Launch Pad UK: Britain and the Cuban Missile Crisis
For most British people the weekend of 27/28 October 1962 could so very easily have been their last weekend on earth, yet astonishingly the fact that Britain's nuclear deterrent forces went to an unprecedented level of readiness was kept secret from the public. Thor nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles stood on a round-the-clock wartime state of alert ready to be fired, these were the 'other' missiles of the Cuban Missile Crisis, which made Britain, in effect, America's launch pad. During the height of the crisis both RAF Bomber Command and the US Strategic Air Command were poised at the highest states of readiness. Both were ordered to a level of war readiness unparalleled throughout the whole of the forty years of Cold War. There is evidence to suggest that had the US needed to launch an air strike against Russian missiles in Cuba, President Kennedy might have been willing to absorb a Soviet nuclear assault on a NATO ally without retaliation, if it would have avoided escalation to World War Three. It is sobering to those who lived through that period that, the British Ambassador to Cuba commented: 'If it was a nuclear war we were headed for, Cuba was perhaps a better place to be than Britain!'
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Launch Pad UK: Britain and the Cuban Missile Crisis
For most British people the weekend of 27/28 October 1962 could so very easily have been their last weekend on earth, yet astonishingly the fact that Britain's nuclear deterrent forces went to an unprecedented level of readiness was kept secret from the public. Thor nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles stood on a round-the-clock wartime state of alert ready to be fired, these were the 'other' missiles of the Cuban Missile Crisis, which made Britain, in effect, America's launch pad. During the height of the crisis both RAF Bomber Command and the US Strategic Air Command were poised at the highest states of readiness. Both were ordered to a level of war readiness unparalleled throughout the whole of the forty years of Cold War. There is evidence to suggest that had the US needed to launch an air strike against Russian missiles in Cuba, President Kennedy might have been willing to absorb a Soviet nuclear assault on a NATO ally without retaliation, if it would have avoided escalation to World War Three. It is sobering to those who lived through that period that, the British Ambassador to Cuba commented: 'If it was a nuclear war we were headed for, Cuba was perhaps a better place to be than Britain!'
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Launch Pad UK: Britain and the Cuban Missile Crisis

Launch Pad UK: Britain and the Cuban Missile Crisis

by Jim Wilson
Launch Pad UK: Britain and the Cuban Missile Crisis
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Launch Pad UK: Britain and the Cuban Missile Crisis

Launch Pad UK: Britain and the Cuban Missile Crisis

by Jim Wilson

Overview

For most British people the weekend of 27/28 October 1962 could so very easily have been their last weekend on earth, yet astonishingly the fact that Britain's nuclear deterrent forces went to an unprecedented level of readiness was kept secret from the public. Thor nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles stood on a round-the-clock wartime state of alert ready to be fired, these were the 'other' missiles of the Cuban Missile Crisis, which made Britain, in effect, America's launch pad. During the height of the crisis both RAF Bomber Command and the US Strategic Air Command were poised at the highest states of readiness. Both were ordered to a level of war readiness unparalleled throughout the whole of the forty years of Cold War. There is evidence to suggest that had the US needed to launch an air strike against Russian missiles in Cuba, President Kennedy might have been willing to absorb a Soviet nuclear assault on a NATO ally without retaliation, if it would have avoided escalation to World War Three. It is sobering to those who lived through that period that, the British Ambassador to Cuba commented: 'If it was a nuclear war we were headed for, Cuba was perhaps a better place to be than Britain!'

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781781599167
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books Limited
Publication date: 04/20/2009
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 208
File size: 27 MB
Note: This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Journalist Jim Wilson has many years experience reporting crime in Scotland. He works for the Sunday Mail.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements vi

Chapter 1 Britain at the Brink 1

Chapter 2 Deterrent or Danger? 9

Chapter 3 Days of Tension 17

Chapter 4 The Missile Era 21

Chapter 5 Race into Space 29

Chapter 6 'Snooping' to Survive 39

Chapter 7 Project Emily 47

Chapter 8 The Thor Squadrons 69

Chapter 9 War-ready, 24/7 87

Chapter 10 Rural Convoys 105

Chapter 11 Quick Reaction Alert 111

Chapter 12 A Heartbeat from Armageddon 123

Chapter 13 Minutes to Launch 145

Chapter 14 Political Cover-up? 163

Chapter 15 Thor Disbanded 173

Chapter 16 A Story- of Firsts 179

Appendix 1 Thor Technical Specifications 181

Appendix 2 Thor Squadrons 183

Bibliography 187

Index 189

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