Valiant Units Of The Cold War

Author : Andrew Brookes
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 96 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2012-08-20
Category : History
ISBN : 9781849087544

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Valiant Units of the Cold War by Andrew Brookes Pdf

The RAF's first Cold War strategic bomber, the Vickers Valiant, was procured as an insurance measure in case either the Vulcan or Victor was found to have a serious flaw. The Valiant was the equivalent of the US B-47 Stratojet, and it blazed the trail for the British airborne nuclear deterrent as the aircraft enjoyed a far more active service career than later V-bombers. It was the launch platform for all British free fall nuclear weapons tests both in the Pacific and in central Australia, it took part in the Suez campaign in 1956 and it was the only V-bomber to drop (conventional) weapons in anger until the Falklands operation in 1982. The Valiant was modified to serve in the electronic warfare, strategic reconnaissance and airborne tanker role, but it had to be grounded in early 1965 when the aircraft succumbed to metal fatigue.

Author : Andrew Brookes
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 96 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2014-06-20
Category : History
ISBN : 9781782004127

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RAF Canberra Units of the Cold War by Andrew Brookes Pdf

From its first public demonstration at the Farnborough Airshow of 1949, the English Electric Canberra bomber captured the attention of the aviation world. It could outmanoeuvre all the fighters of the time and it could climb way above their operating ceilings. Yet this Cold War equivalent of the Mosquito was simple to maintain and a delight to fly, although it could bite any pilot who did not treat it with respect. The Canberra B 2 first flew on 21 April 1950 and entered frontline service with No 101 Sqn in May 1951. In a testament to the aircraft's benign handling characteristics, the transition programme consisted of only 20 hours in the Gloster Meteor and three hours in the dual-control Canberra trainer. With a maximum speed of 470 knots (871 km/h), a standard service ceiling of 48,000 ft (14,600 m) and the ability to carry a 3.6-tonne (7,900-lb) payload, the Canberra was an instant success.

Author : Michael Napier
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 177 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2022-01-20
Category : History
ISBN : 9781472850256

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RAF Tornado Units in Combat 1992-2019 by Michael Napier Pdf

After the Gulf War of 1990, No Fly Zones (NFZ) were established over northern and southern Iraq and the Tornado GR 1 force stepped up to operations over the southern NFZ. The Tornado GR 4 took responsibility for RAF combat air operations in Afghanistan from the Harrier force in 2009, and in 2011 was involved in missions against the Gaddafi regime in Libya. The unique multirole capabilities of the aircraft enabled it to support ground operations with the Raptor reconnaissance pod, Brimstone missiles and Paveway IV laser-guided bombs until withdrawal in 2014. The Tornado GR 4 was also used for operations over Iraq and Syria against the ISIL terrorist organisation. Intensive air operations were flown between 2014 and 2019, when the Tornado GR 4 was finally withdrawn from RAF Service. This volume, written by former RAF pilot Michael Napier, provides detailed first-hand accounts of the missions undertaken by the Tornado crews during the most recent conflicts over the Middle East and the Balkans.

Author : Andrew Bird
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 209 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2023-08-17
Category : History
ISBN : 9781472856692

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Operation Black Buck 1982 by Andrew Bird Pdf

'The definitive account of the Vulcan raids... taught me something new on every page' - Rowland White, author of the bestselling Vulcan 607 A newly researched, fully illustrated account of how RAF Vulcan bombers flew a series of the world's longest air raids in 1982 against Port Stanley airfield, in a daring, hastily improvised strike against the Argentinian invaders. The RAF's opening shots of the Falklands War were among the most remarkable airstrikes in history. The idea was simple: to destroy the runway at Port Stanley, and prevent Argentinian fast jets using it against the Royal Navy task force. But the nearest British-owned airfield was Ascension Island - 3,900 miles away from the Falklands. Researcher and historian Andrew D. Bird has uncovered new detail of what really made these extraordinary raids possible, including never-before-published information and photos demonstrating the discreet support provided by the United States. Packed with spectacular original artwork and rare photos, this book explains how these hugely complex, yet completely improvised raids were launched. This is also the story of how the last of the Vulcans, only a few months away from the scrapyard, had to be hastily re-equipped to carry conventional bombs, with bombsights, electronics and navigation systems 'borrowed' from other aircraft. Yet they managed to fly what were the longest-range air attacks in history, and struck a severe blow to the occupying Argentinians.

