3-and-a-half V-bombers if you count the Sperrin...
It made sense to order the Valiant as a back-up (and indeed it was in service a couple of years before the other types), but the decision to order both Victor and Vulcan seems a little extravagant in hindsight. I've not read enough of the literature on post-war procurement, but from what I've seen Korea and the consequent hotting up of the cold war led to a big expansion of (or rather the retention and re-commissioning of) UK military-industrial capacity, even though the country couldn't really afford it. Ordering 3 V-bombers was perhaps related to a retention of industrial capacity along the lines of the interwar Air Ministry 'ring' procurement system.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2010-11-11 04:29 pm (UTC)It made sense to order the Valiant as a back-up (and indeed it was in service a couple of years before the other types), but the decision to order both Victor and Vulcan seems a little extravagant in hindsight. I've not read enough of the literature on post-war procurement, but from what I've seen Korea and the consequent hotting up of the cold war led to a big expansion of (or rather the retention and re-commissioning of) UK military-industrial capacity, even though the country couldn't really afford it. Ordering 3 V-bombers was perhaps related to a retention of industrial capacity along the lines of the interwar Air Ministry 'ring' procurement system.