“I should like to pay tribute to the way in which the officers and men concerned at all levels in the Royal Air Force have discharged their arduous responsibilities for the last twelve years, and to express full confidence in their successors in the Royal Navy.”
With that statement in a written Parliamentary answer, Secretary of State for Defence Denis Healey confirmed that, on 30 June 1969, the RAF’s ‘V-bombers’ had relinquished responsibility for the UK’s contribution to NATO’s strategic nuclear deterrent forces. Now the task was assumed by the Royal Navy’s new Polaris submarines. “It is no longer necessary to keep aircraft of the ‘V-Bomber’ force at immediate readiness”, said Healey. “Apart from those aircraft which have replaced the Canberras in the strike role in support of CENTO [the Central Treaty Organization], the Vulcan aircraft remain assigned to NATO, but will now be available for operations in the tactical role.”
The transition being a gradual one, that day had been coming, and known about, for some time. Major changes had swept through the ‘V-Force’ during the 1960s, of which this was only the latest. But in no way could it be viewed as a retrograde step, for while the strategic deterrent role had br…
