You're right. It wasn't just the strategic aircraft either. When I
entered training for the F-105, the airplanes were still polished bare
metal. The nuclear weapon of choice was the B-28 or B-43, each of them
rated at 1 MT. Deliveries were usually programmed for some sort of low
altitude low-angle toss with a wing-over escape maneuver to run away
at about 135 degrees from original run-in heading.

The TBC (Toss Bomb Computer) settings for the weapon, airspeed,
altitude, etc. included calculation for safe separation from the
blast. When the aircraft were painted in camo for the SEA war, the
entire nuclear delivery manual had to be re-calculated, because the
dark paint absorbed the flash much more than the reflective bare
metal. Greater safe separation distance was required.

Frankly that scared the hell out of me. Hard to realize the whole
business was calculated to such close tolerances.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (ret)
***"When Thunder Rolled:
*** An F-105 Pilot Over N. Vietnam"
*** from Smithsonian Books
ISBN: 1588341038



Seems like the RAF "V" bombers were all white and so was the B-1A.