Leo Marriott - Early Jet Bombers, 1944–1954

IMAGES OF WAR

Early Jet Bombers 1944-1954

In the decades after the Second World War Britain, America and the Soviet Union all built fleets of jet bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons. The graceful delta-winged Avro Vulcan was one of a trio of V-bombers which acted as the British nuclear deterrent in the 1950s and 1960s.

IMAGES OF WAR

RARE PHOTOGRAPHS FROM WARTIME ARCHIVES

LEO MARRIOTT

First published in Great Britain in 2019 by

Pen & Sword Aviation

an imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

Yorkshire Philadelphia

Copyright Leo Marriott

ISBN 978 1 52675 389 2

eISBN 978 1 52675 390 8

Mobi ISBN 978 1 52675 391 5

The right of Leo Marriott to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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U nless otherwise credited, all the images in this book (except those in National Archive and Research Agency which is based at College Park, Maryland. In particular the invaluable assistance of Archive Specialist Holly Reed and her colleagues is very much appreciated.

Except where noted, all the images in (USSR) are from the Russian Aircraft Research Trust, administered by Nigel Eastway, to whom grateful thanks for his assistance is due.

Images from other sources are denoted by the following abbreviations.

B y 1910 the aeroplane had advanced from being an interesting invention to become a machine with practical applications and military and naval forces around the world began to take an interest in this new dimension of warfare. Initially the aeroplane was seen as a useful reconnaissance tool, especially as two-seaters carrying an observer were introduced, but it was not long before more warlike capabilities were introduced. In 1911 the first bombing raid was carried out by an Italian pilot flying a Bleriot XI monoplane when he dropped four hand grenades on Turkish troops in Libya. Three years later the world was at war and the technical development of aeroplanes progressed in leaps and bounds. Light bombers on either side worked mostly in support of the ground battle but by 1918 the concept of attacks on strategic targets away from the front line by a new breed of heavy bombers was established. Between the wars considerable effort was put into the design and construction of bombers and for a while there seemed to be no practical way of preventing mass attacks of the kind demonstrated in 1937 by the German Condor Legion when it mounted a savage raid on the town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War.

The concept of strategic bombing was formed in the First World War with both sides using speciallydesigned bombers to attack targets away from the front-line fighting. German Gotha bombers began raiding targets on mainland Britain in May 1917 while British Handley Page O/100s and O/400s carried out increasingly heavier day and night raids over France and Germany from mid-1917 until the end of the war. An O/400 is here being loaded with 112lb bombs. AC

A twin-engined biplane capable carrying a 3,000lb bomb load, the American Martin NBS-1 was a typical bomber design of the 1920s. It was bombers of this type which controversially sank the ex-German battleship Ostfriesland during a demonstration exercise in July 1921. Their commander, Billy Mitchell, was famously court-martialled for this action which nevertheless demonstrated the growing potency of air power.