Quote:
Originally Posted by Pierre
Maybe they should have then.
Once we moved to submarine launched, and land based ICBMs they pretty much became obsolete, bombers may have been held in reserve. But considering that NATO is not a first strike organisation any deployment would be in response to an attack and the world would probably be an inferno before they got airborne let alone over a target.
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In the mid-70s and early 80s, I used to monitor/track Sov TU-95 Bears and TU-22 Backfires running simulated attacks on Europe and Continental U.S. - the consensus was these were Nuke runs, not conventional…
Also, 17 Squadron at RAF Bruggen (Phantoms, then Jaguars, then Tornados) carried Nuclear Bombs in the 70s, 80s, and 90s.
So, if the Brits, the Americans, and the Russians were all planning to use Aircraft to deliver "Buckets of Instant Sunshine/Unscheduled Sunrises" in the 70s, 80s, & 90s, I would posit your initial proposition is counterfactual…