RAF Cold War Jets
Transcript
00:00:00In the years following the end of the Second World War, Britain set about rebuilding for
00:00:10a new, brighter future. But it was not long before the dream of peace was shattered by
00:00:16a new threat of war. The Soviet Union was the new enemy. But the real nightmare was
00:00:23that both the Soviets and the West had nuclear weapons, creating a stalemate. Neither side
00:00:30was prepared to risk annihilation by taking precipitous action. The guardian of Britain's
00:00:38nuclear deterrent was the Royal Air Force.
00:00:54By the beginning of the 1960s, Britain's Royal Air Force was at the height of its power.
00:01:04Tensions were running high, fueled by events such as the building of the Berlin Wall and
00:01:09the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Cold War was in danger of becoming very hot indeed.
00:01:1724 hours a day, 7 days a week, the eyes and ears of the RAF were tuned to respond instantly
00:01:26to the winds of change. Its reach stretched halfway around the globe. Any threat could
00:01:33be counted at a moment's notice, using jet fighters that could fly at more than twice
00:01:39the speed of sound. This was the era of the Quick Reaction Alert, or QRA.
00:01:51It was two minutes, you could sit in the aircraft, listening out on tele-leaf, that's, you communicated
00:01:58with the sector operations centre, and they would give you a rundown of what was happening.
00:02:04At some stage they'd say, mission 7-4, whatever it is, they'd give you a vector, a heading
00:02:11and a height, scramble, scramble, scramble, and at that stage your engines weren't running,
00:02:16and two minutes later you could be airborne, the QRA sheds being on the end of the runway.
00:02:21For the time you're on QRA, you're dressed in your flying kit, and when you're wearing
00:02:29it for a longer period it becomes fairly exhausting.
00:02:52The aim was to destroy the incoming bombers out over the North Sea, but in the event that
00:02:57some might get through, they would be met by a new type of anti-aircraft weapon, the
00:03:03surface-to-air missile.
00:03:10The fighters were also equipped with missiles, their greater destructive force meant that
00:03:31a bomber was more likely to be brought down than by gunfire. In nuclear war, there could
00:03:37be no room for error.
00:03:55But Britain's greatest defence was its nuclear weapons. The RAF was the guardian of Britain's
00:04:02nuclear might.
00:04:15If ordered, huge jet bombers could be airborne in minutes. Flying at high altitude beyond
00:04:22the reach of most of the enemy's defences, the bombers would launch missiles armed with
00:04:27nuclear warheads over a hundred miles from the target. Although the scenario was practised
00:04:33constantly, it never happened for real. It was the policy of deterrence that worked,
00:04:40after a fashion.
00:04:42But if something had gone wrong, then we now know what might have been in store for the
00:04:47country. The documents and reports prepared by military planners in the event of a nuclear
00:04:53strike were declassified in 2001. They make chilling reading.
00:05:00They anticipated some 12 million Britons would be killed and all major cities destroyed.
00:05:07The RAF's bases would be among the first to be hit in any attack. Thus, every pilot who
00:05:13was scrambled would have known that it was unlikely they would be able to return.
00:05:18It was an awesome responsibility which the RAF handled with a great deal of respect.
00:05:27We all knew it was possible. And I think we all felt that unless there was some ghastly
00:05:34mistake or accident, it would be unlikely that anybody would pick on us because of the
00:05:42nuclear deterrent. We hoped so anyway.
00:05:53Our general mindset was that it was a formidable and feisty and unstable regime, the Soviet
00:06:02Union, and that we would certainly have our hands full. So the Cold War, despite its detractors
00:06:12was taken very seriously and I think correctly. And yes, I think we were geared up. Not that
00:06:19we thought any minute the Soviet force would necessarily come, but it was certainly there.
00:06:24And when things like the Cuban Missile Crisis happened, you certainly felt that you had
00:06:31to be on your toes. By the early 1960s, the RAF had, more or
00:06:39less, achieved its objectives set out during the last years of the Second World War of
00:06:44becoming an all-jet force. This policy extended right down to basic training, a role in which
00:06:51the Jet Provost would serve the RAF well until its eventual retirement in 1989.
00:06:59The Jet Provost had begun life as a private venture by hunting. At the time, pilots learned
00:07:05basic flying skills in the piston engine Provost before they progressed to basic jet
00:07:11training in the de Havilland Vampire. The aim of the Jet Provost was to streamline this
00:07:17process so that new pilots could learn to fly in a jet from day one. The aircraft was
00:07:24immediately successful and entered full RAF service in 1955.
00:07:32The quality of training had also been improved due to an unacceptably high number of accidents
00:07:37during the RAF's early years of jet flight. I have to say that after the war, with jets
00:07:47coming in, there were an awful lot of flying accidents through a rather casual approach
00:07:54to conversion to new types of aircraft. It was so bad that the Air Ministry had to grip
00:08:04the problem and introduce very strict disciplinary measures to cut down the casualty rate, cut
00:08:15down the accidents. Training was very much improved, very much more thorough.
00:08:24Oh yes, it was quite remarkable the difference between the early post-war learning to fly
00:08:33a new type of airplane when you'd have a look through the pilot's notes. You'd sit in the
00:08:39cockpit and somebody would lean over you and point out where various dials and switches
00:08:43were and off you'd go. Not so a few years later. You had to spend a lot of time in grad
00:08:50school and pass exams and learn things very thoroughly. Then there were flight simulators
00:08:57and it was a big change and that did have the effect of cutting down the losses through
00:09:06flying accidents.
00:09:13For those destined for a career in fighters, the next step was more advanced training including
00:09:22the use of weapons. The Hawker Hunter, which had entered frontline service in 1954, had
00:09:31by the early 60s replaced the de Havilland Vampire T-11 in the advanced trainer role.
00:09:39In 1958, a two-seat version of the Hunter, the T-7, entered service. Like other versions
00:09:50of this legendary aircraft, it could go supersonic in a shallow dive powered by two Rolls Royce
00:09:57Avon turbojets.
00:10:09Like the Vampire it replaced, the Hunter T-7 was a side-by-side layout as this was regarded
00:10:21as a better arrangement, not least because the student could see his instructor's facial
00:10:26expressions.
00:10:39During the Hunter's service, its power and armament were continuously upgraded so that
00:10:49in time it came to be highly regarded in all its roles including air combat, photo reconnaissance
00:10:56and ground attack.
00:11:04I loved it. I really, really loved it. It was a beautiful aeroplane. It was a beautiful
00:11:12looking aeroplane. Absolute delight to fly. Strong. I loved it. Wonderfully balanced
00:11:22controls. Good power to weight ratio for those days. Fast. Very, very manoeuvrable.
00:11:34It was super. I enjoyed it.
