RAF Centenary 100 Famous Aircraft Vol 3: Fighters and Bombers of the Cold War
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RAF Centenary 100 Famous Aircraft Vol 3: Fighters and Bombers of the Cold War INCLUDING Lightning Canberra Harrier Vulcan www.keypublishing.com RARE IMAGES AND PERIOD CUTAWAYS ISSUE 38 £7.95 AA38_p1.indd 1 29/05/2018 18:15 Your favourite magazine is also available digitally. DOWNLOAD THE APP NOW FOR FREE. FREE APP In app issue £6.99 2 Months £5.99 Annual £29.99 SEARCH: Aviation Archive Read on your iPhone & iPad Android PC & Mac Blackberry kindle fi re Windows 10 SEARCH SEARCH ALSO FLYPAST AEROPLANE FREE APP AVAILABLE FOR FREE APP IN APP ISSUES £3.99 IN APP ISSUES £3.99 DOWNLOAD How it Works. Simply download the Aviation Archive app. Once you have the app, you will be able to download new or back issues for less than newsstand price! Don’t forget to register for your Pocketmags account. This will protect your purchase in the event of a damaged or lost device. It will also allow you to view your purchases on multiple platforms. PC, Mac & iTunes Windows 10 Available on PC, Mac, Blackberry, Windows 10 and kindle fire from Requirements for app: registered iTunes account on Apple iPhone,iPad or iPod Touch. Internet connection required for initial download. Published by Key Publishing Ltd. The entire contents of these titles are © copyright 2018. All rights reserved. App prices subject to change. 321/18 INTRODUCTION 3 RAF Centenary 100 Famous Aircraft Vol 3: Fighters and Bombers of the Cold War cramble! Scramble! The aircraft may change, but the ethos keeping world peace. The threat from the East never entirely dissipated remains the same. For the last 100 years the RAF has been and with the RAF playing an important peace-keeping role around Sprotecting our shores and when the call has come, it has never the world, the development of the attack aircraft continued. Today the failed to deliver. Throughout its distinguished career, it has shaped spearhead of the RAF is represented by the Panavia Tornado GR4 and the course of modern history and as such has had a profound e ect Euro ghter Typhoon FGR4, soon to be joined by the long-awaited F-35B on all our lives. Lightning. The force may be pared back, but it has greater capability than After its ‘Finest Hour’ during World War 2, the RAF entered one of the ever before. most challenging periods in its history. The skies now echoed to the This then, is the fascinating story of RAF ghters and bombers in the roar of jet engines and a new generation of ‘futuristic’ machines were Cold War. From Meteor to Typhoon, from Canberra to Vulcan, Volume 3 designed to push performance to the limit… and beyond. Wartime allies of our ‘100 years of the RAF’ series covers the dramatic evolution of the also became Cold War adversaries, and by 1950 the perceived threat of a world’s greatest air force and its aircraft into the jet age. Soviet strike on Western Europe or Britain dominated military planning. For the next 40 years, the RAF was in the front-line of the Cold War AVIATION ARCHIVE SERIES ying a range of pioneering jet aircraft that were the envy of the world. ‘RAF Fighters and Bombers of the Cold War’ is No 38 in the successful The names of these extraordinary aircraft, which included the Hunter, Aviation Archive series. It features unparalleled photographic coverage, Lightning, Harrier, and Canberra, became synonymous with the tense including many exclusive and rare shots that have never been published stand-o , as did the iconic V-Force of nuclear bombers trained to perform before. The words and photographs are complemented by ‘period’ the ultimate mission, striking targets deep in the heart of the Soviet cutaways from the talented pens of the ‘Flight’ and ‘Aeroplane’ artists of Union. It was a time of fear, but it was also a time of great innovation the era, together with exclusive aircraft pro les. and technological expansion, a time when the RAF was instrumental in Front cover: RAF Lightning F6 of No 11 Squadron in 1988. Aviation Archive Series RAF Centenary: 100 Famous Aircraft – Vol 3: Fighters and Bombers of the Cold War • Editor: Allan Burney • Design: Philip Hempell • Group CEO and Publisher: Adrian Cox • Commercial Director: Ann Saundry • Group Editor for Aviation and Military History: Stuart Qualtrough • Distribution: Seymour Distribution Ltd +44 (0)20 7429 4000 • Printing: Warners (Midlands) PLC, The Maltings, Manor Lane, Bourne, Lincs PE10 9PH. All rights reserved. The entire content of Aviation Archive is © Key Publishing 2018. Reproduction in whole or in part and in any form whatsoever is strictly prohibited without the prior permission of the Publisher. We are unable to guarantee the bona fi des of any of our advertisers. Readers are strongly recommended to take their