Almost one year later I have read a file which may may be of relevance. It appears that in the late 1940s we decided to create a strategic reserve of chemical weapons consisting of 10,000 newly manufactured E2 bombs weighing 1,000 lb loaded weight.
Some of the older bombs would not fit in the Canberra and other jets due to misplaced shackles and shapes. The fillings for these units would be phosgene and mustard gas decanted from older weapons which would be dumped.
It was also intended to use the Tabun nerve gas standing in 250Kg bombs which we inherited from the Germans at the end of WW11. These were standing on the runway at RAF Llandwrog. They were unusable because the shackles were not compatible with British aircraft without converting them at an estimated cost of £2,460,000.
It was decided to leave them in the current German bombs as storage until needed to be decanted into the new E2 bombs.
Last edited by ColinB; 29th Jan 2012 at 19:18.
Reason: typo