00:11:49I loved it. I don't think there were many people who didn't love the Hunter. I enjoyed
00:11:53it very much. It was a lovely aeroplane to fly. Great fun to fly. I went to Germany of
00:11:59course. A lot of the squadrons, the Hunter squadrons in the UK, were day fighter. We
00:12:08did day fighter ground attack in Germany so we had a complete cross section of the role
00:12:13if you like. High level work, low level work, ground attack work, strafing, dropping bombs.
00:12:21It was just good fun. Of course the environment in those days, lots of freedom, lots of flying,
00:12:27big squadrons, lots of aeroplanes, lots of other nations flying out there of course because
00:12:32the Canadians, the Americans, the French, the Dutch, the Belgian, all the NATO countries
00:12:36were and we'd get involved in monstrous dog fights or air combat as they now call them.
00:12:44The aeroplane was a delight to fly.
00:12:57Trials were completed with the Hunter jet trainer performing a low level napalm bomb
00:13:05strike. As the aircraft can carry any of the external stores fitted to the Hunter single
00:13:10seater, it has all in all a tremendous destructive potential as a close support aircraft.
00:13:18In 1951, RAF Bomber Command had entered the jet age with the arrival in service of the
00:13:29English Electric Canberra. Like the ultra successful wartime de Havilland Mosquito,
00:13:35the Canberra was designed to operate both fast and high enough to dispense with defensive
00:13:40armament. The Canberra was a magnificent aeroplane to fly. It was like flying a fighter almost.
00:13:48You didn't sort of think of the size. So that was my first introduction if you like
00:13:53to jet bombers.
00:13:55Forty RAF squadrons operated Canberras in Europe, the Middle and Far East. And although
00:14:02it was originally designed to carry free fall conventional bombs, the introduction of smaller
00:14:08nuclear weapons in the early 1960s meant that Canberras were able to take their place as
00:14:13part of the RAF's nuclear deterrent.
00:14:18Initially, senior officers in the RAF were disappointed by the Canberra as they'd wanted
00:14:25a heavy bomber. But in time, the Canberra proved itself to be a very capable aircraft.
00:14:32It was also flexible enough design to be adapted for a number of different roles, including
00:14:37photo reconnaissance and electronic countermeasures. Canberras are still flown by the RAF today.
00:14:48Given the Canberra's performance, it was inevitable that it would capture many records. One of
00:14:54the most astonishing records was the altitude record set in 1957 by Whiskey Kilo 163.
00:15:02At a time when high-flying bombers were seen as the way forward, WK 163 set a world record
00:15:15of 70,000 feet. It was specially fitted with Armstrong-Siddeley Sapphire engines, but it
00:15:21was given additional help by a Napier double-Scorpion rocket engine mounted in the bomb bay.
00:15:28This same rocket was also being used in trials in what was to become another great English
00:15:34electric design, the Lightning.
00:15:39Today WK 163 is still flying, albeit in private hands. Its almost fighter-like performance
00:15:47still never ceases to amaze, especially when one considers that this aircraft was first
00:15:52conceived in 1944.
00:16:02If the RAF was disappointed that it did not have a heavy jet bomber at the start of the
00:16:07Cold War, then it was soon to be satisfied by a trio of four-engine jet bombers that
00:16:12could fly at high altitude to deliver a nuclear bomb. It was hoped that simply having the
00:16:18potential to drop a nuclear bomb was sufficient to deter possible aggressors.
00:16:25The first aircraft to fly of what became known as the V-Force was the Vickers Valiant.
00:16:32The Valiant entered RAF service in 1955. It had a crew of five and was powered by four
00:16:39Rolls-Royce Avons, each producing 10,000 pounds of thrust. Like the other V-bombers that followed,
00:16:47it carried no defensive armament as its service ceiling of 54,000 feet was believed to be
00:16:53beyond the range of Soviet fighters.
00:16:56My first flight in the Valiant as RAF Gaydon, when I did the conversion, was that of size.
00:17:05You could tell that you were handling something much larger, but still relatively light on
00:17:13the controls because of things like power controls, power-operated controls. There really
00:17:21wasn't a great deal different in the technique. One could say that it was a larger, like a
00:17:28four-engine Canberra. Basically, it handled so well.
00:17:36Whereas the Canberra was a single-pilot operation, then there's no question that the Valiant
00:17:41required two pilots. The non-flying pilot was always the one who looked after the fuel
00:17:47system and the distribution of fuel throughout the airplane.
00:18:00Although a relatively conventional design, it at least provided the RAF with an aircraft
00:18:05capable of delivering a nuclear weapon.
00:18:08First of all, regarding the weapon explosion, the aircraft was painted in a special anti-thermal
00:18:17flash paint. There were no black dielectric covers for the radar components on the outside.
00:18:28This was all, and even the flying controls, the seals on the flying controls, were all
00:18:34made of a special anti-radiation neoprene material.
00:18:41The other item of equipment, which was very essential, was we had to blackout the whole
00:18:46of the crew cabin. At a certain time, prior to the bombing run, all the blackout screens
00:18:56went up, so the whole cabin was sealed. The only small slot where the blackout screens
00:19:04were was immediately in front of the captain on the left-hand side, which was a very heavily
00:19:10smoked glass screen, a matter of three or four inches by one inch or so, a very small
00:19:19slot. Now, on the explosion of the weapon, we felt
00:19:24this in the form of two shock waves. The first one was the immediate air blast, and this
00:19:31affected our instruments in that the vertical speed indicator went to full-scale deflection,
00:19:39i.e. 4,000 feet a minute down, and then settled back again to zero. The second shock was the
00:19:47reflected ground wave, several seconds later. It did shake the aircraft, there was no doubt.
00:19:53It was quite a thump that we felt. By this time, we were going away from the explosion.
00:20:00We had our tail towards it, having completed an escape manoeuvre, and this escape manoeuvre
00:20:06involved turning through, I think, about 135 degrees and pulling an exact amount of G.
00:20:12We had a very accurate accelerometer fitted, and I believe it was something in the order
00:20:17of about 1.7 G. Not a lot, but at that amount of G, we could guarantee to have completed
00:20:25the escape manoeuvre. So, immediately, we had completed the escape
00:20:31manoeuvre. Down came the blackout screens, and there we were able to see the results
00:20:38of our efforts, this huge mushroom cloud way up into the stratosphere.
00:20:55The Handley Page Victor first flew on Christmas Eve 1952, but it was not until 1958 that it
00:21:02entered RAF operational service as the B-1. Technically innovative, it was designed to
00:21:09operate fast and high, above virtually all known defences. The distinctive crescent wing
00:21:18enabled the Victor to cruise at a high Mach number, powered by four Armstrong Siddeley
00:21:23Sapphire turbojets buried deep into a sharply swept wing group.
00:21:31But by the time the Victor entered service, it had been overtaken by fighters and missiles
00:21:37capable of interception at its operational altitudes. As a result, more sophisticated
00:21:44electronic countermeasures were housed in the rear fuselage.
