
Handley Page Victor B.Mk.1/K.2P
The Handley Page Victor is 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 V-bomber to be operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF), the other
two being the Avro Vulcan and the Vickers Valiant. The Victor had been developed as
part of the United Kingdom's airborne nuclear deterrent. In 1968, it 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 were modified for strategic reconnaissance, using 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 could
not be justified. Consequently, many of the surviving Victors were converted into aerial
refuelling tankers. During the Falklands War, Victor tankers were used in the airborne
logistics operation to repeatedly refuel Vulcan bombers on their way to and from the
Black Buck raids.
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, it was replaced by the Vickers
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