Nene/Derwent to Uncle Joe

J A Engel, Cold War at 30,000ft.,Harvard UP,2007 explores reciprocal dirty tricks. P.60: Early-Spring,’46 “Curtiss-Wright began negotiations with (KMT China and USSR for) sale of (piston) engines”. They couldn’t try to sell turbines as they then had none. UK did and was broke. UJ was a valiant Ally. UK was trying to demob and advance into the broad sunlit uplands after the War to end all Wars. We did not embark on intercontinental atomic bombers, their transonic defenders, nor fettle away on improving V2. If my name was Chomsky I would explain to you who started the Cold War.

Derwent and Nene came off the secret list early-1946 because we had no enemy. We promptly sold some to proto-fascist Argentina, traded for meat, cos UK wanted to eat. 10 Derwents and 30 Nenes (later more of each) were sold October,1946 to our Uncle, onway, we hoped, to wider trade to channel $-sparse timber and wheat to UK and happy co-existence to USSR. UJ had vacated Bornholm, W.Austria and Vienna without fuss, N.Iran after fuss. Enemy he was not…for UK until 14/4/48 when Cabinet gave Chiefs the Task of slowing him on the N.German Plain. Swift, Hunter, Canberra, V-craft all followed.

It is ahistorical now to criticise naive pols for waiting till 4/48 to re-arm. Their duty was to try hard to co-exist with the Ally who had done most of the dying.

“RAF” did not want Avon in 1946 because it did not work. It was funded into Valiant, 4/48 because the better design teams had already been loaded with Sapphire and Olympus for the definitive Mediums, to be Victor/Vulcan. It did take too long to bring Hunter to the start line, Swift never. RAF/UK and RAFG were equipped with 438 Sabres, airframes paid for by Canada, engines by US. A USAFE Wing of F-86D was stationed Manston, 11/53-5/58; a Wing of RCAF F-86E at N.Luffenham, 11/51-3/55.