00:21:53But the RAF was developing new weapons that could be launched hundreds of miles from the
00:22:00target. A more powerful version of the Victor, designated the B-2, began development in 1958.
00:22:09It was a rather different feel. Although the Valiant was a good, solid aeroplane, the Victor
00:22:152 felt a much beefier aeroplane, if I might use the expression. It was a very, very solid
00:22:23machine. You knew that it was bigger. It also had the Rolls-Royce Conway engines, which
00:22:31developed about double the amount of thrust the Valiant had. And of course, the other
00:22:38thing was that it was designed to operate in the mid-50s, was the Victor 2. And for
00:22:44that reason, we all had to go and do this pressure breathing course, and be issued with
00:22:50all these G-suits and pressure jerkins, and to be able to, in case of explosive decompression
00:22:57in the 50s, 50,000 feet. However, the Victor 2 was a very successful aeroplane, and it
00:23:12compared very favourably with the Vulcan. In 1965, the Victor B-1s re-entered service
00:23:20as tankers. In-flight refuelling had been pioneered in Britain since before the Second
00:23:26World War, but it was only in the 1960s that its full benefits came to be realised.
00:23:34Although jet aircraft have better performance than their piston-engined cousins, they are
00:23:39thirstier. In-flight refuelling greatly extended the new jets' range, as well as enabling
00:23:46them to take off with more weapons on board, whilst carrying less fuel in order to save
00:23:51weight. The Victors would remain in their tanker role
00:23:59until after the Gulf War in 1991. Perhaps the most extraordinary aircraft of
00:24:07the V-Force was the Avro Vulcan. Its most striking feature was the huge delta
00:24:16wing, which meant it was not only very strong, but also could carry many bombs, or one very
00:24:23large one. But very little was known about the aerodynamic
00:24:31performance of a delta wing, and so two one-third scale research aircraft were built.
00:24:39The 707A was built to acquire data at high speeds.
00:24:48Meanwhile the 707B was built to explore the low speed qualities of the delta wing.
00:24:55Both were powered by a single Rolls-Royce Derwent engine.
00:25:02But Avro was so confident that the delta wing concept was sound, that work began building
00:25:07a full-sized aircraft even before the 707 research programme had been completed.
00:25:15It was an enormous risk, because almost every aspect of the aircraft was based on new technologies.
00:25:37It was an anxious moment then, when on August the 30th, 1952, the first prototype made its
00:25:57maiden flight.
00:26:07The first test flight of the 707 was a test flight of the Avro Vulcan.
00:26:37The first test flight of the 707 was a test flight of the Avro Vulcan.
00:27:07The first test flight of the 707 was a test flight of the Avro Vulcan.
00:27:37The first test flight of the 707 was a test flight of the Avro Vulcan.
00:28:08698, take off.
00:28:18698, Woodford Tower, cleared for take off.
00:28:38The prototype was a pure delta, but during trials at RAF Boscombe Down in 1955, it was
00:28:56found that high G manoeuvres at altitude induced a buffeting that could lead to wing failure
00:29:03due to fatigue. The solution was to reduce the sweep back of the delta from the root
00:29:09to the mid-span of the wing, producing a kinked rather than straight leading edge.
00:29:20The Vulcan B1s were powered by four Bristol Olympus engines, which were developed to produce
00:29:26up to 13,500 pounds of thrust. The B1s entered front-line flight.
00:29:33The B1s entered front-line RAF service in the summer of 1957.
00:29:40A follow-up to Farnborough, the Avro Vulcan in service.
00:29:44The Vulcan, the largest delta wing aircraft in the world, is now in squadron service at
00:29:48Waddington in Lincolnshire.
00:29:53Popularly known as the Flying Triangle, it's the fastest operational bomber in the world,
00:29:59with a total bomb load of all 7,360 Lancasters produced during the war.
00:30:04Fantastic thought, isn't it?
00:30:10Three Vulcans will be taking part in a bombing competition in America next month.
00:30:16I think quite early on in my Vulcan time, realising the extraordinary sensitivity of
00:30:31this enormous aircraft, the extraordinary ease with which one could manoeuvre it, and
00:30:39the genius, and it was no less, that had gone into designing this flying machine, never
00:30:48mind the awful implications of the bomb, never mind the military aspect of it.
00:30:55Here, coupled with other classic aircraft, the Tiger Moth was one, the Spitfire was another,
00:31:04the Vulcan was the third, the real thoroughbreds of the air.
00:31:13I think really, as far as the Vulcan is concerned, there's an element of mystique.
00:31:23It did require a different flying technique.
00:31:26There was a definite handling technique with the Vulcan, and one could get into some kind
00:31:33of trouble, but nevertheless, once you really had mastered it, it really was a thrilling aircraft to fly.
00:31:43It looked good, it looked right, and it was strong, it was solid.
00:31:50Just as I mentioned, the Vulcan had three mainspars, so a very, very strong airframe.
00:31:58It was almost super, it was just subsonic, really.
00:32:04The limiting speed of a Vulcan was 0.93 of the speed of sound, and I know people who've
00:32:12had them slightly higher than that.
00:32:16The V-force was now complete, and confidence sky-high.
00:32:21The RAF was eager to show the flag around the world.
00:32:27In the United States, two teams of Vulcans and Valiants arrived to take part in the U.S.
00:32:34Air Force Strategic Air Command Bombing, Navigation and Reconnaissance competition.
00:32:40The operation was codenamed Longshot, which proved apt, as the Vulcan crews were soundly
00:32:47beaten.
00:32:48A sanitary lesson.
00:32:51Elsewhere in the world, the Vulcans also made regular visits to Akrotiri in Cyprus.
00:32:57This proved a worthwhile policy, when in 1961, the ruler of Iraq, Abdul Karim Qasim, threatened
00:33:04to invade Kuwait.
00:33:08As Britain had only just signed a defense agreement with Kuwait, British forces were
00:33:12duly sent out to the Gulf.
00:33:14Vulcans moved to Akrotiri in support.
00:33:19It was enough, and the Iraqis backed down, proving the effectiveness of prompt and determined
00:33:25action.
00:33:33The reach of the RAF was global, and its V-force was the most visible expression of its power.
00:33:40They reigned supreme, these outstanding, innovative aircraft, born out of the imaginations of their
00:33:47creators.
00:33:48Arguably, Britain's aviation industry had reached its zenith.
00:34:09They were always enormously impressed, and of course, as well as being beautiful to look
00:34:33at, it was hugely noisy.
00:34:36You've got a sort of auditory display.
00:34:39If you came in comparatively slowly and comparatively low, and then put on full power and pull the
00:34:46thing up into the sky, and the earth literally shook with four Bristol Olympuses, that was
00:34:53the, those were the engines finally put into the production model at full power.
