Canberra: The Greatest Multi-Role Aircraft of the Cold War: 1

Description

An aviation legend designed in the mid-1940s, the Canberra entered service in 1951 with RAF Bomber Command. It served in the conventional, interdictor and nuclear bomber role with the RAF, in the UK, Germany, the Middle East and Far East. Its performance and adaptability made it ideal as a reconnaissance aircraft, and the final version, the Canberra PR9, only finally retired in July 2006! The Canberra was used in many support roles, especially in signals / electronic warfare. The Canberra was adopted by air forces from South America to Africa and India, as well as Australia and New Zealand, and license-built as the Martin B-57 served. It was involved conflicts from the Suez War and Malaya Confrontation, and various other hot spots with the RAF, to the Australian and USAF ops in Vietnam, and even the India-Pakistan War when both sides used Canberras, and the 1982 Falklands War. Used in trials and evaluation the Canberra held various height and speed records, and NASA's High Altitude Research Program WB-57s are still active. The Canberra has also had dedicated enthusiasts, and aircraft (or cockpits) still survive in museums, as well as some in flying condition.

Ken Delve spent over twenty years in the RAF, starting with the Canberra PR.9s of 39 Squadron. As the squadron historian, this led to his first book, 'The Winged Bomb: History of 39 Squadron'. Subsequent tours were the Tornado with IX (B) and II (AC) Squadrons and as an instructor at RAF Finningley. On leaving the RAF, Ken became editor of FlyPast magazine. In June 1996, he was an organizer of 'The Last Great Canberra Party', a reunion of thousands of ex-Canberra personnel. Ken has continued to write, having published some forty books. John Sheehan has been a Canberra enthusiast for many years and has established a reputation for his technical knowledge of the aircraft and its many variants. He has a deep interest in the Canberra and is a keen scale-modeller since an early age, and though he has built mainly Cold War-era subjects, there is no surprise that his main interest lay with the Canberra, as can be seen on his website.