The Tragic Story Of Handley Page Victor XM714

Video from the channel TheUntoldPast about Handley Page, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 10:45. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

The video reconstructs the story of the Handley Page Victor B2 XM714, an RAF strategic bomber that crashed on 20 March 1963, shortly after taking off from RAF Wittering, near Peterborough, on a training flight. Of the six crew members, only the co-pilot survived.

The Victor was the third and last of Britain's strategic nuclear V-bombers, alongside the Avro Vulcan and the Vickers Valiant. It carried four turbojets housed in the wing root and a larger bomb bay than the other two. Later versions could carry the Blue Steel missile. In the 1960s, Wittering hosted two Victor B2 squadrons on quick-reaction alert.

At around 4,000 feet, the fire warning for engine number two came on. During the procedure the speed dropped, the aircraft suffered severe buffeting and entered a spin: the pilot believed he was flying about 100 knots faster than he actually was. Only the two pilots had ejection seats, and the rest of the crew had to bail out by parachute. The co-pilot, Flight Lieutenant Brendan Jackson, ejected and survived with numerous fractures. The other five died. The aircraft came down about eight miles northeast of the base, and the cockpit canopy went through the roof of a farm building. A witness stated there was no fire on board, and sources disagree on the altitude at which the spin began.