00:34:58An RAF Vulcan, making a low-level run over the field, had an extra unrehearsed thrill
00:35:03in store for spectators.
00:35:06There were occasions when pilots had reason to be grateful for all that power.
00:35:12But the pilot takes the bomber up again to crash land safely at a nearby station.
00:35:18Back at Bomber Command's bases, planners had a more pressing problem.
00:35:23How to stop the V-force from being wiped out by a knockout blow?
00:35:28A series of detachments were devised to disperse the aircraft to temporary bases.
00:35:35A May flight detachment, for example, started with an operational standby, followed by a
00:35:40scramble.
00:35:42The aircraft were then expected to land at a pre-briefed dispersal base.
00:35:48There were some terrible mix-ups initially, but as the dispersal bases became better prepared
00:35:53with the necessary facilities, the plan began to work.
00:35:58The dispersal plans were complemented by a new plan to get aircraft in the air as quickly
00:36:04as possible, called Quick Reaction Alert, or QRA.
00:36:10Every squadron in Bomber Command had one fully armed aircraft prepared, and its crew accommodated
00:36:16nearby on 15-minute readiness.
00:36:19This time was eventually brought down to four minutes, with the introduction of a communications
00:36:25link between the controllers and the crews, as well as the modification of aircraft to
00:36:30enable four engine starts.
00:36:33The V-force was also waiting to receive new standoff weapons which could be launched some
00:36:38distance away from the target.
00:36:41As a stopgap measure, it was announced in 1958 that the RAF would accept the American-built
00:36:47Thor ground-launched missile.
00:36:53Thor was an intermediate-range ballistic missile which was to enter RAF service as soon as
00:36:59possible, under an agreement lasting up to five years.
00:37:04The first missiles arrived in Britain in 1959.
00:37:10By 1961, annual expenditure on the V-force and Thor was running at 10% of the entire
00:37:17defence budget.
00:37:22Development of the British standoff weapon, Blue Steel, was progressing well.
00:37:27These were to be launched for a new, second generation of V-bombers, the B-2s.
00:37:35The missile was to be launched just over 100 miles from the target, giving the bomber crew
00:37:40a chance to turn away from the area where defences would be heaviest.
00:37:49Armed with a nuclear warhead capable of destroying a whole city, using a liquid-fuel rocket engine
00:37:54to fly several times faster than sound, it's Blue Steel, the standoff bomb now being carried
00:38:00by Britain's V-bombers, the mainstay of our defence network and a multi-million pound
00:38:05force.
00:38:06But there's still the need for muscle power to help get things moving.
00:38:14This was a demonstration at RAF Wittering in Northamptonshire.
00:38:17Altogether, three squadrons of V-bombers have been adapted.
00:38:25Mr Hugh Fraser, Secretary of State for Air, has described Bomber Command as the keystone
00:38:30in Britain's defence.
00:38:39This keystone is even more effective now that aircraft like the Victor can carry Blue Steel
00:38:43at treetop height below an enemy radar screen.
00:38:47Some three to five hundred miles from the target, the missile can be released to make
00:38:52its own way to the objective.
00:38:54The automatic navigation system can't be jammed by any known enemy countermeasure.
00:39:02Nothing new about the low-flying approach, but its application to a nuclear missile system
00:39:07is as up-to-date as tomorrow.
00:39:09Blue Steel was to be launched by the British Air Force in 1944.
00:39:14Blue Steel was to be replaced by a missile with an even greater range.
00:39:20Skybolt.
00:39:34Skybolt was an American project which would have enabled the missile to be launched one
00:39:39thousand miles from the target.
00:39:42Bomber Command planned to have seventy-two Vulcan B-2s modified to each carry two Skybolts.
00:39:50With such firepower at its disposal, the RAF began cutting back on its aircraft strength,
00:39:56including the cancellation of some Victor B-2s.
00:40:00But the Skybolt program was a failure, and in December 1962, it was cancelled.
00:40:08The decision was a terrible blow for Bomber Command.
00:40:13For, as a sop to the British, the Americans offered the submarine-launched Polaris missile.
00:40:20Reluctantly, the offer was accepted.
00:40:23The nuclear deterrent would pass to the Navy in 1969.
00:40:29Also, it had become clear that altitude was no defense from interceptors or surface-to-air missiles.
00:40:37From now on, the V bombers would have to operate at low level, a move which spelt the end for the Vickers Valiant.
00:40:45Low-level flying increased the stress on the airframe, and the Valiant's wingspars began to break up.
00:40:52In 1965, the Valiants were withdrawn from front-line service.
00:41:07In July 1960, the English Electric Lightning F-1 entered front-line service with 74 Squadron based at Colchester in Norfolk.
00:41:18The Lightning was Britain's first true supersonic fighter, and heralded a new era for the RAF.
00:41:25Not only was it stupendously fast, it also featured radar-guided air-to-air missiles.
00:41:31Soviet bombers flying at high altitude had to be blown out of the sky long before they could reach their targets.
00:41:39Everything about the Lightning was new. The weapons, its radar, even the aerodynamics.
00:41:45For example, it was the first British aircraft to feature a flying tail in which the entire surface moves mounted low on the fuselage.
00:41:55It's a feature that's now commonplace on today's fighters, but which had caused great controversy during the Lightning's development in the 1950s.
00:42:04For the pilots, the Lightning represented a new challenge in that they would have to fly and operate the radar and weapons system on their own.
00:42:14To go from subsonic to an aeroplane that was capable of Mach 2 in level flight was quite a jump.
00:42:21Quite a jump. And of course the introduction of a weapons system that was so more complex and effective than we'd had in the past was a big jump.
00:42:37The conversion was fairly straightforward. We didn't have two-seaters in those days.
00:42:44And you were taught about the systems during lectures and things like that.
00:42:51And then you had ten hours on the Lightning simulator, which was a reproduction of the Lightning cockpit.
00:42:58So by the time you got into the air, you knew what to expect from all the instruments.
00:43:07And towards the end, on your last sortie in the simulator, basically you had to try and get the aeroplane into the air because they kept giving you emergencies on the ground.
00:43:19And when you got into the air, you then had to try and get it back.
00:43:22So by the time you'd finished the simulator side of things, you really felt you could handle those sort of things.
00:43:30And when you came to fly the aeroplane, that was a totally different experience. I mean, that power was just unbelievable.
00:43:40And taxing out, you had a system where you had to keep the electrics online.
00:43:47One of the engines had to be at a certain res, only about 50%, something like that.
00:43:52And if you didn't use the brakes, you'd be building up to about 70 knots.
00:43:57And then line up with the runway, and you could just feel this power.
00:44:03On the brakes, open up the engines and let go, and it was just away.
00:44:09And I remember trying to get the nose high enough to reduce the speed to 450 knots, which was the climbing speed.
00:44:21At about 18,000, 20,000 feet, I went supersonic.
