The West was stunned when the Soviet Union dropped its first atomic bomb in August 1949.
In the wake of the Second World War, funding for the RAF had fallen away dramatically but now there was an urgent need for new jet fighters to meet the threat of Russian bombers head-on.
Britain’s top aircraft manufacturers, including Hawker, English Electric, Fairey, Vickers Supermarine, De Havilland, Armstrong Whitworth and Saunders-Roe, set to work on designing powerful supersonic aircraft with all-new guided missile systems capable of meeting a Soviet assault head-on and shooting down enemy aircraft before they could unleash a devastating nuclear firestorm on British soil.
Featuring a host of new artwork and aircraft profiles plus dozens of previously unseen contemporary images, RAF: Secret Jets of Cold War Britain looks at the innovative and sometimes outrageous aircraft projects that resulted.
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