V Bomber - Popular Culture

Popular Culture

• In the 1960 Cold War novel Village of Stars by David Beaty (writing as Paul Stanton), an RAF V-bomber of the fictional Venger type is sent to drop a nuclear bomb on a rebel force in the Middle East. The situation eases before the plane reaches its destination, but the ordnance cannot be defused. While the crew and experts on the ground try to find a solution, the jet cruises across Europe and Africa. Alfred Hitchcock planned to base a Paramount movie on the book, but the project was never realized.

• In the James Bond film Thunderball, Emilio Largo steals the nuclear weapons from an Avro Vulcan. In Fleming's original novel, the aircraft is a fictional Villiers Vindicator.