In the 1950s, the British Royal Air Force (RAF) acquired a strategic nuclear strike force in the form of the "V-Bombers" -- the Vickers Valiant, the Handley Page Victor, and the Avro Vulcan. The Victor was arguably the most unconventional of the three, at least in hindsight, but it proved very successful, persisting in service into the 1990s in the tanker role. This document provides a history and description of the Victor. The Handley Page Victor K.2 tanker evolved from the original Victor B.2, ‘V’-bomber, which entered service with the Royal Air Force in October 1961. The first K.2 flew at Woodford on 1 March 1972. It had a crew of five, and was powered by four Rolls-Royce Conway turbofans of 20,600 lb thrust each. It had a maximum speed of 640 mph (Mach 0.92) at 40,000 feet, a ceiling of 59,000 feet and a range of 3,500 miles.

The Handley Page Victor was a British jet-powered strategic bomber, developed and produced by the Handley Page Aircraft Company, which served during the Cold War. It was the third and final of the V-bombers operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF), the other two V-bombers being the Avro Vulcan and the Vickers Valiant. The Victor had been developed to perform as part of the United Kingdom’s airborne nuclear deterrent. In 1968, the type was retired from the nuclear mission following the discovery of fatigue cracks, which had been exacerbated by the RAF's adoption of a low-altitude flight profile to avoid interception.

A number of Victors had received modifications to undertake the strategic reconnaissance role, employing a combination of radar, cameras, and other sensors. As the nuclear deterrence mission was given to the Royal Navy's submarine-launched Polaris missiles in 1969, a large V-bomber fleet was deemed surplus to requirements. Consequently, many of the surviving Victors were converted into aerial refuelling tankers. During the Falklands War, Victor tankers were notably used in the airborne logistics operation to repeatedly refuel Vulcan bombers on their way to and from the Black Buck raids.

Victor K.2s made a substantial contribution in the Falklands War, flying over 3,000 hours and making over 600 air refuelling sorties from Ascension Island, in support of the Vulcans, Nimrods, Hercules and Harriers. They also flew in the Gulf War, refuelling the Tornado and other allied aircraft. The Victor’s outstanding versatility and advanced design enabled it to have the longest service of all the ‘V-bomber’ generation.

XL231 joined 139 Squadron on 1 February 1962, returning to Handley Page for conversion to a B(S.R) Mk 2 in November 1963 and joining the Wittering Wing in July 1964. It was converted to become the prototype K.2 Tanker on 23 January 1972 and saw service in the Falklands War, in support of the air operations from Ascension Island, and later in the Gulf War. It was flown into retirement at Elvington in November 1993. The aircraft is kept in ground operational condition by Andre Tempest and his ground crew.

The Victor was a futuristic-looking, streamlined aircraft, with four turbojet (later turbofan) engines buried in the thick wing roots. Distinguishing features of the Victor were its highly swept T-tail with considerable dihedral on the tail planes, and a prominent chin bulge that contained the targeting radar, cockpit, nose landing gear unit and an auxiliary bomb aimer's position. It was originally required by the specification that the whole nose section could be detached at high altitudes to act as an escape pod, but the Air Ministry abandoned this demand in 1950.

The Victor had a five-man crew, comprising the two pilots seated side-by-side and three rearward-facing crew, these being the navigator/plotter, the navigator/radar operator, and the air electronics officer (AEO). Unlike the Vulcan and Valiant, the Victor's pilots sat at the same level as the rest of the crew, thanks to a larger pressurised compartment that extended all the way to the nose. As with the other V-bombers, only the pilots were provided with ejection seats; the three systems operators relying on "explosive cushions" inflated by a CO2 bottle that would help them from their seats and towards a traditional bail out in the event of high g-loading, but despite this, escape for the three backseaters was extremely difficult.

