Description
Book SynopsisThe American bomb in Britain tells the story of the strategic nuclear forces deployed to England by the United States, drawing on more than a decade''s worth of research in archives on both sides of the Atlantic. The book begins with the secret installation on two airfields in eastern England, just months after the atomic bombing of Japan, of the infrastructure to support the US atomic strike force for planned attacks on the Soviet Union. It proceeds to examine how Strategic Air Command built up those forces until the coming of the missile age, when the need for forward bomber bases in Britain came to an end. Specific areas of focus include the USAF''s relations with their British hosts, tensions between the American commands, the continuous struggle to develop and safeguard the expanding base network and the losing battle to provide the deployed bomber forces with an adequate air defence.The resulting picture casts an unfavourable light on the British governments of the period, who ar
Trade Review‘The American Bomb in Britain is an impressive achievement and significant contribution to the field. It is highly recommended to academic and public libraries and anyone who has ever reflected on what was actually special about the Anglo-American ‘special relationship.’
H-Diplo, Joseph M. Siracusa, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, December 2016
‘Young’s detailed passages on the intricacies of deploying, bedding down, maintaining, and operating strategic bombers, and how such skilled and famed USAF officers as General Leon Johnson forged and maintained working relationships with RAF and British civil authorities on a day-to-day basis to achieve operational goals are especially informative.’
Steve Agoratus, Hamilton NJ
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Table of ContentsIntroduction
1. Searching for bases
2. Deploying to England
3. Here to stay
4. Rehearsing for war
5. Difficult relations
6. A vulnerable island
7. Defending the strategic force
8. Towards atomic partnership
9. Borrowing the bomb
10. Consenting to nuclear war
11. Strike hard, strike sure...and strike together?
12. The asymmetrical alliance
Index