00:44:25And I think a lot of people did on the first server.
00:44:33I despired to fly the Hunter, I think, like most like-minded people.
00:44:38But when I joined 92 Squadron, my first squadron, we had to, Hunter said, to supplement the flying that we weren't getting, if you like, in those early days on the Lightning.
00:44:47Because, technically, it was very advanced.
00:44:51So the radar could be difficult, and indeed the aircraft was quite a handful to service and maintain.
00:44:58So flying hours in those early days were hard to come by.
00:45:05The Lightning was a very good dogfighter. It had the power.
00:45:10It had the ability to turn very, very sharply.
00:45:17To accelerate.
00:45:20It really was, I thought, a good dogfighter, yeah.
00:45:24Lightnings were taking part in Exercise Matador, in which Fighter Command's role was being tested.
00:45:38You seldom used the full potential of speed.
00:45:43Because, basically, what you did was, the scheme was, you would go out to intercept.
00:45:50The bombers that you were intercepting were subsonic.
00:45:54So you'd fly subsonically to preserve fuel.
00:46:00But if the time that you had was very short, you could then accelerate.
00:46:09So you intercepted further out to sea.
00:46:13Generally speaking, you didn't fly around at night, too.
00:46:17It was there if you needed it.
00:46:21The aircraft that I was on, I should say that when I joined 92, we had the Mark II Lightning,
00:46:26which had four Aden cannon, but obviously principally the Fire Streak, which was a six-o'clock shooter, if you like.
00:46:33And so we had a radar, AR-23, that could pick up an aircraft the size of a Lightning at about somewhere between 15 and 18 miles.
00:46:43You had very little time to interpret the radar picture you were getting and get in for a rearing shot on any aircraft.
00:46:53A process that needed quite a lot of speedy thinking.
00:46:57We had sort of mechanisms by which we devolved the sort of profile we would use.
00:47:03It was all done in a hell of a rush.
00:47:05And, you know, 18 miles wasn't long with an aircraft coming towards you to make up your mind and get in behind.
00:47:11The Fire Streak, I fired one or two live on the ranges at Aberforth and seemed to be very effective,
00:47:19but only if you were coming in from behind at that time.
00:47:22I wasn't aware of any particular problems with the missile system as such, other than the standard ones.
00:47:28Certainly with the Red Top and the Fire Streak, if they were operated within their envelope, within their design envelope,
00:47:38for me, they seemed, they worked.
00:47:42And I was lucky enough on AFDS to do some of the front hemisphere Red Top trials,
00:47:47and we were doing head-on attacks where the target was doing 1.7 and the fighter was doing 1.7,
00:47:53so the closing speed was, what, 3.4.
00:47:55And the weapons, providing you got it right, within a very narrow spectrum, of course, but the weapons worked.
00:48:04In 1964, the Lightning F3 entered RAF service.
00:48:09This version had no guns, relying solely on two air-to-air missiles.
00:48:15It will always be debated, the utility and effectiveness of the cannon.
00:48:21I was always one of those proponents who felt that while you had a cannon, the enemy could never afford to ignore you.
00:48:31If you fired out both Fire Streaks, you could still bite.
00:48:35And so I was a great believer in the cannon.
00:48:38And, you know, the old Aden cannon could be very effective if you got in close enough and the enemy wasn't being too aggressively evading.
00:48:45So I felt it had some utility.
00:48:47In the F6, which entered RAF service in 1965,
00:48:52the pilots got their guns back, albeit mounted in a ventral pack under the fuselage.
00:49:00This new version also had almost double the fuel capacity of its predecessors
00:49:06in an attempt to improve the Lightning's limited endurance.
00:49:17Fire!
00:49:35You were always conscious of it.
00:49:37I mean, I don't think any Lightning pilot ever took his eyes off the fuel gauge.
00:49:41I mean, you could literally see it moving.
00:49:42But of course, you know, the whole of our culture really was tanking.
00:49:50We had a good tanker fleet.
00:49:52We were constantly sort of topping up.
00:49:56And so, you know, if you put in reheat at all, for a supersonic interception, you'd be talking about 30-minute sorties.
00:50:03But, you know, the tanker was there.
00:50:05Actually, not when I first started, but subsequently came in.
00:50:08So it was very much a complementary part of our activities, which gave you the range and the endurance.
00:50:13But in 1967, the RAF was to demonstrate that it could, if needed,
00:50:22deploy its Lightning force over very great distances indeed, despite the aircraft's thirst for fuel.
00:50:31Clive Mitchell, on the right of frame, was to fly No. 2 to 74 Squadron boss Ken Godwin.
00:50:43The purpose of Exercise Hydraulic, that was the move of 74 Squadron, lock, stock and barrel, that's the 13 aircraft,
00:50:52plus pilots, engineers, families, the purpose was to put in place in the Far East, Tengah, Singapore,
00:51:00a supersonic interceptor capability.
00:51:04First impression of the Lightning, I suppose I got over the first week or so we were at Coltishaw.
00:51:11It was a big aircraft for a fighter. It was tall.
00:51:16The cockpit was well above you when you walked up to the aircraft, and there was a long ladder to get into the cockpit.
00:51:23That was the visual impression I had.
00:51:28As far as the cockpit, it was cramped. It was a small cockpit.
00:51:32Indeed, the whole aircraft was very dense.
00:51:35They packed a lot of fuel pipes, hydraulic pipes, electrical bits and pieces into the airframe.
00:51:44And the other overall impression, I suppose, was that actually operating the aircraft, the weapons systems and so forth, was a task, quite a task.
00:51:56We'd equipped on 74, changing the Mark 3s, which had the small ventral tank, to the Mark 6s, which had a much larger ventral tank.
00:52:09But we also had to be equipped with the overwing tanks, one on each wing, obviously,
00:52:17and unusually over the wing rather than underneath.
00:52:20And those were the major alterations that had to be made to meet all the diversion requirements en route.
00:52:35In 1967, in-flight refuelling was still a relatively new skill to the pilots of the RAF.
00:52:41The Lightning, however, was not the ideal aircraft in which to learn the technique.
00:52:46The Lightning was... the probe was out on the left wing, and it came forward to... so you could see it out of your peripheral vision.
00:52:56But the technique was not to try and look at the probe end and push it in the basket,
00:53:01because the basket was moved about by the bow wave on the aircraft.
00:53:05So the technique was to formate on points on the victor wing and just drive forward,
00:53:11knowing that the basket would move out and then come back in again, and hopefully onto the probe.
00:53:18Throughout the 1960s and 70s, life in the frontline squadrons revolved around the need to maintain its QRA readiness.
00:53:28We want a very high state of readiness.
00:53:31We want a very high level of readiness.
00:53:34We want to be able to keep the QRA ready.
00:53:37We want to be able to keep the QRA ready.
00:53:40We want to be able to keep the QRA ready.
