Short Vanguard
4th V-Bomber with Deep Purple

By the end of WW2 Britain was heavily involved in U.S. weaponry research, including the Manhattan Project, therefore "The British Bomb" seemed just a matter of time. However it is not enough just to have the bomb, there must be means of delivery that Britain lacked; Lancasters and Lincolns did not have the range and imminent death of piston propulsion for strategic bombers seemed obvious. Americans suggested a share in Convair B-36 development that was rejected because there was already a programme in Britain that eventually resolved into civilized Bristol Brabazon airliner. Flying Wing scheme was the area of particular interest for British aircraft designers however all proposals of cooperation with Jack Northrop had been rejected. The only outcome from these talk was his reluctant agreement to transfer all the documentation for German Arado E.555 project obtained when its design bureau was captured by the allies in the spring of 1945. These documents were not of particular interest for Northrop, who thought that his studies of Flying Wing scheme were far more advanced, but the British have obtained a practical design that had satisfied most of the requirements for future strategic bomber. Short Brothers were awarded a contract to adopt the design to British Rolls Royce Stour engine - a derivative of Nene that was developed in parallel with Avon. Stours had much better characteristics than German BMW 018, therefore the number of engines were reduced from six to four. Engines were moved from pylons above the centre section inside the lifting body that seriously reduced the drag and improved mass balance. As a result the design promised the speed exceeding 600 MPh and range over 4500 miles - outstanding characteristics that exceeded all existing aircraft of its time. The defense armament included two remotely controlled cannons in nacelles under each of wide spread fins.

The bomb bay was large enough to accommodate "The Deep Purple" - early British plutonium bomb design which name became wide known only after an unknown guy Ritchie Blackmore had found a rock band in 1968.

The first prototype of Short Vanguard, as the new plane was named, had competed its maiden flight in January 1946 when it become evident that with capitulation of Japan and the end of WW2 the "special" relationship between U.S. and U.K, are no longer that "special" and the Americans were not eager to share nuclear secrets with British. "Deep Purple" programme had morphed into "Blue Danube" - much larger weapon that no longer fitted into Vanguard's bomb bay. One year later in January 1947 B.35/46 specification was issued by the Air Ministry that had effectively marked the end of Short Vanguard as a strategic weapon platform, after the first flight of Valiant in 1951 the order for 25 Vanguards was cancelled with only five airframes delivered. There were attempts to reassign Vanguard to the roles of front line bomber or maritime reconnaissance and patrol however these niches were already taken by Canberra and Shackleton respectively. The built airplanes were offered to Australia and ferried to Fiji with their upper sides repainted from 'atomic' white to camouflage, however by 1957 all the remaining planes were scrapped.

Despite its outstanding performance characteristics the Vanguard was a failure, although many researchers agree that the main cause of its demise was its German roots, as many in Air ministry believed that 'the British bomb must be dropped from the British bomber'.