Author : Nic Maclellan
Publisher : ANU Press
Page : 409 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 2017-09-26
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781760461386

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Grappling with the Bomb by Nic Maclellan Pdf

Grappling with the Bomb is a history of Britain’s 1950s program to test the hydrogen bomb, code name Operation Grapple. In 1957–58, nine atmospheric nuclear tests were held at Malden Island and Christmas Island—today, part of the Pacific nation of Kiribati. Nearly 14,000 troops travelled to the central Pacific for the UK nuclear testing program—many are still living with the health and environmental consequences. Based on archival research and interviews with nuclear survivors, Grappling with the Bomb presents i-Kiribati woman Sui Kiritome, British pacifist Harold Steele, businessman James Burns, Fijian sailor Paul Ah Poy, English volunteers Mary and Billie Burgess and many other witnesses to Britain’s nuclear folly.

Author : Alastair Goodrum
Publisher : Amberley Publishing Limited
Page : 268 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2020-01-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9781445695464

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Through Adversity by Alastair Goodrum Pdf

The stories of three individual careers combine seamlessly to tell the dramatic story of the RAF from the era of biplanes and into the jet age of the Cold War.

Author : Tim McLelland
Publisher : Fonthill Media
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 2017-05-17
Category : History
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Britain’s Cold War Bombers by Tim McLelland Pdf

Britain’s Cold War Bombers explores the creation and development of the jet bomber, tracing the emergence of the first jet designs (the Valiant and Vulcan) through to the first-generation jets which entered service with the R.A.F. and Fleet Air Arm. Each aircraft type will be examined, looking at how the design was created and how this translated into an operational aircraft. The basic development and service history of each type will be examined, with a narrative which links the linear appearance of each new design, leading to the present day and the latest generation of Typhoon aircraft. Other aircraft types explored will include the Canberra, Sperrin, Victor, Scimitar, Buccaneer, Nimrod, Phantom, Sea Harrier, Jaguar, Tornado GR1/4 and Typhoon. Illustrations: 200 black-and-white and 50 color photographs

Author : Michael Napier
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 322 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2020-08-20
Category : History
ISBN : 9781472836892

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In Cold War Skies by Michael Napier Pdf

Throughout the second half of the 20th century, international relations across the globe were dominated by the Cold War. From 1949 until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, US and Soviet strategic forces were deployed across the Arctic Ocean in North America and Northern Russia, while the best-equipped armed forces that the world had ever seen faced each other directly across the 'Iron Curtain' in Europe. In Cold War Skies examines the air power of the major powers both at a strategic and at a tactical level throughout the 40 years of the Cold War. In this fascinating book, acclaimed historian Michael Napier looks at each decade of the war in turn, examining the deployment of strategic offensive and defensive forces in North America and Northern Russia as well as the situation in Europe. He details the strategic forces and land-based tactical aircraft used by the air forces of the USA, USSR, NATO, Warsaw Pact countries and the European non-aligned nations. He also describes the aircraft types in the context of the units that operated them and the roles in which they were used. The text is supported by a wide range of first-hand accounts of operational flying during the Cold War, as well as numerous high-quality images.

Author : Donald Nijboer
Publisher : Erin, Ont. : Boston Mills Press
Page : 200 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2003
Category : History
ISBN : STANFORD:36105117987276

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Cockpits of the Cold War by Donald Nijboer Pdf

This pictorial book looks inside the cockpit of aircraft from 1947 to 1965 from the United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, Canada, France and the Soviet Union. Featured aircraft includes a pilot's perspective on what it was like to fly.

Author : Norman Polmar,Kenneth J. Moore
Publisher : Potomac Books, Inc.
Page : 649 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2014-05-14
Category : History
ISBN : 9781597973199

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Cold War Submarines by Norman Polmar,Kenneth J. Moore Pdf

Submarines had a vital, if often unheralded, role in the superpower navies during the Cold War. Their crews carried out intelligence-collection operations, sought out and stood ready to destroy opposing submarines, and, from the early 1960s, threatened missile attacks on their adversary's homeland, providing in many respects the most survivable nuclear deterrent of the Cold War. For both East and West, the modern submarine originated in German U-boat designs obtained at the end of World War II. Although enjoying a similar technology base, by the 1990s the superpowers had created submarine fleets of radically different designs and capabilities. Written in collaboration with the former Soviet submarine design bureaus, Norman Polmar and K. J. Moore authoritatively demonstrate in this landmark study how differing submarine missions, antisubmarine priorities, levels of technical competence, and approaches to submarine design organizations and management caused the divergence.

