100_years_of_the_RAF_MOD_45163623.jpg
Summary
Description 100 years of the RAF MOD 45163623.jpg |
English:
Pictured are three Avro Vulcan B1As of the Waddington Wing in flight sometime in 1957.
The B1A's pictured were fitted with Electronic Countermeasures (ECM) system in a new larger tail cone. The Avro Vulcan was designed to carry the Blue Steel missile, which was Britain's primary nuclear deterrent until they started operating nuclear armed submarines in the late 1960s. Early versions of the aircraft, such as these were painted in anti-flash white, designed to reflect thermal radiation from a nuclear explosion. The Vulcan's first flight was August 30th, 1952, only 7 years after the end of World War II and it was not fully decommissioned until 1984. As a part of the V-force, the Vulcan was the backbone of the United Kingdom's airborne nuclear deterrent during much of the Cold War. Although the Vulcan was typically armed with nuclear weapons, it was capable of conventional bombing missions, a capability which was used in Operation Black Buck during the Falklands War between the United Kingdom and Argentina in 1982.
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Date | |
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Author | Air Historical Branch-RAF |
Permission
( Reusing this file ) |
Images are downloadable at high resolution, made available at http://www.defenceimagery.mod.uk for reuse under the OGL (Open Government License). |
Licensing
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Open Government Licence version 1.0
(
OGL v1.0
).
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Attribution: Photo: Air Historical Branch-RAF/MOD | |
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