Overview

This is the story of a 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, and would they have succeeded? This book is the product of seven years of research by Dr. Tony Redding. It includes fresh material on V-Force weapons, war mission, targeting, vulnerabilities, and tactics for attacking targets within Soviet Russia. Over seventy 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 until the handover of the strategic nuclear deterrent to the Polaris submarines. This core retaliatory threat, centered on the destruction of Moscow and Leningrad, was judged severe enough to undermine Russia's position in relation to the US. In short, a few British V-bombers had the destructive capacity to destabilize 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.

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Dr. Tony Redding is a military historian and author with a particular interest in RAF bomber command. Following the publication of two books on bomber command in World War II, Dr. Redding began a seven-year research program on the British airborne nuclear deterrent, leading to a PhD from King's College, London (war studies) and his book V-Bombers, on the operational capability and credibility of the V-bomber force during the Cold War. He lives in a village close to Sandwich, in East Kent with his wife, the artist Philippa Redding. Tony has lectured and broadcast widely on bomber command and other military subjects. He is also a founder member of The Chindit Society. As the middle of six children, Michael Langan quickly carved out his space in the group; he was the storyteller. Out in the real world, he would gravitate to office and administration roles until he quit his job in 2020, deciding to become a full-time voice-over artist and a background artist in film and television productions. When he's not on set, in his home studio, or being forcibly dragged across rugby fields by his dog Oisin, he can be found in his kitchen, setting off the fire alarm on a regular basis with his attempts at cooking and baking.

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