"If you stop these planes, I will make you a duke!"
When they talk about the combat use of the British V-series bombers, they usually legally recall the Falklands war in which the “Volcanoes” distinguished themselves, but many have not heard that a quarter later century another English long-range jet bomber took part in the war. Speech about "Veliants" and Suez crisis.
About the crisis itself, if anyone would be interested, I briefly wrote in my column at the INF Committee, and now I would like to tell briefly about the use of the English “rangers” there and first of all about one amusing episode.
In the year 1956, when the events described above were happening, the "Valiant" was the newest machine that had just begun to enter the Royal Air Force. There is no need to describe the prerequisites of the Suez crisis, I’d just note that the nationalization of the canal by Nasser turned out to be a surprise for the UK, although, in terms of the Egyptian authorities, it was a response to the refusal to finance the construction of the Aswan Dam (which, in turn, was caused by direction of the Soviet Union, such as "let Khrushchev give you non-performing loans"). English Prime Minister Eden found out about it at all at dinner with the Iraqi king and the prime minister, who advised him to strike at Nasser "quickly and firmly." It must be remembered here that Eden was a pretty “hawkish” politician and did not intend to lower “Middle Eastern Munich,” as the nationalization of the channel was called at that moment. In general, for Western European countries receiving oil through the 2 / 3 channel, the prospect of being on a short leash from an odious Egyptian did not cause delight - and the latter, in violation of international law, immediately closed the channel (in combination with the Strait of Tirana) for civilian shipping to Israel.
The decision how to get rid of the recalcitrant Arabs, just like in the old days of Lloyd George, seemed ripe in an instant. At least the Chief of Staff of the Royal Air Force, Sir Dermot Boyle, after meeting with the Prime Minister a few days later, will tell his officers [literally]: "The Prime Minister has gone bananas. He wants us to invade Egypt!". The operation was delayed by building a coalition with the French and the recently hated Israelis — Nasser was able to quickly find several mortal enemies at once, but the British continued to think of themselves as the main striking force. It's no joke - they collected three aircraft carriers at once. But the main striking force of the Royal Air Force, so that all fame did not leave the sea flyers, was the Great White Bombers. Which should show the Arabs that the Empire is not weakly repeat fashion in 20-s. preventive bombing of recalcitrant natives. According to the maximum program, the British and French even dreamed of the start of unrest in Egypt and the overthrow of Nasser.
The pilots began intensive training, training bombing took place every day - I remind you that the machine is the newest, not yet mastered properly. In parallel, passed the integration and testing of nuclear weapons, the first strategic carrier of which was to be "Valiant". Relocation to Malta began in mid-October. Interestingly, to the word about the relations of Great Britain and Israel at that time - right up until the last days the pilots were wondering who they would be sent to bomb: rebel Egypt or fight with it to Israel in order to make peace, to become friends, like in the old times of the Protectorate. By the beginning of the conflict in Malta, an 24 bomber was assembled from four squadrons.
The operation "Musketeer" was to take place in three stages, in accordance with the priorities - the suppression of the Egyptian aviation; defeat of key military and strategic targets; Port Said assault and canal capture. The first two parts were supposed to be purely airborne, and the beginning had to be laid by night strikes by distant bombers at the largest air bases of the Egyptians - the latter had recently received MiG-15s, which the British, who remembered Korea, did not want to meet during the day, and the Egyptians were ready for night actions as was not considered. The Valianti themselves, however, were also not all equipped with night bombing equipment, and the targets were to mark the numerous medium-sized Canberra bombers from low altitude with illuminating bombs.
The main targets were the Almaz, Kibrit, Abu Sayr airbases, Hakstep barracks and Agami. The main goal was to be the air base "Cairo West" and combined today with a civilian airport. The British planned to avoid unnecessary casualties as much as possible. Thus, the “Valiant” was assigned the task of “plowing up” the WFP prearranged by “Canberra” - this was also the most reliable and least bloody way to avoid meeting the next morning with the MiG-15 and IL-28 mobs , perhaps controlled (fear has big eyes) "Ibn-Ivanas", who could easily have arranged for the invaders, who in the deck aircraft had mostly "Xi Venomy" and "Corsairs" that is still a holiday. In all seriousness, there were fears of a massive strike on Cyprus from which the Canberra flew - Malta was out of reach.
