V-Bombers

This book features all three V-bombers in detail, including ground support equipment, weapons, operations and conflicts, squadrons, bases, Operation Grapple, the Falklands Conflict and much, much more. Lavishly illustrated by Peter Scott. An ideal book for aviation enthusiasts and modellers alike - because of the very detailed and accurate illustrations. Complete with very rare photographs from the author's collections. *A REAL REFERENCE WORK* Softback 145 pages.

The threat of a nuclear war in the late 1940s and ‘50s lead to a massive leap in the capability of aircraft and defence systems. Rapid advances in jet technology and lessons learned during World War II, led the UK’s aviation industry to produce some of the most advanced and innovative designs in their history. Established companies such as Vickers-Armstrong, Avro and Handley Page were to produce aircraft that captured the public’s imagination. With swept, delta and crescent wings, and with names beginning with ‘V’, it was inevitable that the three aircraft would be known as the V-Bombers. The Valiant was the first into service, followed by the mighty delta-winged Avro Vulcan and finally the elegant crescent-winged Handley Page Victor. Each aircraft made its mark at the public displays at Farnborough and RAF at Home Days, as they were an enormous leap forward from the piston-engined bombers that had gone before.

Their time as high-level nuclear bombers was shortened by the emergence of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles and developments in anti-aircraft missiles that forced the bombers to fly at low-level, below the radar, in order to deliver their weapons. This spelled the end of the Valiant, whose airframe was unable to cope with the stresses imposed during low-level missions.

The Vulcan and Victor served on, both seeing active service in the Falklands Campaign of 1982, the Vulcan as a bomber and the Victor as an in-flight tanker, a role it was to repeat in the 1990-91 Gulf War. Although the Valiant and Vulcan only ever dropped conventional bombs in anger, during the Suez crisis and Falklands conflict respectively, this book serves as a testament to the deterrent effect of the V-bombers during the nuclear-threatening days of the Cold War.

The year 2007 will undoubtedly go down in aviation history as the year that Avro's most famous V-Bomber, the Vulcan, once again returned to the sky. In anticipation of her 50th Anniversary, the Aviation Workshop began work on this book dedicated to all three of Britain's V-Bombers; the Valiant, Vulcan and Victor. The release of the book is co-ordinated with Airfix to coincide with the release of the special Valiant bomber kit and the VULCAN TO THE SKY 50th Anniversary Edition 1/72 Kit, which is available elsewhere in store.