Impressive... Glancey is an aviation nut who's interested as much in the technical wonder of these planes as he is in the legacy they leave in the public consciousness... Glancey has written an engaging and affectionate account of the V-bombers, not least the figures who made it all possible.

Daily Telegraph

<b>'Evokes that brief but intense period when Britain stood in the front line of the Cold War. Well-researched, engagingly written, and enriched with many telling details, </b><i><b>V-Force</b></i><b> is an elegy for the fleeting modernity of yesteryear.'</b>

Military History Matters

'Impressive... Glancey has written an engaging and affectionate account of the V-bombers, not least the figures who made it all possible.' Telegraph

THE THREE VERY DIFFERENT models of V class bomber comprising Britain's strategic nuclear strike force - Vickers Valiant, Avro Vulcan and Handley Page Victor - marked a radical change in post-war bomber design. From the time they first entered service between 1955 and 1957, these charismatic, high-flying jets stole the public imagination. Theirs, though, was a terrible beauty. In 1956, over the South Australian desert, Valiant WZ366 was the first British aircraft to drop an operational atomic bomb.

The V-bombers were Britain's premier Cold War aircraft. But frictions in Anglo-American relations alongside
developments in radar and surface-to-air missiles led to the Royal Navy taking over Britain's nuclear deterrent role in 1968. Despite this, the V-bombers enjoyed a second life in conventional roles, most notably when Vulcans undertook the longest bombing raids in history in the 1982 Falklands War.

V-Force sets these formidable, haunting aircraft in the story of the development of twentieth-century weapons of mass destruction, military rivalries and international politics. It is both an extraordinary ode to the V-bombers and a unique lens through which to view Britain's Cold War experience.

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The definitive account of the rise and fall of Britain's nuclear strike force- the Valiant, Victor and Vulcan RAF bombers - and Britain's changing role through the Cold War.
Map: V-bomber Dispersal Bases and Airfields Prologue: In balance with this life, this death Chapter 1: Weapons of Mass Destruction I: The bomber will always get through Chapter 2: Weapons of Mass Destruction II: All changed, changed utterly Chapter 3: Weapons of Mass Destruction III: Inception Chapter 4: QRA and Other Early Service Chapter 5: Missiles Chapter 6: Impact Chapter 7: Swords Into Ploughshares Chapter 8: Rivals - USSR/USA/France Chapter 9: What Might Have Been Chapter 10: Post-Polaris Chapter 11: Vulcan to the Sky Afterword: Afterword
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9781838957957
Publisert
2025-08-07
Utgiver
Atlantic Books
Vekt
1 gr
Høyde
242 mm
Bredde
164 mm
Dybde
32 mm
Aldersnivå
00, G, 01
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
352

Forfatter

Biografisk notat

Jonathan Glancey is well known as the former architecture and design correspondent of the Guardian and Independent newspapers. A frequent broadcaster, his books include Wings Over Water, The Journey Matters, Concorde, Harrier, Giants of Steam, Spitfire, Nagaland, Tornado and The Story of Architecture.