RAF V-Bomber Bases in the UK

The Cold War book states that dispersal airfields were not equipt to hold weapons, these would have been brought from parent stations or abroad??

Not much use in a nuclear war if parent stations are wiped out, but i guess that it would have been known that in the event there wasn't much hope of the dispersal stations achieving that much, hence the term nuclear 'deterrent', all in all it was just an expensive way of saying we have them too!! so don't try anything buster...lol

kebecker;120760 wrote:

I am assuming that aircraft were dispersed already carrying their weapons? Did the dispersed sites have SSA capability?

All dispersal ac would have been loaded/armed prior to departure. One of the aircrew would then become the weapon custodian after handover from the load team. There would not have been loading/unloading facilities at dispersed sites or, indeed, qualified armourers and support facilities available.

I think that's where the ponds came in, the idea being that if an emergency occurred the weapon could be unloaded (how?) and dumped in the lagoon to render the fuel inert.
Any details on that procedure would be welcomed - it all sounds like the last desperate measures of the nation!

I agree superplum what would have been the point in having V bombers dispersed in the first place if they weren't already armed, you may as well not botherd . If i am correct during the Cuban missile crisis which I remember very well during the week leading up to the final phase the goverment had plenty time to disperse the bombers to make maximum use of getting them airborne in the event of a Soviet attack. This had been well practiced before hand .
Regards ,
Bomber .

The government didn't follow the war book, CD AFS ROC none went to a higher alert state, RHQ etc were not manned the government of the day did not want to alarm the public so only did the minimal actions as the crisis progressed. Thank god it ended when it did, HMG did not carry out its duty to the Nation with that one !!
TED

But Bing Cross* did, by all accounts. (* CinC Bomber Command)

mawganmad;120767 wrote:

I think that's where the ponds came in, the idea being that if an emergency occurred the weapon could be unloaded (how?) and dumped in the lagoon to render the fuel inert.
Any details on that procedure would be welcomed - it all sounds like the last desperate measures of the nation!

There would not have been any emergency unloading procedures or eqpt. As for the "ponds", my guess (!) would be that these would have been related to Blue Steel for emergency draining/jettison of the High Test Peroxide (HTP) but not for the kerosene component: they would have no value in respect of free-fall weapons.

That's it thanks Superplum and Paul, so it was to dump the fuel into not the missile itself.
I believe the lagoon at Mawgan was simply that, not a fancy concrete lined affair, the large depression in the ground was still there when I left in 06, but I wonder if it's filled in now what with CAA level ground requirements.

The HTP offload area at Waddington was adjacent to the ESG block.