Editing RAF Bomber Command (section)

==1946–1968==
Bomber Command acquired [[B-29 Superfortress]]es, known to the RAF as Boeing Washingtons, to supplement the [[Avro Lincoln]], a development of the Lancaster. The first jet bomber, the [[English Electric Canberra]] light bomber, became operational in 1951. Some Canberras remained in RAF service up to 2006 as photo-reconnaissance aircraft. The model proved an extremely successful aircraft; Britain exported it to many countries and licensed it for construction in Australia and the United States.<ref>{{cite book |last=Halpenny |first=Bruce Barrymore |author-link=Bruce Barrymore Halpenny |title=English Electric Canberra: The History and Development of a Classic Jet |year=2005 |publisher=Pen & Sword |isbn=978-1-84415-242-1 }}</ref> The joint US-UK [[Project E]] was intended to make nuclear weapons available to Bomber Command in an emergency, with the Canberras the first aircraft to benefit. The next jet bomber to enter service was the [[Vickers Valiant]] in 1955, the first of the [[V bomber]]s.{{sfn|Brookes|2012|p=12}}
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Thor Raf launch 3aug59.jpg|thumb|left|Thor missile launch, code name "Bean Ball", Vandenberg AFB, 3 August 1959. The third of 21 Thor missiles launched by RAF crews]] -->

The Air Ministry conceived of the V bombers as the replacement for the wartime Lancasters and Halifaxes.  Three advanced aircraft were developed from 1946, along with the [[Short Sperrin]] fall-back design. Multiple designs were tried out because no one could predict which designs would be successful at the time. The V bombers became the backbone of the British nuclear forces and comprised the Valiant, [[Handley Page Victor]] (in service in 1958) and [[Avro Vulcan]] (1956).{{sfn|Jones|2000|p=13–15}}{{sfn|Kirby|Godwin|2009|p=168–187}}

In 1956 Bomber Command faced its first operational test since the Second World War. The Egyptian Government nationalised the [[Suez Canal]] in July 1956, and British troops took part in an invasion along with French and Israeli forces. During the [[Suez Crisis]], Britain deployed Bomber Command Canberras to [[Cyprus]] and [[Malta]] and Valiants to Malta. The Canberra performed well but the Valiant had problems, since it had only just been introduced into service. The Canberras proved vulnerable to attack by the [[Egyptian Air Force]], which fortunately did not choose to attack the crowded airfields of Cyprus ([[RAF Akrotiri]] and [[Nicosia International Airport|RAF Nicosia]] holding nearly the whole RAF strike force, with a recently reactivated and poor-quality airfield taking much of the French force). Bomber Command aircraft took part in operations against Egypt.{{sfn|Darling|2012|p=42}}

Between 1959 and 1963, in addition to manned aircraft, Bomber Command also gained 60 [[PGM-17 Thor|Thor]] nuclear [[intermediate-range ballistic missile]]s dispersed to 20 RAF stations around Britain in a joint UK-US operation known as [[Project Emily]]. During the following twelve years, Bomber Command aircraft frequently deployed overseas to the Far East and Middle East. They served particularly as a deterrent to [[Sukarno]]'s [[Indonesia]] during the [[Konfrontasi]]. A detachment of Canberras had a permanent base at Akrotiri in Cyprus in support of [[CENTO]] obligations.{{sfn|Lee|1989|p=172–176}}

Britain tested its first atomic bomb in 1952 and exploded its first [[hydrogen bomb]] in 1957. [[Operation Grapple]] saw Valiant bombers testing the dropping of hydrogen bombs over [[Christmas Island]].  Advances in [[electronic countermeasures]] were also applied to the V bombers over the same period and the remaining V bombers came into service in the late 1950s.<ref>{{cite book |last= Brookes |first= Andrew |author-link= Andrew Brookes |title= Vulcan Units of the Cold War |year= 2009 |publisher= Osprey Publishing |isbn= 978-1-84603-297-4 }}</ref> During the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] of October 1962, Bomber Command aircraft maintained continuous strip alerts, ready to take off at a moment's notice, and the Thor missiles were maintained at advanced readiness.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Scott |first1=Len |title=Bomber Command and the Cuban Missile Crisis: At the Brink of Armageddon? |journal=[[Royal Air Force Centre for Air Power Studies|Air Power Review]]|location=Swindon|publisher=[[Royal Air Force]] |date=April 2017 |volume=20 |issue=2|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240911172654/https://raf.mod.uk/what-we-do/centre-for-air-and-space-power-studies/aspr/apr-vol20-iss2-8-pdf/|archive-date=11 September 2024|url-status=live|pages=142–153|url=https://raf.mod.uk/what-we-do/centre-for-air-and-space-power-studies/aspr/apr-vol20-iss2-8-pdf/}}</ref>

By the early 1960s doubts emerged about the ability of Bomber Command to pierce the defences of the Soviet Union. The shooting down of a [[Lockheed U-2|U-2]] spyplane in 1960 confirmed that the Soviet Union did have [[surface-to-air missile]]s capable of reaching the heights at which bombers operated. Since the Second World War the philosophy of bombing had involved going higher and faster. With the supersession of high and fast tactics, ultra-low-level attack was substituted. Bomber Command aircraft had not been designed for that kind of attack, and airframe fatigue increased. All Valiants were grounded in October 1964 and permanently withdrawn from service in January 1965.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wGNAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nKMMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5895,4007485&dq=vickers+valiant&hl=en "Valiants to be Scrapped."] ''Glasgow Herald'', 27 January 1965.</ref>

Bomber Command's other main function was to provide tanker aircraft to the RAF. The Valiant was the first bomber used as a tanker operationally. As high-level penetration declined as an attack technique, the Valiant saw more and more use as a tanker until the retirement of the type in 1965 due to the costs of remediating metal fatigue. With the Victor also unsuited to the low-level role six were converted to tankers to replace the Valiants, before the later conversion of the majority of Victors to tankers. The Vulcan also saw service as a tanker, and was used to bomb the main runway at Port Stanley Airport during the [[Falklands War]].{{sfn|Freedman|2005|p=274–277}}

In a further attempt to make the operation of the bomber force safer, attempts were made to develop stand-off weapons, with which capability the bombers would not have to penetrate Soviet airspace. However, efforts to do so had only limited success. The first attempt involved the [[Blue Steel missile]] (in service: 1963–1970). It worked, but its range meant that bombers still had to enter Soviet airspace. Longer-range systems were developed, but failed and/or were cancelled. This fate befell the Mark 2 of the Blue Steel, its replacement, the American [[Skybolt ALBM]] and the ground-based [[Blue Streak missile|Blue Streak]] programme, which was cancelled in 1960.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/1960-05-03/debates/033f5099-142b-4a44-8998-87374a5f1ba2/TheBlueStreakMissile|title=The Blue Streak Missile|publisher=Hansard|date=3 May 1960|access-date=20 November 2024}}</ref>

[[RAF Fighter Command]] and Bomber Command merged in 1968 to form [[RAF Strike Command|Strike Command]]. [[RAF Coastal Command]] followed in November 1969.{{sfn|Ashworth|1992|p=222}}