While assigned to the nuclear delivery role, the Victor was finished in an all-over anti-flash white colour scheme, designed to protect the aircraft against the damaging effects of a nuclear detonation. The white colour scheme was intended to reflect heat away from the aircraft; paler variations of RAF's roundels were also applied for this same reason. When the V-bombers were assigned to the low-level approach profile in the 1960s, the Victors were soon repainted in green/grey tactical camouflage to reduce visibility to ground observation; the same scheme was applied to subsequently converted tanker aircraft.

Armaments and equipment
Victor landing near Yeovilton, 1984, note airbrakes extended
The Victor's bomb bay was much larger than that of the Valiant and Vulcan, which allowed heavier weapon loads to be carried at the cost of range. As an alternative to the single "10,000 lb" nuclear bomb as required by the specification, the bomb bay was designed to carry several conventional armaments, including a single 22,000 lb (10,000 kg) Grand Slam or two 12,000 lb (5,500 kg) Tallboy earthquake bombs, up to thirty-six 1,000 lb (450 kg) bombs or thirty-nine 2,000 lb (900 kg) sea mines. One proposed addition to the Victor were underwing panniers capable of carrying a further 28 1,000 lb bombs to supplement the main bomb bay, but this option was not pursued.

In addition to a range of free-fall nuclear bombs, later Victor B.2s operated as missile carriers for standoff nuclear missiles such as Blue Steel; it had been intended for the American Skybolt missile to be introduced; however, development of Skybolt was cancelled. Target information for Blue Steel could be input during flight, as well in advance of the mission. It was reported that, with intensive work, a B.2 missile carrier could revert to carrying free-fall nuclear weapons or conventional munitions within 30 hours.

Like its sibling V-Bombers, the Victor made use of the Navigational and Bombing System (NBS); a little-used optical sight had also been installed upon early aircraft. For navigation and bomb-aiming purposes, the Victor employed numerous radar systems. These included the H2S radar, the first airborne ground-scanning radar, and the Green Satin radar. Radar information was inputted into the onboard electromechanical analogue bomb-aiming apparatus. Some of the navigation and targeting equipment was either directly descended from, or shared concepts with, those used on Handley Page's preceding Halifax bomber. Operationally, the accuracy of the bomb-aiming system proved to be limited to roughly 400 yards, which was deemed sufficient for high-level nuclear strike operations

Engines
Rolls-Royce Conway RCo.17 Mk201 on static display
The Victor B.1 was powered by an arrangement of four Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire turbojet engines. The engines were embedded in pairs into the aircraft's wing root; because of the high mounted position of the wing, the tail had to adopt a high mounting to maintain clearance of the jet turbulence, however the airbrakes were ideally situated to take advantage of this phenomenon. Difficulties were encountered with the Sapphires when stationed in tropical environments; several engines were destroyed by the turbine blades striking the outer engine casing. The Victor B.2 adopted the newer Rolls-Royce Conway turbofan; the Conway at one point held the distinction of being the most powerful non-afterburning engine outside of the Soviet Union, and were significantly more powerful than the preceding Sapphire engines employed upon on the B.1.

The Victor B.2 featured a distinct change in the aircraft's engine arrangements; incorporated into the right wing root was a Blackburn Artouste airborne auxiliary power unit (AAPU), effectively a small fifth engine. The AAPU was capable of providing high-pressure air for starting the main engines, and also providing electrical power on the ground or alternatively in the air as an emergency back-up in the event of main engine failures. The AAPU also acted to reduce the need for external specialist support equipment. Turbine-driven alternators, otherwise known as ram air turbines (RATs), had been introduced on the B.2 to provide emergency power in the event of electrical or hydraulic power being lost. Retractable scoops in the rear fuselage would open to feed ram air into the RATs, which would provide sufficient electrical power to operate the flight controls. In the event of engine flameout RATs would assist the crew in maintaining control of the aircraft until the main engines could be relit.

The Victor was the last of the V-bombers to be retired, the final aircraft being removed from service on 15 October 1993. In its refuelling role, the type had been replaced by the Vickers VC10 and the Lockheed Tristar.