Author : Andrew Brookes
Publisher : Osprey Publishing
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 2011-02-15
Category : History
ISBN : 1849083398

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Victor Units of the Cold War by Andrew Brookes Pdf

Of the three jet bombers that formed the RAF's V-Force in the early years of the Cold War (1946-1991), the Victor was perhaps the most technologically advanced. First flown on December 24, 1952, the Victor entered service in B 1 configuration in November 1957. Further improvements were introduced with the B 2, which was optimized for high altitude. Most B 2s were equipped to carry the Blue Steel stand-off missile, but eight were modified in the strategic reconnaissance role because the Victor 2 was then the longest-ranging aircraft in the RAF. The Victor ceased to be a low-level bomber after the nuclear mission was taken over by the Royal Navy's Polaris submarine force in the late 1960s. Thereafter, Victor 1s and 2s continued in frontline service as airborne tankers, supporting operations such as the Falklands War and the Gulf War until the last Victor flight took place on November 30, 1993.

Author : Sean M. Maloney
Publisher : U of Nebraska Press
Page : 544 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2021-02
Category : History
ISBN : 9781640124196

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Emergency War Plan by Sean M. Maloney Pdf

Emergency War Plan examines the theory and practice of American nuclear deterrence and its evolution during the Cold War. Previous examinations of nuclear strategy during this time have, for the most part, categorized American efforts as “massive retaliation” and “mutually assured destruction,” blunt instruments to be casually dismissed in favor of more flexible approaches or summed up in inflammatory and judgmental terms like “MAD.” These descriptors evolved into slogans, and any nuanced discussion of the efficacy of the actual strategies withered due to a variety of political and social factors. Drawing on newly released weapons effects information along with new information about Soviet capabilities as well as risky and covert espionage missions, Emergency War Plan provides a completely new examination of American nuclear deterrence strategy during the first fifteen years of the Cold War, the first such study since the 1980s. Ultimately what emerges is a picture of a gargantuan and potentially devastating enterprise that was understood at the time by the public in only the vaguest terms but that was not as out of control as has been alleged and was more nuanced than previously understood.

Author : Dan Conley,Richard Woodman
Publisher : Seaforth Publishing
Page : 408 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2014-06-30
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781473837461

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Cold War Command by Dan Conley,Richard Woodman Pdf

A British nuclear submariner sheds critical light on the Royal Navy’s Cold War operations in this revealing military memoir. The role played by the Royal Navy's submarines throughout the Cold War remains largely shrouded in secrecy. In Cold War Command, Captain Dan Conley, RN (Ret.), offers an insider’s look at commanding nuclear hunter-killer submarines. As captain of the HMS Courageous and HMS Valiant, Conley was tasked with covertly following Soviet submarines in order to destroy them should there be any outbreak of hostilities. Conley recounts his early career in diesel submarines, as well as his exceptional success against the Soviet Navy at the height of the Cold War. He was involved in the initial deployment of the Trident nuclear weapon system and divulges previously unknown facets of nuclear weapons strategy and policy during this period. He also describes the Royal Navy's shortcomings in ship and weapons procurement, assessing how these failures led to the effective bankrupting of the Defense budget as it entered the 21st century.

Author : Paul Brown
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 208 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2016-10-06
Category : History
ISBN : 9781844864119

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Britain's Historic Ships by Paul Brown Pdf

The British Isles have a long, rich and celebrated seafaring history stretching from the earliest times through the victories of Drake and Nelson, the voyages of discovery of Cabot and Cook and the defence of the realm by vessels of all types in the present century. Much of this history is recorded in literature and in museums but reaches its most tangible form in the large number of historical ships that have been preserved and are continually restored as monuments to a proud past. This lavish book explores 20 of the most celebrated and accessible ships and offers a comprehensive history of each vessel's design, construction, active service and subsequent restoration and preservation. Presented in order of each ship's launch date, each entry is written by the acknowledged expert on a particular vessel, gives full specification details and is sumptuously illustrated with contemporary photographs, historical illustrations and a full set of scale plans. In addition to the featured entries, an appendix presents all of the necessary contact details and opening times where applicable. The appendix also lists (and provides details for) other vessels of historical importance including a small number of working replicas such as the Matthew and the recently commissioned eighteenth-century frigate The Grand Turk, featured in the recent Hornblower television series. Principal vessels include: Mary Rose, HMS Victory, HMS Trincomalee, SS Great Britain, Cutty Sark, RRS Discovery, HMS Warrior, HMS Belfast, HMY Britannia, HMS Alliance, HMS Cavalier, Gypsy Moth IV and HMS Plymouth.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 520 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2008-07
Category : Aeronautics
ISBN : STANFORD:36105132698270

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Aviation News by Anonim Pdf