own precautions before parting with any information or item of value, including, but not limited to, money, manuscripts, photographs or personal information in response to any advertisements within this publication. Published by Key Publishing Ltd, PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincs PE19 1XQ. Tel: +44 (0) 1780 755131. Fax: +44 (0) 1780 757261. Website: www.keypublishing.com ISBN: 9781912205448 AA38_p3.indd 3 31/05/2018 07:53 4 CONTENTS RAF Centenary 100 Famous Aircraft Vol 3: Fighters and Bombers of the Cold War 6 AVRO LINCOLN 8 DE HAVILLAND HORNET 10 DE HAVILLAND VAMPIRE 14 BOEING WASHINGTON 16 ENGLISH ELECTRIC CANBERRA 21 AVRO SHACKLETON 26 DE HAVILLAND VENOM 30 LOCKHEED NEPTUNE 32 CANADAIR SABRE 34 SUPERMARINE SWIFT 36 HAWKER HUNTER 41 VICKERS VALIANT 46 GLOSTER JAVELIN 50 AVRO VULCAN 56 HANDLEY PAGE VICTOR 61 ENGLISH ELECTRIC LIGHTNING 68 MCDONNELL DOUGLAS PHANTOM 74 HAWKER SIDDELEY HARRIER 78 HAWKER SIDDELEY NIMROD 81 HAWKER SIDDELEY BUCCANEER 84 SEPECAT JAGUAR 88 PANAVIA TORNADO IDS 90 PANAVIA TORNADO ADV 92 BAE HARRIER II 94 EUROFIGHTER TYPHOON AA38_p4-5.indd 4 31/05/2018 07:55 CONTENTS 5 Vol 3: Fighters and Bombers of the Cold War Fast and Furious. Lightning F1s of No 74 Squadron RAF. AA38_p4-5.indd 5 29/05/2018 11:32 6 BOMBER Avro Lincoln direct descendant of the Lancaster, rst prototype took to the air from Ringway, Above: The Lancaster origins of the Lincoln are the Lincoln was the last-piston- Manchester on 9 June 1944 and production apparent in this image of RF385 DX-G of No 57 engined bomber to serve with the began shortly thereafter. Intended for use in Squadron, the rst unit to receive the bomber in A mid-1945. Sadly this aircraft did not survive long RAF. It arrived too late to see action in World the Paci c theatre of war, the Lincoln appeared as it crashed on 20 February 1945 with the loss of War 2, but that did not prevent it from being just too late to go into wartime service, but all crew. shot down over Germany. instead became the RAF’s standard post-war Virtually a scaled-up version of its illustrious heavy bomber. Lincoln enjoyed a higher operational ceiling forebear, the Lincoln actually began life as the Normally powered by four Rolls-Royce and greater radius of action than the Lancaster Lancaster IV. Developed by Roy Chadwick, the Merlin 85 engines with annular radiators, the and was capable of carrying a 14,000lb bomb load (exceptionally 1 x 22,000lb weapon). It RAF Avro Lincoln squadrons was armed with: twin 0.5in (12.7mm) Browning machine-guns in a Boulton-Paul Type F nose No 7 Squadron No 57 Squadron No 101 Squadron No 199 Squadron turret; two 20mm Hispano Mk 4 or Mk 5 cannon No 9 Squadron No 58 Squadron No 115 Squadron No 207 Squadron in a Bristol B-17 Mk II dorsal turret; twin 0.5in No 12 Squadron No 61 Squadron No 116 Squadron No 214 Squadron machine-guns in a Boulton Paul Type D rear No 15 Squadron No 75 Squadron No 138 Squadron No 527 Squadron turret; and up to 6,350kg of bombs. Avro built No 35 Squadron No 83 Squadron No 148 Squadron No 617 Squadron 168 production aircraft, supplemented by No 44 Squadron No 90 Squadron No 149 Squadron 79 from Metropolitan-Vickers and 281 from No 49 Squadron No 97 Squadron No 151 Squadron Armstrong Whitworth. Several versions of the No 50 Squadron No 100 Squadron No 192 Squadron bomber were built during the production runs: Lincoln B1 with Merlin 85 engines; B2 with AA38_p6-7.indd 6 31/05/2018 07:57 AVRO LINCOLN 7 Merlin 68A engines; Lincoln B3 intended to be Gunnery School, over ying Europe. The two the ASR version but became the Shackleton; unarmed Lincolns took o some two hours Lincoln BI Lincoln B4 with Merlin 85; Lincoln B15 built in apart to perform their tasks during a period Type: Bomber Canada; and Lincoln B30 Australian version with when the Russians were being described as Crew: 7 (pilot, ight engineer/ Merlin 85 or 102 engines. ‘particularly aggressive’ toward the West. The co-pilot, navigator, rst Lincoln was over ying the British zone wireless operator, front In service when it was ‘buzzed’ by two Soviet ghters gunner/bomb aimer, The Lincoln entered service with No 57 conducting mock attacks. The second ill-fated dorsal and rear gunners) Squadron at East Kirkby in July 1945. It saw Lincoln RF531 was attacked without warning by Length: 78ft 3in (23.86m) service in Kenya against the Mau-Mau in the two Soviet ghters as it entered the Hamburg Wingspan: 120ft (36.58m) mid-1950s and was also deployed to Malaya to Berlin air corridor. It broke up in mid-air with Height: 17ft 3in (5.27m) during the Malayan Emergency, where it was the bulk of its fuselage landing near Boizenburg Powerplant: 4 x Rolls-Royce Merlin 85 used against insurgents aligned to the Malayan in the Soviet Zone with the remainder in rated at 1,750hp each Communist Party.