Handley Page Victor - Bomber V

Video from the channel Mundo de Aviación about Handley Page, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 11:24. Language: Spanish. Video type: Documentary.

An educational piece about the Handley Page Victor, a British jet bomber initially known as the HP.80. It was the last of the three V bombers, alongside the Vulcan and the Valiant. The video covers its design, its versions and its long career as a bomber, reconnaissance aircraft and tanker.

The Victor emerged from Britain's postwar atomic weapons and nuclear deterrence programmes. In 1947 the Air Ministry called for jet bombers to replace piston-engined types such as the Lancaster or the Lincoln. Among the proposals from several companies, the HP.80 and Avro's Type 698 were chosen, each with two prototypes. A more conventional Vickers design, which became the Valiant, was also commissioned. After the Valiant's retirement, the RAF ran short of tankers and the Victors were adapted to that role with fixed tanks in the bomb bay and hoses under the wings. Detachments were based at Tengah (Singapore) during the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation. In 1982 the tankers made the Vulcan raids on the Falklands possible, and in the 1991 Gulf War they operated from Bahrain.

The prototypes flew for the first time on 24 December 1952. One was lost in 1954 because the tailplane joint, held by three bolts, bore more stress than expected. Production aircraft received a lengthened nose that moved the centre of gravity forward and a strengthened joint with four larger bolts. The crescent wing reduced its sweep in three stages to maintain a high cruising speed. The skin consisted of two layers of aluminium with corrugated filler. The B1 carried four 49 kN Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire turbojets and the Blue Danube weapon. The B2, with Conway engines and longer wings, flew in February 1959; 21 aircraft brought up to B2R standard could carry the Blue Steel missile, and nine B2s were converted for strategic reconnaissance. The tankers were retired in October 1993, nine years after the Vulcan.