The initial phase of the conflict with the Israeli invasion, the Anglo-French ultimatum by the warring parties developed according to plan and in the evening of October 31 the first group of bombers took off from Malta in order to bomb the Cairo West. While the bombers at an altitude of 13 kilometers were heading towards the target, an interesting conversation took place in London. The American ambassador came to the British Prime Minister and, along with political discussions (the Americans were wildly dissatisfied with the uncoordinated adventures of the British and French, but this was another matter), technical information on how to evacuate American civilians was relied on in such cases. The ambassador said that the Cairo-Alexandria road was chosen as the main export route by the sea and expressed the hope that the British side would take measures not to harm American citizens by accident.
It is difficult to say how well one could keep his composure when he looked at the map of Eden, who discovered that the road ... passes directly next to the Cairo West runway *. The mood that did not improve at the same time from Cairo through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs telegram didn’t improve the mood — American military transport aircraft 15 is at the Cairo West airfield, civilians and the diplomatic corps are landing.
...
A panic began in Whitehall, as the prospect of killing a few dozen, and with luck even hundreds of Americans in the background, and so infuriated and threatening with all sorts of punishments, Washington somehow did not deceive. Even more enthusiastic was caused by the news that it was not agreed with the “Valiant” crews that the “last confirmation” before the attack, but even the recall procedure did not occur to anyone that such a thing might be needed. The prime minister shouted to Anthony Head, Secretary of State for War, in the headline: If you can stop those aeroplanes I will make you a duke! **
The last hope was the advanced communications center in Cyprus ... and the miracle did happen, there was a staff officer who was personally familiar with the strike group who spoke to him on the usual radio by name and fortunately, he not only recognized him by voice, but believed without controversy.
On the first night, “Cairo West” was not bombed, but for the rest of the targets they worked out regularly. In the future, "Valiant" made 259 combat missions in 18 group raids, dropping 1962 bombs with a total weight of approx. 940 tons (the main workload was a dozen 1000 pounds). However, the results were rather disappointing - out of seven airfields exposed to raids during the campaign, only four were seriously damaged. Ironically, Cairo West was in the worst condition, but the Egyptians themselves, who feared the Allied airborne assault to seize the capital, carried out the most serious strip detonations. In addition, "Valiant" connected to the defeat of radar, coastal artillery and naval bases. It should be recognized that the low efficiency was not generally the fault of the sufficiently professional bomber crews - it’s just from a technical point of view that it’s not time to hit relatively small targets at high altitudes at night, all the more so considering relatively small numbers of forces (SAK USA such a task would simply plow the area with a crowd of B-47 or B-52B / C).
Not one "Valiant" was damaged, serious anti-aircraft fire (as far as it can be serious for a high-altitude jet bomber) was met only a few times, so in this regard, the effectiveness of high-altitude high-speed bomber as a means of delivering nuclear weapons during that period, before the appearance of an air defense missile system and effective, armed with rocket weapons and powerful radar, interceptors were soon confirmed. However, as the conflict showed, the allies were reinsured a lot - the Egyptians, despite the places, did not provide the best weapons with any significant resistance, and most of the aircraft were killed in the following days by pilots of deck aircraft. It was commonplace that the old piston "Corsairs", who still remembered the Japanese, burned at the airfields more qualitatively advanced MiGs and Elahs.
* - The funny thing is that the British turned out to be an old map, and the road has since been moved to 10 miles from the air base.
** - No, I did not, lied to Eden. On the other hand, largely as a result of the humiliation of the UK following the crisis, he flew out in March of the following year from the premiership and big politics, while Head continued his service.
