History UsefulNotes / UltimateDefenceOfTheRealm

!Bombs and Stand-Off Missiles''

Britain's first (and as it turned out, only) strategic jet-powered nuclear bomber force was made entirely up of their so-called "V-Bombers," from the fact that each bomber design was named with something starting with the letter "V." If the Cold War ever got nuclear, the entire "V-Force" would be assigned to support USAF Strategic Air Command, and would report directly to SAC whenever nukes were carried. Purchasing three different bombers with largely the same role instead of the less expensive option of just picking a single design was done as a precaution against any one of the designs experiencing unexpected problems, similar to the RAF's practice with both fighters and bombers before and during World War II.[[note]]Air Chief Marshal Sir John Slessor in justifying the purchase of all 3 V-Bombers opined that if the RAF had chosen a single bomber in 1939 instead of simultaneously adopting the Avro Manchester, Short Stirling and Handley Page Halifax, it's likely they would've chosen the wrong one. The Halifax proved the most capable of the three, but the Manchester a year later developed into the even better Avro Lancaster, so Bomber Command would've been greatly impaired in WW2 if either of those two had not been adopted.[[/note]]

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