"Hellishly expensive to operate, limited range and very dependent on tanker support"
Operational capability always comes at a price; un-refuelled range - not much less than a Vulcan following the same (Hi-Lo-Lo-Hi) profile - therefore no more limited in capability when operating from a Western European base and only very dependent on tanker support when operating in the SAC regime from USA bases. And at least it would have been tanker compatible (albeit from cooperative USAFE assets), whereas the Vulcan (in the timeframe under discussion) wasn't AAR current/capable. (moreover, all the crew had escape facilities!!!!)
Last edited by Downwind.Maddl-Land; 16th Mar 2020 at 14:15.