The Canberra’s first participation in a UK air defence exercise led to wildly different claims in the press about how the bomber and defending fighters had performed. Read here the informative article from the October 24, 1952 issue of The Aeroplane on this landmark exercise
In the early 1950s the RAF was concerned about the threat of high-flying bombers and so while the then new Canberra was impressive in this regard, it also provided an excellent target to practise against. Consequently, the RAF was able to see how capable its fighter force was, or not, from this 1952 exercise.