Literature
Valiant Units of the Cold War
The First Four-Jet Bomber
Presidents in Crisis: Tough Decisions inside the White House
About the crisis itself, if anyone would be interested, I briefly wrote in my column at the INF Committee, and now I would like to tell briefly about the use of the English “rangers” there and first of all about one amusing episode.
In the year 1956, when the events described above were happening, the "Valiant" was the newest machine that had just begun to enter the Royal Air Force. There is no need to describe the prerequisites of the Suez crisis, I’d just note that the nationalization of the canal by Nasser turned out to be a surprise for the UK, although, in terms of the Egyptian authorities, it was a response to the refusal to finance the construction of the Aswan Dam (which, in turn, was caused by direction of the Soviet Union, such as "let Khrushchev give you non-performing loans"). English Prime Minister Eden found out about it at all at dinner with the Iraqi king and the prime minister, who advised him to strike at Nasser "quickly and firmly." It must be remembered here that Eden was a pretty “hawkish” politician and did not intend to lower “Middle Eastern Munich,” as the nationalization of the channel was called at that moment. In general, for Western European countries receiving oil through the 2 / 3 channel, the prospect of being on a short leash from an odious Egyptian did not cause delight - and the latter, in violation of international law, immediately closed the channel (in combination with the Strait of Tirana) for civilian shipping to Israel.
The decision how to get rid of the recalcitrant Arabs, just like in the old days of Lloyd George, seemed ripe in an instant. At least the Chief of Staff of the Royal Air Force, Sir Dermot Boyle, after meeting with the Prime Minister a few days later, will tell his officers [literally]: "The Prime Minister has gone bananas. He wants us to invade Egypt!". The operation was delayed by building a coalition with the French and the recently hated Israelis — Nasser was able to quickly find several mortal enemies at once, but the British continued to think of themselves as the main striking force. It's no joke - they collected three aircraft carriers at once. But the main striking force of the Royal Air Force, so that all fame did not leave the sea flyers, was the Great White Bombers. Which should show the Arabs that the Empire is not weakly repeat fashion in 20-s. preventive bombing of recalcitrant natives. According to the maximum program, the British and French even dreamed of the start of unrest in Egypt and the overthrow of Nasser.
The pilots began intensive training, training bombing took place every day - I remind you that the machine is the newest, not yet mastered properly. In parallel, passed the integration and testing of nuclear weapons, the first strategic carrier of which was to be "Valiant". Relocation to Malta began in mid-October. Interestingly, to the word about the relations of Great Britain and Israel at that time - right up until the last days the pilots were wondering who they would be sent to bomb: rebel Egypt or fight with it to Israel in order to make peace, to become friends, like in the old times of the Protectorate. By the beginning of the conflict in Malta, an 24 bomber was assembled from four squadrons.
The operation "Musketeer" was to take place in three stages, in accordance with the priorities - the suppression of the Egyptian aviation; defeat of key military and strategic targets; Port Said assault and canal capture. The first two parts were supposed to be purely airborne, and the beginning had to be laid by night strikes by distant bombers at the largest air bases of the Egyptians - the latter had recently received MiG-15s, which the British, who remembered Korea, did not want to meet during the day, and the Egyptians were ready for night actions as was not considered. The Valianti themselves, however, were also not all equipped with night bombing equipment, and the targets were to mark the numerous medium-sized Canberra bombers from low altitude with illuminating bombs.
The main targets were the Almaz, Kibrit, Abu Sayr airbases, Hakstep barracks and Agami. The main goal was to be the air base "Cairo West" and combined today with a civilian airport. The British planned to avoid unnecessary casualties as much as possible. Thus, the “Valiant” was assigned the task of “plowing up” the WFP prearranged by “Canberra” - this was also the most reliable and least bloody way to avoid meeting the next morning with the MiG-15 and IL-28 mobs , perhaps controlled (fear has big eyes) "Ibn-Ivanas", who could easily have arranged for the invaders, who in the deck aircraft had mostly "Xi Venomy" and "Corsairs" that is still a holiday. In all seriousness, there were fears of a massive strike on Cyprus from which the Canberra flew - Malta was out of reach.
