Cold War

The Cold War RAF was defined above all by the nuclear deterrent. From 1955, the V-bombers — Valiant, Victor and Vulcan — stood at four-minute readiness, their crews trained to respond to a Soviet attack within minutes. For thirty years, the threat of mutual assured destruction was the RAF's primary strategic purpose, even as it continued to fight conventional wars in Malaya, Korea, Suez, Aden and the Falklands.

Technology transformed the service beyond recognition. The piston engine gave way to the jet. Supersonic flight became routine. Guided missiles replaced guns and iron bombs as the primary weapons. The aircraft that entered service at the end of the Cold War — the Tornado, the Nimrod, the Buccaneer — were as different from the Spitfire as the Spitfire had been from the Sopwith Camel.