As I understand it, I think I was told here on PRUNE, no British V Bomber ever took off or landed in the UK with a live weapon aboard.
If that is not the case, forget the rest of this post.
There is an inherent danger of accident every time an aircraft takes off and lands, this is increased when taking off and landing at unfamiliar locations I think we can all agree.
So where I am going to is that besides giving a message to the Warsaw Pact that the UK was getting ready to go to war, there was a danger when dispersing the V Force that there could be an accident involving a weapon either at the dispersal airfield or on return to the main base. Not an outcome that would be desired...
Of course if Dispersal had been ordered and actioned, for the Diplomats to then defuse the situation, what was the SOP?
Brings up a number of logistical and security nightmares.
Just interested if anyone knew.