To counter the threat from a Soviet "blue water" navy, a large investment was made in the years from 1945 until the 1960s to develop maritime patrol aircraft. For years the Air Staff and the ministries argued over what type should replace the Shackleton, including variants of the Vulcan, the Britannia, VC10 and Trident, before one man strode into the MoD building in 1964, settling the argument with what became Nimrod. To seek and destroy Soviet submarines, Shackletons and Nimrods carried many advanced weapons and sensors, but also played a role in saving lives at sea. Then, after forty years' service, the Nimrods were withdrawn without replacement after one of the most expensive procurement disasters. Chris Gibson examines the post-war genesis of the RAF's maritime patrol aircraft, a process that led to Nimrod. From the last flying boats, attempts to improve then replace the Shackleton and ultimately the Nimrod itself, Gibson provides a fascinating insight into the aircraft, weapons and sensors developed to counter the Soviet submarine threat. "It’s not often you get a history of an aircraft chock full of all its competitors, let alone all the political machinations that went into making decisions that would impact a program’s capability. Chris Gibson was able to weave in a tremendous amount of data and still manage to provide a compelling story." (Frank Landrus IPMS/USA 2015-06-15) To counter the threat from a Soviet "blue water" navy, a large investment was made in the years from 1945 until the 1960s to develop maritime patrol aircraft. For years the Air Staff and the ministries argued over what type should replace the Shackleton, including variants of the Vulcan, the Britannia, VC10 and Trident, before one man strode into the MoD building in 1964, settling the argument with what became Nimrod. To seek and destroy Soviet submarines, Shackletons and Nimrods carried many advanced weapons and sensors, but also played a role in saving lives at sea. Then, after forty years' service, the Nimrods were withdrawn without replacement after one of the most expensive procurement disasters. Chris Gibson examines the post-war genesis of the RAF's maritime patrol aircraft, a process that led to Nimrod. From the last flying boats, attempts to improve then replace the Shackleton and ultimately the Nimrod itself, Gibson provides a fascinating insight into the aircraft, weapons and sensors developed to counter the Soviet submarine threat. In 1978 his interest in aircraft took Chris Gibson into the Royal Observer Corps where he represented his group, area and country in aircraft recognition competitions between 1980 and 1991. On the standing down of the ROC in 1991, Chris began researching historical aviation and has written several books on un-built projects, particularly guided weapons.