Strategic Air Command in the United Kingdom

The original bases in East Anglia were considered inadequate for the deployment of the forces called for in the Offtackle war plan, and there were concerns that they were exposed to a surprise attack from the North Sea. New bases were developed at RAF Brize Norton, RAF Upper Heyford, RAF Fairford and RAF Greenham Common were therefore developed as bases, which began to be used in 1952. The bases were initially manned by the RAF, were handed over to the USAF in 1951. They continued to be known as RAF stations, and the Royal Air Force Ensign was flown alongside the flag of the United States. The B-29 groups on the UK and the depot at RAF Burtonwood were placed under the 3rd Air Division. It became the Third Air Force in 1951, and SAC activated the 7th Air Division to control SAC forces in the UK.


In 1953 the propeller-driven B-29s and B-50s were replaced with Boeing B-47 Stratojet deployments to English bases. These temporary duty postings (TDY) typically involved an entire wing of 45 B-47s, along with 20 Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighter aerial refuelling tankers, which were held at readiness at an English base for ninety days. In 1958 TDY postings were replaced by a new system of overseas deployments called Reflex. A permanent SAC presence was established, with a SAC airbase group permanently assigned to each base, and the ninety-day deployments were replaced by twenty-one day deployments of two or three aircraft and crews. These aircraft were kept on full alert status for two weeks, which meant bombers and tankers were on the runway, fuelled and armed with a Mark 39 nuclear bomb, and ready to take off at 15 minutes notice. SAC B-47s in the UK were on alert during the Berlin Crisis of 1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis, as were Thor missiles manned by RAF units, but with the warheads in the custody of SAC officers who controlled their launch through a dual key system.


With the introduction of intercontinental ballistic missiles and long-range Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers, SAC no longer required bases in the UK, and Reflex deployments ceased in 1965, but SAC bombers continued to visit, and the UK was used by the Lockheed U-2 and Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft. SAC Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker and McDonnell Douglas KC-10 Extender tankers based in the UK supported the abortive 1980 hostage rescue attempt in Iran and the 1986 United States bombing of Libya, and in 1991 joined B-52 bombers temporarily based in the UK to conduct bombing in Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

Cooperation with the RAF[edit]

Anglo-American nuclear cooperation soon grew beyond basing.^[92] Planners from the United States, Britain and Canada met in Washington, DC, from 12 to 21 April 1948, and they drew up an outline emergency war plan called Halfmoon.^[93] A second round of planning conferences with British and Canadian representatives from 26 September to 4 October 1949 was called to discuss Offtackle.^[94] To protect the airbases in Britain, the USAF deployed the 49th Air Division in the UK under the Third Air Force from 1952 to 1956. Its North American B-45 Tornado bombers based at RAF Sculthorpe and Republic F-84 Thunderjet fighter-bombers based at RAF Wethersfield were equipped with nuclear weapons and given the task of neutralising Soviet airbases that could threaten the UK.^[95]


The RAF started to acquire its own nuclear weapons, and these were supplemented with US nuclear weapons acquired under Project E. When Air Chief Marshal Sir George Mills took charge of RAF Bomber Command in 1955, he was given the mission of attacking the Soviet airfields; the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshall Sir William Dickson justified the number of V-bombers on order on the basis that 150 needed to be neutralised. Mills argued that in view of the devastation that thermonuclear weapons could cause in the UK, that this was insufficient, and that policy needed to switch to one of deterrence. Instead of targeting airfields, the RAF should target the civilian population. Thus, the RAF and USAF were operating under different doctrines, but the value of coordinating strategic air forces in reducing expense and duplication was recognised.^[96]


A conference codenamed "Encircle" was held in London from 15 to 17 August 1956 to discuss a joint plan. The British delegate was headed by the Deputy Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Geoffrey Tuttle; the American by the USAF Director of Plans, Major General Richard C. Lindsay. The British were concerned to retain their independence in the event that the UK became involved in a nuclear war without the United States, and the Americans adopted a conciliatory tone. Despite Anglo-American relations falling to a low ebb due to the Suez Crisis, further talks were held in December.^[97] The next meeting took place in Washington, DC, on 21 May 1957. The USAF position was that since it was supplying the weapons, it could determine the arrangements under which they could be used, which included targeting. The British sought to decouple targeting from supply, and insisted that targets had to be approved by the British government. In the end, the US agreed to supply plenty of nuclear weapons, and the RAF became resigned to playing a subordinate role.^[98]


The Commander in Chief of RAF Bomber Command, Air Chief Marshal Sir Harry Broadhurst met with Lieutenant General Thomas S. Power, who had succeeded Le May as the head of SAC, and the two agreed on a joint targeting plan for the year ending 30 June 1959. This allotted 106 targets to the RAF, of which 69 were cities, 17 were airbases and 20 were air defence sites. By 1962, the RAF target list contained 48 cities, 6 air defence sites and 3 air bases. This was adjusted the following year to 16 cities, 44 airbases, 10 air defence sites and 28 intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) sites, in line with the enunciated policy the new US Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, of not targeting cities. ^[99]