massed raids, and remained committed to this policy in the immediate postwar period,
adopting the Avro Lincoln, an updated version of the WW2 Lancaster, as their standard bomber.
The development of jet aircraft and nuclear weapons soon made this policy obsolete. The future
appeared to belong to jet bombers that could fly at high altitude and speed, without defensive
armament, to perform a nuclear strike on a target. Although, even at the time there were those who
could see that guided missiles would at some time in the future make such aircraft vulnerable, but
development of such missiles was proving difficult, and fast and high-flying bombers were likely to
serve for years before there was a need for something better.
In any case, massed bombers were unnecessary if a single bomber could destroy an entire city or
military installation with a nuclear weapon. It would have to be a large bomber, since the first
generation of nuclear weapons were big and heavy. Such a large and advanced bomber would be
expensive on a unit basis, but would also be produced in much smaller quantities. Britain had been
economically bled dry by World War 2, and the potential economies were attractive.
The arrival of the Cold War also emphasized to British military planners the need to modernize British
forces. Furthermore, Britain's up-and-down relationship with the USA, particularly in the immediate
postwar years when American isolationism made a short-lived comeback, led the British to feel they
needed their own strategic nuclear strike force.
After considering various specifications for such an advanced jet bomber in late 1946, in January
1947 the Air Ministry issued an request for an advanced jet bomber that would be at least the equal
of anything the US or the USSR had. The request followed the guidelines of the earlier Specification
B.35/46, which proposed a "medium-range bomber landplane, capable of carrying one 10,000 pound
[4,535 kilogram] bomb to a target 1,500 nautical miles [2,775 kilometers] from a base which may be
anywhere in the world."
The request also indicated that the fully loaded weight not exceed 45,350 kilograms (100,000
pounds), though this would be adjusted upward in practice; that the bomber have a cruise speed of
925 km/hr (500 knots); and that it have a service ceiling of 15,240 meters (50,000 feet).
The request went to most of England's major aircraft manufacturers. Handley-Page and Avro came
up with very advanced designs for the bomber competition, which would become the Victor and the
Vulcan respectively, and the Air Staff decided to award contracts to both companies, again as a form
of insurance. While the Vickers-Armstrong's submission had been rejected as too conservative,
Vickers' lobbied the Air Ministry and made changes to meet their concerns and managed to sell the
Vickers design on the basis that it would be available much sooner than the competition, and would
be useful as a "stopgap" until the more advanced bombers were available. Apparently the Air Ministry
didn't think there could be too much insurance.
The development of effective anti-aircraft missiles made the deterrent threat increasingly threadbare.
After the failed Blue Streak missile program and the cancellation of the American Skybolt and British
Blue Steel Mk. 2, the long-serving Vulcans were displaced in the strategic role by the Polaris missile
which would have been launched from submarines.