00:53:43We want a very high state of readiness.
00:53:46I mean, it seems still almost inconceivable to me that we had five-minute readiness.
00:53:51It's five minutes any time of night or day to getting airborne.
00:53:54It was pretty tight for a two-engine aircraft like the Lightning.
00:53:58So there would always be two of us, one on five minutes and one on 15 minutes.
00:54:02And you took it extremely seriously, because unlike my later experience on the Buccaneer,
00:54:06where we had nuclear QRA, where, you know, one sense it probably, you know,
00:54:12getting airborne was very remote, and certainly you couldn't get airborne on practice flights.
00:54:17With the Lightning, there was a fair chance of getting airborne most times you're on QRA.
00:54:22And so you really had to be geared up, both in your dress and preparation,
00:54:27and being ready to go from sort of catnapping to airborne in five minutes,
00:54:32sometimes on a very murky night.
00:54:33So it had its challenges.
00:54:35In 1954, the Folland Midge made its first flight.
00:54:38In 1954, the Folland Midge made its first flight.
00:55:05Its design concept was to discover if it was possible to build a small, lightweight fighter
00:55:11as a counter to the heavier and more complex fighters due to enter RAF service.
00:55:17Although its performance was impressive, the RAF was not interested.
00:55:22It did, however, show interest in a version developed as a two-seat trainer in 1956.
00:55:29As the NAT, it became the RAF's jet trainer intended to follow the jet provost
00:55:35as part of the RAF's all-jet training program.
00:55:40But it's probably best known as the first mount of the Red Arrows aerobatics team formed in 1964.
00:55:49The Red Arrows were designated the official RAF display team
00:55:53to replace the squadron teams that had thrilled crowds at home and in Europe throughout the 50s and early 60s.
00:56:04I couldn't believe when I first flew it that anybody could live at this speed.
00:56:09Because having gone through training, you used to sit next to the instructor,
00:56:14and it was always a kind of comforting feeling to have him sitting next to you.
00:56:17And even on your own, you know, there was a seat there.
00:56:19But suddenly you're put in this thing, which was rather like a missile,
00:56:21and all you could see was a tiny little cockpit and a great big long pitot tube sticking out the front.
00:56:27And it was just flying so fast that I thought, well, you know, I mean, I don't know.
00:56:32My brains were well out of the back of the aeroplane at the time.
00:56:35But it was a very stimulating, it's one of these flights,
00:56:39and there are not many flights in which you ever remember specifically,
00:56:42but I distinctly remember going off across Anglesey in this thing, wondering if I'd ever managed to fly it.
00:56:47I think for me, the aircraft gave me a great ability, I think, to be able to think three-dimensionally,
00:56:56to think at a different speed to the Jet Provence, which was nice and slow.
00:57:01But I mean, to work at 360 or 420 knots was quite different.
00:57:05But also, very significantly, is fuel management,
00:57:10because the aircraft, when you took off in it, was short of fuel, basically.
00:57:13And when on the Red Arrows aircraft with no slipper tanks on,
00:57:16you were very short of fuel the whole time,
00:57:19and you really did manage your fuel very, very carefully indeed.
00:57:23But I think that as an all-round aircraft,
00:57:26in terms of bringing you on to fly the frontline RAF aircraft, as they were at the time,
00:57:31you could not really have had a better training aircraft, I don't believe.
00:57:44The mid-1960s was a time of mounting uncertainty for the RAF.
00:57:50In 1964, the ministries representing the three services were merged into one Ministry of Defence.
00:57:59The loss of the Valiants had been a blow,
00:58:02but in 1965 came the shattering news that the aircraft intended to replace the Canberra
00:58:09in the reconnaissance and strike role was to be cancelled.
00:58:13TSR-2 was an extraordinary achievement for the British aircraft industry,
00:58:19in that it brought together new materials and construction methods,
00:58:23as well as extremely advanced avionics,
00:58:26which would have given TSR-2 unprecedented operational capability,
00:58:31including terrain-following radar.
00:58:34But it was also very expensive, and costs seemed to be spiralling out of control.
00:58:39As with any major defence project,
00:58:42there was a strong political dimension with its protagonists and antagonists.
00:58:47Ultimately, the antagonists won the day.
00:58:51Today, we can only look back with the benefit of hindsight and wonder what might have been.
00:58:58The loss of TSR-2 might not have been so catastrophic,
00:59:02had it not been for the farce that followed.
00:59:05It was decided that the RAF should have the General Dynamics F-111 instead of TSR-2.
00:59:13But this project also started to run into difficulties, and so it too was cancelled.
00:59:19...at Stanmore in Middlesex, home of Fighter Command since it was formed in 1936.
00:59:25Now the command which won the Battle of Britain has been disbanded,
00:59:28and Air Marshal Sir Frederick Rosier, Commander-in-Chief, reviews the final...
00:59:32In 1968, Fighter, Bomber, Coastal and Transport Commands were merged into one new Strike Command.
00:59:41The date chosen for the merger was April 1968,
00:59:4450 years since the Royal Air Force was first formed.
00:59:55If the RAF had begun the 1960s as the most powerful it had ever been,
01:00:00then it ended the decade almost at its weakest.
01:00:04Just 1,902 aircraft could seriously be considered capable of frontline service,
01:00:10although the new command was called Strike Command,
01:00:14it had no new aircraft with which to fulfil that role.
01:00:30In order to maintain its round-the-clock capability,
01:00:34the RAF would have to make do with whatever it could get its hands on.
01:00:37Fortunately, the timing worked out well,
01:00:41for the RAF was to receive some very capable aircraft during this period.
01:00:49The Blackburn Buccaneer had been turned down by the RAF in the early 1950s,
01:00:55when it had been mooted as a possible joint project with the Navy.
01:01:00Some ten years later, just as the Navy was beginning to retire its Buccaneer force,
01:01:05due to a reduction in the carrier fleet,
01:01:08the RAF began to show renewed enthusiasm.
01:01:16What made the Buccaneer attractive was its ability to fly very fast at low level.
01:01:22What's more, it had a bomb bay large enough to accommodate a nuclear bomb.
01:01:28Number 12 Squadron was the first to receive the modified Buccaneer S2
01:01:33during 1969.
01:01:37Powered by two Rolls-Royce Spey engines,
01:01:41the two-man crew could fly at supersonic speeds at sea level
01:01:45below any enemy radar that might be looking out for them.
01:01:49It was perfect in the low-level strike and maritime role.
01:01:55I love the role, if not ground attack, then certainly strike and attack,
01:02:00which I found to be immensely challenging.
01:02:03And while the Buccaneer didn't have the sheer raw performance of the Lightning,
01:02:08it had other unbelievably good characteristics,
01:02:13of which its low-level ride, I think, still remains the supreme,
01:02:17supreme ride I've ever had.
