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Old 25th Mar 2006, 21:47
  #679 (permalink)  
Pontius Navigator
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Were all V-bomber crews commissioned?

I beg to disagree with Forget. It is true that for the major period the crews were all commissioned but I believe that some Valiants initially had NCA.

On my first Vulcan OCU in 1964 we had an ex-90 Sqn AEO who was now retreading to the Vulcan. 90 Sqn had I believe been an ECM Sqn, similar to Badger Js. I suspect that is because it was not nuclear armed and thus did not need commissioned aircrew.

The all officer crew was a political sop to allay fears of the public that nuclear bombs were only entrusted to responsible adults <g>.
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