Sixties UK RAF V Bomber watches ID?

Hi Team OF,
I saw this video from the sixties on the UK V bomber force. With a MAD deterrent and a four-minute warning every second counts so no surprise a few watches feature - interested if anyone can ID them?
I was lucky enough to look around XH588 a few years back and the flash screens bring home its original and terrible purpose. Lucky the only time the Vulcan flew in anger was only dropping 1000 Ib bombs .. but it was a 15 hour / 6600-mile round trip.

Look at Life - Thunder in Waiting - Vulcan Bomber - 1960 - YouTube


Also the airborne crew shot is very 1965 James Bond Thunderball… but no sign of a Navitimer on the vid.

26/11/22…..added an RAF strap photo

05/09/21.... I saw the vid link was broken .... updated here:-



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Bond Thunderball version....

Anyone has visited a Vulcan cockpit knows that that with the two pilots in there there is no room for a camera bigger than a Go-Pro. Navigators are in a separate cabin known as "the coal-hole".

And only two ejector seats - tough times

The Thunderball version is a heavily modified Valiant interior.

Think the top picture is a MOD redialed Longines 6B/159. Maybe not exactly the dial shown but similar.



OK here’s a better version…

Yes that looks a good match, thanks, I am not so familiar with the 6B/159 post WW2. I know the air ministry up issued its ref guide in 1966. I don’t know if anyone has a copy. That might help. I thought the second shot (flying officer in the radar room) also looked like a 6B/159) not sure about the crew watch. @tapaptpat any thoughts?
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@w154 thanks again. Also looks like it is on a BONKLIP strap (taken from af0210strap.com)
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Bump in case anyone has 112G-0800-1

Looks like for Vulcans Seiko also featured heavily in the late seventies / eighties.

Having done the bombers ...fighters to follow with cracking wrist shots :0)

I saw the initial video link was broken so I have updated that in my OP.... I also now think I have a copy of 112G-0800-1.... fighters and an update on the info to follow (at some point :0)

So I came across another cracking YouTube archive film from 1961 - high encounter which covers a long distance Vickers Valiant flight from UK to Cape Town. I am not so familiar with the Valiant but the plastic model picture I borrowed from the inter web covers the cockpit layout.
It seems shocking now that like the other V bombers there is no ejection system for the three rear crew. I did read of one pilot who chose to stay with the plane rather to the bitter end than abandon the crew to their fate (terrible choice to be forced on anyone). From this film there are glimpses of a few watches and time / navigation are critical for the in flight re- fuelling rendezvous. When the pilot wing commander is given a time check he is straight on his wristwatch / not checking the instrument panel. Sadly there is no close up for his watch. Lastly I noted the pilot and Navigator appear to keep their bone domes on for the duration but the rear crew stick with the bump / coms flying cap and only suit up fully for take off and landing. Might be related to their lack of an ejection option.

Edit 26/11/22 - The YouTube link is broken but the film is not lost. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060021590
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Vulcan was flown in anger only once, 1982.
Story goes they actually missed there intended target. Runway at Stanley so Harriers ended up doing the job a few days later.
Very imposing in the sky with noise and all but once had a Lancaster fly about 2/300 feet over my house. Amazing sound and presence.
20+ years in the military did some stuff but that Lancaster fly over was special.
Happy to hear the Vulcan didn’t miss if someone knows different

I think the balance of information is that at least one bomb hit. There is a wider question about the effectiveness of the raid and to what degree it curtailed enemy operations. The psychology impact was probably the more important which may have impacted planning and aircraft deployment - by raising a risk that the mainland could be targeted / long distance bombing could happen to other targets on the Islands etc. Also a morale booster for the occupied islanders.

Report from just after the war:-
The first task was to carry out a reconnaissance of the airfield and, in spite of it being a gigantic prisoner-of-war compound, this was started on 17 June. There was a single large crater on the runway caused by a 1000lb bomb dropped by an RAF Vulcan, as well as other smaller craters and hundreds of scabs caused by rockets and cannon fire. A plan was devised to repair the northern half of the runway first, thus avoiding the Vulcan crater in order that Hercules could land as early as possible. The craters had already been filled by the Argentines and work was limited to cutting out soft patches and heaved pavement areas around the craters and filling with waste from the old quarry. In addition, the asphalt surface was cut back to a size to accommodate aluminium panels left behind by the Argentines which provided a good surface. The northern half of the runway was repaired in three days and the first Hercules landed on 24 June right on schedule. The remaining repairs to the airport runway, including the large Vulcan crater, took longer but all emergency repairs were completed by the end of June.

A few comments.

The RAF’s ‘V-Force’ was designed to carry the nuclear deterrent - thus post-WWII, in the 1950s and 1960s. It was replaced in 1968 by the Polaris submarines of the Royal Navy.

There were three aircraft types in the V-Force (built by three different companies in the still-large UK aviation industry): the Vickers Valiant, Avro Vulcan and Handley Page Victor. Each of those had a cockpit which included two pilots (who had ejector seats - unlike the three ‘rearcrew’, as Omegafanman explains). The original design of the Vulcan was for one pilot - and then it was changed to squeeze two in! The cockpit of the Victor (for example) was considerably larger - roomy in comparison with the Vulcan.

The 1982 ultra-long-range missions carried out by the RAF to bomb the airfield at Port Stanley (in the Falklands) were known as ‘Black Buck’. There were a total of 7 Black Buck raids - each involving several in-flight refuelling sessions from many Victor aircraft (now converted from being a bomber into a tanker). An amazing story, fortunately now well-documented.

Returning to the watches of V-Force crews, AFAIK there were no special issues of watches. The RAF stores had many aircrew watches, of various types, made by different manufacturers and of varying age. The RAF also had watchmakers who would service the aircrew watches - so if a watch was defective it would be exchanged at the RAF stores for a replacement - watches were generally not returned to the manufacturer for service. There were over 300 V-bombers and therefore thousands of flight crew - and thus thousands of watches, of many different types/manufacturers (as described). Furthermore, aircrew on all the other various types of RAF aircraft were issued with the same watches.

The BBC has a couple of great films on the V bomber era available on You Tube. There was one quote that really stood out for me. From a Squadron Leader based in Lincolnshire. He told his wife that if she should ever here the Squadron take off in anger she should stick the kids in the car and head for Scotland, Just go as far North as you can get. The Russinas have less targets up there.
The film is called V Force Cold War Hot Jets parts 1 & 2 may not be on You Tube but is on BBC iplayer

I saw a Lightning at the Biggin Hill airshow. Th pilot took it down the runway at near 0 feet. Half way down he turned on the after burner and pointed it up, went up near vertical with a tremendous noise. The sheer power and noise was earth shattering. They were designed to quick intercept Russian invaders. Could get to the edge of UK airspace in the shortest possible time, intercept, release missiles if needed and then just about fly back to base as the fuel usage was sheer gas guzzling.

Awesome machine.

Speaking of 1965 "Thunderball" , wasn't the French NATO exchange co-pilot in the Avro Vulcan bomber wearing a Breitling pilot wrist watch ?
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