01:02:19I was a station commander in Germany when I was actually current
01:02:23and rated on the Hunter, Buccaneer, Jaguar and Tornado,
01:02:27so I was able almost weekly to make comparisons between all those aircraft.
01:02:32All great in their own way, but the Buccaneer low-level ride,
01:02:36its range and its capability to go so fast, were unique.
01:02:44The Buccaneer, it was such a hugely capable aircraft.
01:02:51It was a handful to fly in the circuit.
01:02:54I forget how many actions there were to go from braking to landing,
01:02:58but in double figures, involving both taking hands off the control column at one stage.
01:03:04And when it was dirtied up and the blow was over the wings, it was a brute.
01:03:10Landing it on an aircraft carrier must have been concentrated in mind wonderfully.
01:03:14But when it was cleaned up and when it was doing anywhere above 420 knots,
01:03:18it remains the most superlative platform of any aircraft in the world to fly at low-level.
01:03:24And we felt, with that enormous bomb bay, enormous range,
01:03:29that we had a real crack of an aeroplane.
01:03:32And, you know, could hold its own with the capability of the Phantom,
01:03:37which probably in all round terms, I say somewhat rudely,
01:03:41probably had the best capability of all, but we felt we were very effective for what we had to do.
01:04:25In 1969, another aircraft, also intended for naval use,
01:04:30entered RAF service with No. 6 Squadron, the McDonnell Douglas Phantom.
01:04:37The Phantom was to prove itself adept in many different roles in air force.
01:04:42It was to become the number one aircraft carrier in the world.
01:04:46It was to become the number one aircraft carrier in the world.
01:04:50The Phantom was to prove itself adept in many different roles in air forces around the world.
01:04:56In RAF service, it was to be used in both air defence and ground attack,
01:05:01and tactical reconnaissance roles.
01:05:04Its entry into service, however, was fraught with difficulty,
01:05:08as it was felt to be politically expedient to have the Phantom equipped with British engines.
01:05:13The Rolls-Royce spays were more bulky and heavier
01:05:17than the general electric units that had been designed to accommodate.
01:05:22Inevitably, cost began to mount,
01:05:25as the British and their American counterparts struggled to make the package work.
01:05:30In fact, the extra weight cancelled out any power advantage,
01:05:34but after the TSR-2 and F-111 fiascos,
01:05:37the government of the day had to be seen to be supporting what was left of Britain's aircraft industry.
01:05:43Eventually, the Phantom was able to take its place in the RAF's front line.
01:06:08Scramble, scramble, scramble.
01:06:16The Lightning, by comparison,
01:06:20was limited in its operational capability,
01:06:25because it was an air defender.
01:06:28And it was, by then, an air defender that had been in service some time.
01:06:37When the Phantom came in and had a new system,
01:06:40it had two different types of air-to-air weapon.
01:06:45There was the one you could fire from the stone, like we did on the Lightning.
01:06:50There was also the one that you could fire from a head,
01:06:53because you had a different warhead on it.
01:06:58Not so much warhead as control system.
01:07:02And the radar could look high and around,
01:07:08but it also could look down, because it had a different technology in it.
01:07:12So, whereas in the Lightning, if you looked down,
01:07:15you saw the returns from the sea or the land,
01:07:19in the Phantom you could see the airplane you were looking for.
01:07:23Much longer range, much longer range.
01:07:28You could do mapping on the Phantom radar.
01:07:33The Phantom also carried air-to-ground weapons and a gun.
01:07:39The firing rate of which was absolutely phenomenal.
01:07:43When you pressed the trigger, it went...
01:07:46like a sewing machine.
01:07:50It carried cameras.
01:07:53It had long range. It could fly through fuel.
01:07:57It carried drop tanks.
01:08:00So you had, in the Phantom that the Royal Air Force had,
01:08:05an airplane with tremendous capability and high performance.
01:08:12It wasn't, from ground to high altitude, as exciting as the Lightning.
01:08:20But it was a very, very good, powerful, maneuverable warhorse.
01:08:25It was tremendous in that respect.
01:08:30Successful though they were, the Buccaneer and Phantom
01:08:34were only ever intended as stop-gap measures
01:08:37while new aircraft were developed.
01:08:40The role of the RAF had changed during the 1960s,
01:08:44from being a strategic nuclear force
01:08:47to a more tactical role using conventional weapons.
01:08:51New aircraft were needed to meet these new requirements.
01:08:56In 1969, one of the most radical aircraft ever to fly
01:09:02entered RAF service with number one squadron.
01:09:05It was the Harrier GR1.
01:09:09The Harrier's unique feature was its ability
01:09:13to make the transition from normal flight to the hover,
01:09:16which made it the ideal aircraft for the close air support role.
01:09:21This extraordinary aircraft had begun life in 1957
01:09:26as a private venture to build a tactical aircraft
01:09:30around the new Bristol Pegasus engine.
01:09:33The engine had been designed to direct exhaust flow
01:09:37through four adjustable nozzles
01:09:39so that lift could be provided for a fixed-wing aircraft.
01:09:43But the political turmoil of the mid-1960s
01:09:47left the project with an uncertain future
01:09:50until the United States Marine Corps stepped in with the necessary funding.
01:09:58Given the radical nature of the Harrier,
01:10:01it's hardly surprising that a two-seat version, the T2,
01:10:05was introduced into service at the same time as the GR1.
01:10:12The Harrier GR1 was a very simple aeroplane.
01:10:16It just had a huge, great compass armament,
01:10:19a big artificial horizon, very light.
01:10:22Obviously, it had to be because the engine at the time
01:10:25wasn't producing that much thrust.
01:10:27But as it went on, the power-over-weight ratio
01:10:31remained the same.
01:10:33It was a very simple aeroplane.
01:10:35It had a huge, great compass armament,
01:10:37a big artificial horizon, very light.
01:10:39Obviously, it had to be because the engine at the time
01:10:42remained pretty much the same.
01:10:44Because the more they put on the aeroplane,
01:10:46the engine got a little bit more powerful.
01:10:48And you're always struggling for performance in the aircraft.
01:10:50When I flew Harriers, it was a ground-attack aircraft,
01:11:14and you basically did close-air support,
01:11:17armed reconnaissance, and jobs like that.
01:11:20And a lot of the work that you did,
01:11:22and I was posted to Germany on my first tour,
01:11:24was working off-base, working out of fields.
01:11:27And from that point of view, you really had to
01:11:30have a pretty broad-minded view to aviation.
01:11:34I think that the training up until then
01:11:37prepared you extremely well for what was at store.
01:11:40But in the Cold War era,
01:11:42to be able to deploy the aircraft away from main bases
01:11:44was obviously very significant.
01:11:47And I think probably that was its main strength.
01:11:50In terms of what it could carry, what it could deliver,
01:11:52it was quite limited.
01:11:55If the tanks had come, we would have been there.
