English Electric Canberra Mk.20 Bomber, Victory in the Pacific – 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, August 2005
The English Electric Canberra is a British first-generation jet-powered medium bomber manufactured in large numbers through the 1950s. The Canberra could fly at a higher altitude than any other bomber through the 1950s and set a world altitude record of 70,310 ft (21,430 m) in 1957. Due to its ability to evade the early jet interceptors and its significant performance advancement over contemporary piston-engined bombers, the Canberra was a popular export product and served with air forces of many nations. In February 1951 a Canberra became the first jet aircraft to make a non-stop transatlantic flight.
In addition to being a tactical nuclear strike aircraft, the Canberra proved to be highly adaptable, serving in varied roles such as tactical bombing and photographic and electronic reconnaissance. Canberras served in the Suez Crisis, the Vietnam War, the Falklands War, the Indo-Pakistani wars, and numerous African conflicts. In several wars, each of the opposing sides had Canberras in their air forces. The Canberra was retired by its first operator, the Royal Air Force (RAF), in June 2006, 57 years after its first flight. Three of the Martin B-57 variant remain in service, performing meteorological work for NASA, as well as providing electronic communication (Battlefield Airborne Communications Node or BACN) testing for deployment to Afghanistan.
In Australia, the Government Aircraft Factory (GAF) built 48 for the Royal Australian Air Force, broadly similar to the British B2 but with a modified leading edge, increased fuel capacity and room for three starter cartridges, although in practice all three cartridges would sometimes fire, leading to the triple starter units being loaded singly.
Shortly after the end of the Second World War, the Australian government began reorganising the armed forces. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) developed Plan "D" for its postwar structure, built around the concept of a small, agile air arm employing leading edge technology. The RAAF decided to acquire the Canberra to replace or complement the Avro Lincoln, though fears were raised that the new design was not especially advanced. While Australia never introduced nuclear weapons into service, the Canberra's ability to carry such a payload was a factor in its acquisition; Australia's planned force of 48 Canberras, with the potential for being nuclear-armed, was viewed as far more potent and deterring than the RAAF's entire wartime forces of 254 heavy bombers. The first Australian-built Canberra first flew on 29 May 1953 at Avalon and was delivered to the RAAF for service trials a few weeks later. The Canberra entered Australian service in December 1953.
From July 1950 to July 1960, during the Malayan Emergency, Canberras from Australia, New Zealand and the UK were deployed into the Malaysia to fight against Communist guerillas. In 1967, the RAAF deployed eight Canberras to the Vietnam War. The unit, No. 2 Squadron, was later commended for its performance by the United States Air Force. The Canberras were typically operated in the low-level bombing role, taking over South Vietnam's southern most military regions III and IV responsibilities allowing USAF bombers to deploy their aircraft to the Ho Chi Minh trail. While USAF Canberras were equipped with .50 caliber machine guns or 20mm cannon for strafing, Australian Canberras were deployed to South Vietnam without guns, hence were deployed strictly for low level bombing missions. Upon their re-deployment from Vietnam in 1971, No. 2 Squadron had flown approximately 12,000 sorties and dropped 76,389 bombs, and lost two of their aircraft to missiles and ground fire during the course of the war.
As early as 1954, Australia recognised that the Canberra was becoming outdated, and evaluated aircraft such as the Avro Vulcan and Handley-Page Victor as potential replacements. The Canberra was incapable of providing adequate coverage of Indonesia from Australian bases, and was evaluated as having a "very low" chance of survival if it encountered modern fighters like the MiG-17. Political pressure for a Canberra replacement rose to a head in 1962. Australia evaluated the BAC TSR-2, Dassault Mirage IV, McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II and North American A-5 Vigilante, and initially appeared to favour the TSR-2, but chose to procure the General Dynamics F-111C in October 1963. Due in part to delays in the delivery of the F-111Cs, the Canberra continued to be used by Australia for a total of 29 years before its retirement in June 1982.
