British Nuclear Weapons info

13 Sep 2013 18:39 #51 by Smoggieboy

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13 Sep 2013 19:12 #52 by canberra
Replied by canberra on topic British Nuclear Weapons info
According to wiki (so it must be true!), the Vulcan squadrons had 8 aircraft and were scaled for only 8 WE177s. However Tornado squadrons had 12 aircraft, but were scaled for 18 bombs ie 1.5 per aircraft. Anyone know what the scales were for the various aircraft?

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28 Sep 2013 10:33 #53 by kebecker
Replied by kebecker on topic British Nuclear Weapons info
Yellow sun practice round at Newark

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Trolley instruction plate

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28 Sep 2013 12:52 #54 by PETERTHEEATER
Replied by PETERTHEEATER on topic British Nuclear Weapons info
Wot? No tail unit?

Unlike BD, the flat high drag nose of YS enabled a fuel tank to be carried in the front part of the aircraft bomb bay (Victor) resulting in extended range. I can't recall this on the Valiant although it also could carry YS. Both BD and YS were loaded only on Station 3 a single round only being possible.

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25 May 2022 09:06 #55 by netcompsys
Replied by netcompsys on topic British Nuclear Weapons info

Ok
For completeness Uk Nuclear bomb casings.
Casings were retained to simplify handling equipment & aircraft attatchment.

First Blue Danube
A proven drop shape based on Barnes Wallis's work.
An accurate weapon but very fast fall speed which did not give the delivery aircraft much time to get clear.
The large casing was required to contain early core designs.

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Second Red Beard
A smalled diameter casing suitable for use on smaller aircraft
This casing was used with several physics cores both Uk made & USA loan.

[IMG]/community/68467=4088-red beard.jpg[/img]

Third Yellow Sun
Used with several cores from large 400Kt bombs (the ones with ball bearings in them for safety)
Later deployed with US designed Mk28 thermonuclear device and others.
The flat nose was a British feature which did away with the parachutes to slow the fall of the bomb.
Descriptions from Orfordness say the bomb "rumbled" as it fell.

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For interest a concrete core which must have been used for drop testing.
Notice 32 fuse pockets.
No real scale but about the correct size for an Orange Herald core.

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Final weapon was WE177 which used different cores.


As seen on display outside at Sywell Aviation Museum last month

kevin

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26 May 2022 06:21 #56 by PETERTHEEATER
Replied by PETERTHEEATER on topic British Nuclear Weapons info
The 'Red Beard' is cradled and transported on a Type 'J' Trolley. Must be a rare item now. The trolley was quite intricate and certainly not intended to spend much time outdoors.It actually had suspension to cushion the load.

Yellow Sun, having a flat nose was always carried on Station 3 in Victor/Valiant which conveniently left space in front or an extended range fuel tank although I should think that might be fitted only for ferry role since it would change the airlow characteristics of the bomb bay with doors open in flight. The ball-bearing safety mass mentioned caused or than one comical release during pre-loading :lol: The trolley is a Standard Airfield Bomb Transporter (SABT) used or YS and BD but in conventional role carried bombs for all three V Bombers.

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