(1946–1982) After the war (from 1946–1947) the squadron was re-equipped with Avro Lincolns, converting to the Boeing Washington B.1 in 1951 and then the English Electric Canberra during the Suez Crisis before disbanding on 16 July 1957. Reforming yet again at RAF Waddington on 10 August 1960, as part of RAF Bomber Command's V bomber force maintaining the UK's strategic nuclear deterrent, the squadron was equipped with the Avro Vulcan B.1 before upgrading to the Vulcan B.1A in January 1961. Both types were equipped with various free-fall nuclear weapons. These may have included Blue Danube, US Mk.5 supplied under Project E, Red Beard, Yellow Sun Mk.1, and certainly Yellow Sun Mk.2. After the advent of effective Soviet SAMs forced Bomber Command to reassign V bombers from high-altitude operations to low-level penetration operations, the squadron's Vulcans adopted a mission profile that included a 'pop-up' manoeuvre to 11,000 ft for safe release of Yellow Sun Mk.2. The aircraft was then leveled off at about 10 miles or less from the target. In training this distance tended to creep until the aircraft would have been vulnerable to SAM. A new manoeuvre was developed by the research branch and the Bomber Command Development Unit. This required aircraft to home to a specific point at a distance from the target based on the mark of aircraft and its engines. In the case of No. 44 Squadron with the Vulcan B.1A, this point was some 21,000 yards from the target. The aircraft would then be set in a climb at a specified angle of about 12 degrees for the Mk1a. As the aircraft passed 10,500 feet the bomb would be released. This was crude dead reckoning, and the Mk 1 crews realized that the ballistic computer in the NBC could calculate a much more accurate release point. The crews determined to use the automatic computing. Occasionally in training the pull up was late and the release would occur at a much lower altitude. This risked either a weapon failure or suicide from an early burst. In January 1968 the squadron was re-equipped with eight Vulcan B2 aircraft and eight WE.177B laydown bombs which improved aircraft survivability by enabling aircraft to remain at low-level during weapon release. Following the transfer of responsibility for the nuclear deterrent to the Royal Navy the squadron was reassigned to SACEUR for tactical strike missions. In a high-intensity European war the squadron's