 Mastodon called for the deployment of two squadrons of eight Handley Page Victors to Tengah and one of eight Avro Vulcans to Butterworth. The British nuclear stockpile consisted of only 53 nuclear weapons in 1958, most of which were of the old Blue Danube type, but plans called for 48 of the new, lighter Red Beard tactical nuclear weapons to be stored at Tengah when they became available, so each V bomber could carry two. Up to 48 Red Beards were secretly stowed in a highly secured weapons storage facility at RAF Tengah, between 1962 and 1971, for possible use by the V bomber force detachment and for Britain's military commitment to SEATO.