01:11:58It had weapons that we could have dropped
01:12:01on the tanks to hopefully immobilize them.
01:12:05But we were very closely coordinated with the army,
01:12:08and it would have been a combined army response, basically.
01:12:11Because they had helicopter-launched weapons,
01:12:16we were all going to fit in at that,
01:12:19right up at the front edge type of stuff.
01:12:21And we could move rapidly,
01:12:23we could redeploy between sites very rapidly.
01:12:26So the idea was to be basically another arm of the army,
01:12:30rather than a tool to which the air force had their hands on,
01:12:33although obviously the air force didn't want to let go of us.
01:12:36But the army really had control.
01:12:41I mean, we were all learning at the same time, I think.
01:12:45And we used to go out and do these fly-out-of-fields,
01:12:48and some of the conditions we flew in were just unbelievable.
01:12:51I mean, I've looked at photographs subsequently,
01:12:53and we were working off mud patches,
01:12:56and the runway, it wasn't a runway, it was 700 feet of mud.
01:13:00And yet we were flying around in these aircraft,
01:13:03and we did actually lose quite a few at the time as well,
01:13:06primarily from engine failures and things like that.
01:13:08And it was a sort of pioneering time, I think.
01:13:11But we worked hard, and we played very hard as well.
01:13:15We were not told to expect anything.
01:13:17And what happened, I mean, each day was a learning experience.
01:13:20And in fact, with aviation, every day is a learning experience,
01:13:23as it turns out.
01:13:25But the learning curve was extremely steep,
01:13:27and that was for all of us, you know.
01:13:29And not just me as the bottom end of the pile,
01:13:31but for the squadron commanders and the flight commanders,
01:13:34who themselves had probably looked more time on the Harrier than I did.
01:13:38You know, they were learning extremely fast.
01:13:40And how they did it, I don't know.
01:13:42But we were all pretty rugged in those days, you know.
01:13:44It was nothing refined.
01:13:46And when I went back to the Harrier on two subsequent occasions,
01:13:48the way we did our business was refined enormously,
01:13:50as was the aircraft, of course, you know.
01:13:52So, all in all, I think we improved significantly over the time.
01:13:56I hope so.
01:14:09RAF
01:14:20Perhaps one of the great Cold War success stories for the RAF,
01:14:24if often ignored,
01:14:26was the role played by its long-range transport aircraft.
01:14:30The importance of being able to fly personnel and equipment
01:14:33round the world quickly had not been lost on the RAF.
01:14:38The first flight of the de Havilland Comet in 1949
01:14:42heralded the era of the jet airliner.
01:15:09In 1956, No. 216 Squadron
01:15:13became the world's first military operator of a jet airliner
01:15:17when it took delivery of its first Comet II.
01:15:21Powered by four Rolls-Royce Avon engines,
01:15:24the Comet could cruise at 40,000 feet in clear skies,
01:15:28well above the piston-engined airliners below.
01:15:34But disaster struck
01:15:36when several Mark I's crashed
01:15:39due to failure of the pressurized cabin
01:15:42leading to the grounding of the fleet.
01:15:51In 1958, the new Comet IV had made its maiden flight.
01:15:56It had been extended and strengthened
01:15:59so that it could fly even greater distances.
01:16:02Twice as powerful as the first Comet,
01:16:03there lies an unprecedented degree of proving operations.
01:16:06It's believed that this magnificent new aircraft
01:16:09will fully justify the company's faith in the concept of the Comet.
01:16:14But the accidents had delayed the Comet IV's entry
01:16:17into RAF service until 1962,
01:16:20where they continued to fly until 1975.
01:16:24By 1965, the RAF was seeking a new maritime patrol aircraft
01:16:29to replace its ageing fleet of Avro Shackletons.
01:16:33The government decided to see if this requirement could be met
01:16:37by adapting the basic airframe of the Comet IV.
01:16:45The structural changes to the Comet IV
01:16:48meant that the aircraft had to be replaced
01:16:51The structural changes included a shortened fuselage
01:16:55which had a pannier mounted underneath
01:16:57to accommodate operational equipment
01:16:59and an enormous weapons bag.
01:17:02The outcome of the program is now acknowledged
01:17:05as one of the finest over-water
01:17:08and anti-submarine aircraft in the world.
01:17:11The new aircraft was named Nimrod,
01:17:14after the biblical mighty hunter.
01:17:17The Nimrod MR-1 entered RAF service in October 1969
01:17:22with number 201 squadron.
01:17:26It carried a standard crew of 12
01:17:29and its roles were those of anti-submarine warfare,
01:17:32maritime surveillance and anti-shipping strike.
01:17:37Typically, it could fly patrols for up to 12 hours
01:17:41and, if necessary, cruise on just one ship.
01:17:44If necessary, cruise on just one engine.
01:17:55Since its introduction, Nimrod has been constantly updated
01:18:00so that today it continues to patrol far out over the sea.
01:18:06The Royal Air Force had begun the 1960s
01:18:09with high expectations.
01:18:11But the middle years of the decade
01:18:14were marked by morale-sapping indecision
01:18:17as to the service's future role.
01:18:20The Cold War was far from over.
01:18:23But, by the end of the decade,
01:18:25there was a new sense of purpose,
01:18:27a new aircraft types to help the RAF
01:18:30take its rightful place in Britain's defence.
01:18:34The RAF may have had fewer aircraft
01:18:37than at any time in its past,
01:18:39but this was more than compensated for
01:18:41in terms of quality and efficiency.
01:18:44The fighter, the Lightning.
01:18:4950 years of service flying at this jubilee show.
01:18:58And what of those ground-breaking aircraft
01:19:01that had so stirred the world at the beginning of the decade?
01:19:06Today, virtually all are grounded.
01:19:10Technically too advanced to be flown in private hands,
01:19:12yet too costly to be retained by the Air Force.
01:19:18Many have been broken up,
01:19:20but one or two have escaped the breaker's yarn.
01:19:23Probably the most famous is Vulcan XH558.
01:19:28One day, she may be allowed to fly again
01:19:31and remind us of the incredible feats
01:19:34achieved by Britain's aircraft industry
01:19:37as the frontiers of technology were rolled back.
01:19:43Aircraft such as the Vulcan
01:19:45made it possible for the RAF
01:19:47to maintain the fragile peace
01:19:49that was the hallmark of the Cold War.
01:20:43The Vulcan XH558
01:20:46was the first of its kind
01:20:48in the history of aviation.
01:20:50It was the first of its kind
01:20:52in the history of aviation.
01:20:54It was the first of its kind
01:20:56in the history of aviation.
01:20:58It was the first of its kind
01:21:00in the history of aviation.
01:21:02It was the first of its kind
01:21:04in the history of aviation.
01:21:06It was the first of its kind
01:21:08in the history of aviation.
01:21:10It was the first of its kind
01:21:12in the history of aviation.