thumb|upright=1.3|A Red Beard weapon on its bomb trolley, fitted with a bomb carrier prior to loading into an [[English Electric Canberra bomber. The two fore and aft vertical plates shown with holes in them were baffles unique to the Canberra installation, designed to reduce airstream buffeting that could tear off the bomb doors. The baffles were made from thick marine plywood, drilled with numerous diameter holes. The tail fins of the bomb are retracted.]]

Red Beard was the first British tactical nuclear weapon. It was carried by Royal Air Force (RAF) English Electric Canberra medium bombers and the V bomber force and by Supermarine Scimitars, de Havilland Sea Vixens, and Blackburn Buccaneers of the Royal Navy's (RN) Fleet Air Arm (FAA). Developed to Operational Requirement OR.1127, it was introduced in 1961, and V-bomber No more than two strike carriers carried the weapon operationally at any one time. In 1962 the Navy calculated the numbers of WE.177 it would require in the 1970s as: 62 to replace Red Beard in the maritime strike role, and 75 as nuclear depth charges.

When HMS Victorious completed her reconstruction in 1958, she had "specially-equipped air-conditioned bomb rooms" designed for carrying nuclear weapons. A strike carrier typically carried five Red Beards, starting with the Victorious, perhaps as early as 1959. When the Buccaneer replaced Scimitar in the strike role, the Buccaneer carried Red Beard in its "rotating bomb bay out of harm's way" so deck landings were possible. though the Sea Vixen never deployed in the nuclear strike role. Clearance for all five strike carriers to launch Scimitar, Sea Vixen and Buccaneer with armed Mark 2 Red Beard had been given by 1963. LABS included "a toss-bombing computer and a Blue Silk Doppler navigation radar".

The Navy perceived Red Beard as a tactical weapon that could be used to destroy a raiding cruiser or to neutralise enemy ports and airfields.

Surviving examples

At the Air Force Museum in Cosford, England, one is displayed on a trolley in front of a bomber. A training version is on display at the Explosion Museum of Naval Firepower.

See also

  • Rainbow Codes

References

Bibliography

  • Leitch, Andy. "V-Force Arsenal: Weapons for the Valiant, Victor and Vulcan". Air Enthusiast No. 107, September/October 2003. pp. 52–59.
  • Red Beard — at skomer.u-net.com
  • Video of Red Beard detonation during 1956 proof tests at Maralinga — at SonicBomb.com
  • Photos of British nuclear tests - includes Red Beard — at NuclearWeaponArchive.org