General Curtis LeMay was, by his own account, the most hawkish of hawks. On the other side, Kruschev was indeed persuaded that Americans would mistake Cuban missiles for palm trees; and Russian forces (to protect the missile sites) turned out to be far greater than he had expected. Generals always need more troops, sometimes to protect the troops they already have. By contrast the British response to the Crisis was laid-back: RAF nuclear bombers were not sent to their dispersal fields.
The acronym SMIT is invented but the policy it stood for is not: British (and American) nuclear defence was based on the assumption that mounting international tension would allow time to prepare for war. Preparation is one thing; action is another. The survival of Great Britain might well have hinged on whether or not Prime Minister Macmillan was on the road. There was a vital link between his Rolls-Royce and the Automobile Association. All messages to and from Macmillan’s car-phone – cutting-edge technology in those days – went via the AA network, normally used to communicate with its motorcycle patrolmen. If Russia attacked Britain, the AA would find the PM and tell him.
A generation is growing up which did not know the Cold War. They may find it hard to imagine what life was like for aircrew on a Vulcan squadron: endlessly rehearsing the task of penetrating deep into Soviet air defences; knowing by heart the street plans of Russian cities; shaping their lives around the possibility that a scramble order could, at any moment, send them airborne to wipe out those cities, with very little chance of return. Hullo Russia, Goodbye England can convey only a fraction of the flying skills, the high endeavour and the mental strength that the job demanded. The scramble order never came. Nuclear deterrence worked. We should be thankful.
While working on Hullo Russia, Goodbye England, I was fortunate to meet Air Commodore Brian Sills. He flew the Victor nuclear bomber in the period that included the Cuban Missile Crisis; later he was Station Commander at RAF Waddington, where four Vulcan squadrons were based, and he regularly flew that aircraft. His expert advice has been invaluable in helping me to avoid pitfalls and inaccuracies. Any errors that appear are entirely my fault.
About the Author
Derek Robinson read history at Cambridge before working in advertising in London and New York. He has also worked as a broadcaster for radio and television, and was a grassroots rugby referee for thirty years. His novel Goshawk Squadron was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1973.
PRAISE FOR DEREK ROBINSON
“Robinson should be mentioned in the same breath as Mailer, Ballard or Heller. A masterpiece” Express
“Tough, taut prose that pulls you through the book like a steel cable… great” Guardian
“Robinson writes with tireless enthusiasm which never sacrifices detail to pace, or vice versa… terrific” Jennifer Selway, Observer
“Derek Robinson has developed a brand of ‹ripping-yarn› all his own… hard-bitten stuff, anti-Newbolt and anti-Biggles” Times Literary Supplement
“Robinson is a better storyteller than Jeffrey Archer, Ken Follett or Wilbur Smith… His is a rare achievement, difficult to attain and one not much striven for in the current literary output, the creation of poetry in fiction” Tibor Fischer, The Times
“Robinson has a narrative gift that sets up the hackles of involvement. A rare quality” Paul Scott
“Nobody writes about war quite like Derek Robinson. He has a way of carrying you along with the excitement of it all before suddenly disposing of a character with a casual, laconic ruthlessness that is shockingly realistic… As a bonus, he writes of the random, chaotic comedy of war better than anyone since Evelyn Waugh” Mike Petty, The Independent
“If the argument that book reviews sell more books is ever proven, then reviews of Robinson’s books should be posted on every wall, hydrant and lease-expired storefront. They should be free with your breakfast cereal. They should be dropped from planes – for the only purpose of reviewing Robinson’s case is to persuade readers who have yet to pick up a Robinson novel to do so in their millions” Julian Evans, Weekend Post
“Robinson mixes the action with cynicism and hard-bitten humour that has you halfway between tears and laughter. Biggles was never like this” Daily Express
“The descriptions of patrolling and aerial combat are superlatively well done… Stronger tastes will relish the whiff of battiness and brimstone” Times Literary Supplement
Novels by Derek Robinson
Goshawk Squadron
Hornet’s Sting
War Story
Piece of Cake
A Good Clean Fight
Damned Good Show
(Hullo Russia, Goodbye England)
The Eldorado Network
Artillery of Lies
Red Rag Blues
Operation Bamboozle
Kentucky Blues
Kramer’s War
Rotten with Honour
Invasion 1940
* Available from MacLehose Press from 2012
* * Available in ebook from Quercus Editions Ltd
Copyright
First published in Great Britain in 2008 by Whistle Books
This edition published in 2012 by
MacLehose Press
an imprint of Quercus
55 Baker Street
7th Floor, South Block
London W1U 8EW
Copyright © Derek Robinson 2008
The moral right of Derek Robinson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording,or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Ebook ISBN 978 0 85705 092 2
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.