Operation GRAPPLE Commemorative Beer Mat

Operation GRAPPLE was the codename given to the trials of Britain's first hydrogen bomb. The RAF's No. 49 Squadron was responsible for the air dropping of the weapon. The first trial took place on 15 May 1957, over Malden Island in the Pacific Ocean.

This beer mat commemorates that first trial. The aircraft which performed the first live drop, Vickers Valiant XD818, is displayed in the Cold War exhibition at the RAF Museum Cosford. The Valiant was the first of the RAF's three strategic nuclear bombers, alongside the Avro Vulcan and the Handley Page Victor, to carry the UK's nuclear deterrent until the Royal Navy brought the Polaris missile into service in 1969.