Did You Fly The Vulcan?? (Merged)

[Treble one]

'Inside Out'

I watched the insert in this programme last night, commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Cuban Crisis.

Much to my surprise, there was talk of AC3 being reached. I thought AC3 was essentially a launch to bomb your targets, save for a positive control message at the start line somewhere to the West of Norway? I obviously stand corrected.

Having discussed the AC states with PN and others earlier in the thread, and from reading about the subject, I understood that MacMillan didn't disperse the V Force at AC2 as it would have sent out a bad political signal to Kruschev (i.e attack imminent) which may have meant a pre-emptive Soviet first strike.

So whilst I see the point of having aircraft loaded with live weapons, on a very high state of alert (I have read accounts of RS5 and less, some bombers were crewed and with engines running), the lack of disperal made the force incredibly vulnerable.

I guess the PM was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Follow procedures by the book (disperse) and risk a pre-emptive first strike, or leave the V-Force loaded and ready to go at a high readiness state (although massively vulnerable to the said first strike).

I guess the chosen option was the lesser of the two evils, and would have allowed, with the Thor squadrons, a degree of retaliation if a launch had been detected (I understand a 4 bomber Q scramble would take less than 2 minutes from engines on to final wheels off).

If anyone is interested, Inside out is being repeated next Monday on another local BBC1 channel (if you consult your sky guide I believe the regional channels are in the 960's).