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

Author(s): Ken Delve and John Sheehan

ISBN: 9781781558744
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With a 50-year career record from the Suez and Vietnam War, the versatile, unique and popular Canberra became an aviation legend.
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  • The Canberra introduced the RAF to the era of jet bombers

  • It was adopted by air forces from South America, India, Australia, New Zealand and the US as the Martin B-57

  • Beautifully illustrated with many rare and unpublished photographs

  • Of interest to aviation and military historians, modellers, gamers and flight simulator enthusiasts


    An aviation legend designed in the mid-1940s, the English Electric Canberra entered service in 1951 with RAF Bomber Command. It served in the conventional, interdictor and nuclear bomber role with the RAF, Germany, the Middle East and the Far East.

    Its performance and adaptability made it ideal as a reconnaissance aircraft and the final version, the Canberra PR.9, 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 licence-built as the Martin B-57. It was involved in conflicts from the Suez Crisis and the Malayan Emergency, and various other hot spots with the RAF, to the Australian and USAF ops in Vietnam, and even the Indo–Pakistani 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 is beloved by many dedicated enthusiasts and aircraft (or cockpits) still survive in museums, as well as some in flying condition.


    BOOK ISBN 9781781558744
    FORMAT 248 x 172 mm
    BINDING Hardback
    PAGES 528 pages
    PUBLICATION DATE 30 May 2022
    TERRITORY World
    ILLUSTRATIONS 404 black-and-white and 52 colour images

     

     





    Ken Delve qualified as a navigator in 1977. He joined 39 (PR) Squadron for a first tour that lasted over five years and established his affection for the Canberra PR.9 (and dislike of the Canberra T.4). Subsequent flying tours included the Tornado GR.1 (IX Sqn) and GR.1A (II Sqn), as well as an instructional tour with No. 6 FTS. Having written his first book on the history of 39 Squadron in the early 1980s, he has since written some fifty books and hundreds of articles. Post-RAF, he was editor of FlyPast magazine and editor-in-chief at Key Publishing for nearly ten years. He is a trustee of the RAF Heraldry Trust and a volunteer at the RAF Marham Aviation Heritage Centre.

    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.

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