page_title: Project E
section_title: Tactical bombers
hierarchical_section_title: Project E / Implementation / Tactical bombers
caption_attribution_description: Vickers Valiant V Bomber at Bristol Filton Airport, southwest England. Date unknown, though clothing fashions and automobile suggests early 1960s. Photographed by Adrian Pingstone and released to the public domain.
context_page_description: Project E was a joint project between the United States and the United Kingdom during the Cold War to provide nuclear weapons to the Royal Air Force until sufficient British nuclear weapons became available. It was subsequently expanded to provide similar arrangements for the British Army of the Rhine. A maritime version of Project E known as Project N provided nuclear depth bombs used by the RAF Coastal Command.
  The British nuclear weapons project, High Explosive Research, successfully tested a nuclear weapon in Operation Hurricane in October 1952, but production was slow and Britain had only ten atomic bombs on hand in 1955 and fourteen in 1956. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill, approached the President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, with a request that the US supply nuclear weapons for the strategic bombers of the V bomber fleet until sufficient British weapons became available. This became known as Project E. Under an agreement reached in 1957, US personnel had custody of the weapons, and performed all tasks related to their storage, maintenance and readiness. The bombs were held in secure storage areas on the same bases as the bombers.
context_section_description: It fell to the commander of the UK-based US Third Air Force, Major General Roscoe C. Wilson, to initiate Project E. Wilson had been liaison officer with the Manhattan Project, and Deputy Chief of the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project, and was very familiar with nuclear weapons. The first aircraft to be fitted for American atomic bombs were not V-bombers but 28 Canberra bombers earmarked as night interdictors for the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) in 1957. These were new B(I)8 models, which came straight from the manufacturer for modification to carry the Mark 7 nuclear bomb. The intention was that they would be able to carry either American or British bombs, but since the latter were not available, they were only fitted for American bombs. Later-model Canberras would be able to carry both. Since the specifications for the bomb bay doors said they opened 52 inches (1,300 mm) wide, and the tail fins of the bombs were between 50.36 and 50.69 inches (1,279 and 1,288 mm) wide, no problem was anticipated, but it turned out that the doors only opened between 50.50 and 51.19 inches (1,283 and 1,300 mm), depending on the aircraft, which meant that the bombs would have to be individually matched with aircraft. After some thought, 0.5 inches (13 mm) was cut off each bomb fin.
  Four squadrons of Canberras were based in Germany, their Mark 7 bombs being stored at RAF Germany bases at RAF Bruggen, RAF Geilenkirchen, RAF Laarbruch and RAF Wildenrath. The crews practised the Low Altitude Bombing System (LABS) for tactical nuclear attacks. There were also four squadrons of nuclear-armed Canberras based in the UK at RAF Coningsby and RAF Upwood; these were capable of using either the Mark 7 or the British Red Beard nuclear weapons. They too were assigned to the SACEUR in October 1960. The Air Ministry decided to replace these Canberras with Valiants as the Avro Vulcan and Handley Page Victor V-bombers became available and replaced the Valiants in the strategic role. A Valiant squadron at RAF Marham was assigned to SACEUR on 1 January 1961, followed by two more in July. The UK-based Canberra squadrons were then disbanded. Each of the 24 Valiants was equipped with two of the more powerful Project E B28 nuclear bombs. These were replaced by the newer B43 nuclear bombs, which were more suitable for laydown delivery, in early 1963. The availability of US bombs meant that more British bombs were available for use elsewhere. A permanent storage site for 32 Red Beards was opened at RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus in November 1961, and one for 48 Red Beards at RAF Tengah in Singapore. Only the aircraft on Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) were armed with a pair of live bombs. These aircraft were kept armed and fuelled on hardstands surrounded by 6-foot (1.8 m) high chain-link fences. The Valiants were taken out of service in 1965. The Canberras continued in service, with their Project E B43 bombs until the last was retired in June 1972. They were replaced by Phantom FGR.2s, which carried Project E B43 and B57 nuclear bombs between June 1972 and October 1976, when they in turn were replaced in the tactical nuclear role by the Jaguar GR.1, which carried British WE.177 bombs.
caption: Vickers Valiant
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