RAF Wildenrath Opens in the Federal Republic of Germany
On 15 January 1952, RAF Wildenrath opened in the Federal Republic of Germany as the first of the…
15 January 2026 · 4 min read 5 June
On This Day, 1999: On 5 June 1999 RAF Tornados flew their first combat missions from Solenzara in Corsica during Operation Allied…
Read the entry →Cold War · 1945 – 1991
Cold War
From the Berlin Airlift to the Falklands, from V-bombers on four-minute alert to the Tornado over the Iraqi desert, four decades of nuclear deterrence, technological transformation and the occasional hot war in unexpected places.
4 Operations
16 Aircraft
0 People
7 Squadrons
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.
"The bomber will always get through." — Stanley Baldwin, 1932
The Falklands campaign of 1982 tested the Cold War RAF in a conventional conflict it had not anticipated. Long-range bombing missions, air defence over contested territory, maritime patrol and close support — in ten weeks, the service demonstrated a flexibility that the theorists of nuclear deterrence had sometimes doubted it retained. It was a timely reminder that the RAF remained a fighting service, not merely a nuclear delivery system.
Operations · 4 operations
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Cold War
Operation Grapple
How the RAF supported Operation Grapple through V-bomber delivery, cloud sampling and Pacific infrastructure during Britain’s H-bomb tests.
Cold War
Operation Musketeer
How the RAF supported Operation Musketeer through transport flying, strike operations and airborne assault during the Suez Crisis.
Cold War
Operation Black Buck
Operation Black Buck was the RAF’s long-range bombing and anti-radar effort during the Falklands War, flown by Avro…
Cold War
Operation Corporate
How the RAF supported Operation Corporate through Vulcan raids, Victor tanker missions and later tactical air operations in…
From the Archive — Cold War
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