88 RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION BOMBERS
(^19182018) HANDLEY PAGE VICTOR
HANDLEY PAGE
VICTORVICTOR
1958 TO 1993
Above
Built as a B.2 in 1962,
XL512 was converted
to a K.2 in 1976.
During the last days of
Lightning operational
fl ying, it tanked F.6
XR728 in May 1988 for
the benefi t of the press.
The Victor was scrapped
in 1994; the Lightning
lives on, preserved at
Bruntingthorpe.
KEY-DUNCAN CUBITT
F
aster, higher, further, greater
weapon load, longer life, veteran
of two wars. These, and others,
are the attributes the Victor holds over
its comrade the Vulcan. Yet it is always
the delta-winged V-bombers that gets
the plaudits.
The Victor programme did not have
a good start. The prototype, which
first flew on Christmas Eve 1952,
suffered a structural failure on July 14,
1954, killing all four on board. The
second example, WB775, entered
flight test on September 11 that year
and Handley Page went all out to
return some pace to the programme.
The first production B.1, XA917,
had its maiden flight on January
30, 1956. Mk.1s were powered by
11,050lb st (49.15kN) Armstrong
Siddeley Sapphire 200 series turbojets.
The following year, XA917 hit the
headlines, for good reasons. John
Allam was flying a routine sortie
testing the longitudinal stability and
the Victor entered a shallow dive. The
signature double boom of the ‘sound
barrier’ being broken was heard over a
wide area.
Handley Page put out a press release
the following week, keen to make
the most of its supersonic V-bomber
and score more than a few points
over its rival, Avro. John was quoted
as having had his attention diverted
momentarily at above 40,000ft
(12,192m) when he noticed the
Mach meter had reached the magic
‘1’ with a true airspeed of about
675mph (1,086km/h). He said that
it: “behaved in its customary stable
manner”.
Victor XA917 was the largest
aircraft at the time to have gone
supersonic and much was made of
flight test observer Paul Langston,
seated in the navigator’s position, as
the first man to travel at Mach one
backwards!
John and Frank ‘Spud’ Murphy
demonstrated the eighth production
Victor B.1, XA930, at the 1958
Farnborough airshow in September
- The pair had been perfecting
rolls off the top to highlight the big
aircraft’s agility. The first operational
B.1 unit was 10 Squadron at
Cottesmore in January 1958.
TANKER SUPREME
Mk.1s underwent a change of role
as the Valiant tanker force had been
phased out by early 1965. The
Victor’s incredible lifting capability,
35,000lb (15,876kg), made it
a perfect ‘flying petrol station’.
Two-hose Victor tankers began
to appear in mid-1965, shortly
followed by three-pointers. In July
1966 the two tanker units, 55 and
57 Squadrons, were joined by the
re-formed 214 Squadron, also at
Marham, and the Victor dropped
the bomber role.
With the B.2, the Victor evolved
considerably and traded the
Sapphires for Rolls-Royce Conway
turbofans, a bigger wing, enhancedType: Five-crew heavy bomber
First fl ight: December 24, 1952, B.1 entered service January 1958
Powerplant: Four 19,750lb st (87.84kN) Rolls-Royce Conway 201 turbofans
Dimensions: Span 120ft 0in (36.57m), Length 114ft 11in (35.02m)
Weights: Empty 114,240lb (51,819kg), All-up 223,000lb (101,152kg)
Max speed: 647mph (1,041km/h) at 40,000ft (12,192m)
Range: 3,500 miles (5,632km)
Armament: Up to 35,000lb (15,876kg) of bombs, or a Blue Steel nuclear stand-off
weapon
Replaced: Vickers Valiant from 1958
Taken on charge: 84
Replaced by: In tanker role: Vickers VC-10 from 1984 and Lockheed Tristar from 1986HANDLEY PAGE VICTOR B.2