Exploring The Last Flying Handley Page Victor

Video from the channel Mr Hewes about Handley Page, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 28:19. Language: English. Video type: Onboard.

A group of enthusiasts visits, with permission from its private owners, the Handley Page Victor XM715, presented as the last Victor to have flown. They go through the cockpit and the landing gear bay. They then move on to other aircraft preserved at the same site: a Nimrod, whose interior they show in detail, and a Comet they find locked. The visit ends among ground support vehicles, a Massey Ferguson tractor and a Jet Provost.

On the Victor, the instrument panel, the throttles, the controls for the wing fuel pumps and the refuelling system, the fire alarm reset and the main landing gear brake packs are shown. On the Nimrod, the operators' stations with their consoles appear, along with a large fuse and wiring panel, the onboard galley with oven and fridge, the rear cabin and the exit onto the wing. The presenters point out damp and algae in the cockpits and instruments missing from some stations.

According to the narration, the XM715 is one of 86 Victors built and one of four preserved. In 1967 it was grounded by a crack in the wing root. It was dismantled in 1972 and by 1975 it had already been repaired and converted into a tanker aircraft. It served in the Falklands and in Kuwait, where it received the nose art "Teasin' Tina" during the Gulf War, and on 19 November 1993 it flew to Bruntingthorpe after being withdrawn from service. On 3 May 2009, a high-speed taxi run ended in a brief flight. The aircraft is kept outdoors. Dust on the ground prevents the engines from being started without damage, and there are plans to lay a temporary concrete slab so this can be done again.