The initial phase of the conflict with the Israeli invasion, the Anglo-French ultimatum by the warring parties developed according to plan and in the evening of October 31 the first group of bombers took off from Malta in order to bomb the Cairo West. While the bombers at an altitude of 13 kilometers were heading towards the target, an interesting conversation took place in London. The American ambassador came to the British Prime Minister and, along with political discussions (the Americans were wildly dissatisfied with the uncoordinated adventures of the British and French, but this was another matter), technical information on how to evacuate American civilians was relied on in such cases. The ambassador said that the Cairo-Alexandria road was chosen as the main export route by the sea and expressed the hope that the British side would take measures not to harm American citizens by accident.
It is difficult to say how well one could keep his composure when he looked at the map of Eden, who discovered that the road ... passes directly next to the Cairo West runway *. The mood that did not improve at the same time from Cairo through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs telegram didn’t improve the mood — American military transport aircraft 15 is at the Cairo West airfield, civilians and the diplomatic corps are landing.
...
A panic began in Whitehall, as the prospect of killing a few dozen, and with luck even hundreds of Americans in the background, and so infuriated and threatening with all sorts of punishments, Washington somehow did not deceive. Even more enthusiastic was caused by the news that it was not agreed with the “Valiant” crews that the “last confirmation” before the attack, but even the recall procedure did not occur to anyone that such a thing might be needed. The prime minister shouted to Anthony Head, Secretary of State for War, in the headline: If you can stop those aeroplanes I will make you a duke! **
The last hope was the advanced communications center in Cyprus ... and the miracle did happen, there was a staff officer who was personally familiar with the strike group who spoke to him on the usual radio by name and fortunately, he not only recognized him by voice, but believed without controversy.
On the first night, “Cairo West” was not bombed, but for the rest of the targets they worked out regularly. In the future, "Valiant" made 259 combat missions in 18 group raids, dropping 1962 bombs with a total weight of approx. 940 tons (the main workload was a dozen 1000 pounds). However, the results were rather disappointing - out of seven airfields exposed to raids during the campaign, only four were seriously damaged. Ironically, Cairo West was in the worst condition, but the Egyptians themselves, who feared the Allied airborne assault to seize the capital, carried out the most serious strip detonations. In addition, "Valiant" connected to the defeat of radar, coastal artillery and naval bases. It should be recognized that the low efficiency was not generally the fault of the sufficiently professional bomber crews - it’s just from a technical point of view that it’s not time to hit relatively small targets at high altitudes at night, all the more so considering relatively small numbers of forces (SAK USA such a task would simply plow the area with a crowd of B-47 or B-52B / C).
Not one "Valiant" was damaged, serious anti-aircraft fire (as far as it can be serious for a high-altitude jet bomber) was met only a few times, so in this regard, the effectiveness of high-altitude high-speed bomber as a means of delivering nuclear weapons during that period, before the appearance of an air defense missile system and effective, armed with rocket weapons and powerful radar, interceptors were soon confirmed. However, as the conflict showed, the allies were reinsured a lot - the Egyptians, despite the places, did not provide the best weapons with any significant resistance, and most of the aircraft were killed in the following days by pilots of deck aircraft. It was commonplace that the old piston "Corsairs", who still remembered the Japanese, burned at the airfields more qualitatively advanced MiGs and Elahs.
* - The funny thing is that the British turned out to be an old map, and the road has since been moved to 10 miles from the air base.
** - No, I did not, lied to Eden. On the other hand, largely as a result of the humiliation of the UK following the crisis, he flew out in March of the following year from the premiership and big politics, while Head continued his service.
Literature
Valiant Units of the Cold War
The First Four-Jet Bomber
Presidents in Crisis: Tough Decisions inside the White House
Information