Flightline: 32/TBD

"user314" (user314) 08/24/2020 at 11:00 • Filed to: flightline, Planelopnik, planelopnik history, raf

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Victors, Nimrods and Harriers of the Operation Corporate forces

Wideawake Airfield, Ascension Island, 1982

The !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! was designed in the early 1950s as a strategic bomber, last of the famous “ !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ” of the RAF (the others being the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ). The Victor was designed to carry up to 35,000 pounds of iron bombs (including one 22,000 !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! or two 12,000 !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! earthquake bombs), or one !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! nuclear bomb, and fly for five thousand miles. Later revisions of the design allowed carriage of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! stand-off nuclear missiles, and the Victor was also a prospective launch aircraft for the (ultimately canceled) !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Originally designed for high-altitude, high-subsonic flight (though Victors did break Mach 1 on at least two occasions), the craft was eventually switched to a low-altitude penetration mission to evade Soviet SAM sites. Unfortunately, the wing was not designed for this mission, and stress cracks were uncovered as early as 1964. With the Valliant being withdrawn from aerial tanking that same year (also due to metal fatigue cracks), the Victors were refitted to act as aerial refueling planes (though they could be returned to a bombing role if need be). Nine other Victors were reconfigured for strategic reconnaissance, mounting cameras, sniffers for nuclear particles, and radar mapping equipment. The Victor tankers were deployed to !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! during the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in support of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! raids, as well as to refuel other RAF and RN aircraft. Eight Victors were also sent to Bahrain during Operation Desert Storm, in what was their last operational sorties. The Victors were retired in 1993, with the aerial refueling role passing to !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! tankers. Five of the original 86 Victors have been preserved, 2 of which are in semi-operable condition.

Just for ttyymmnn. Victor B.1 in anti-flash white, 1961.

Orthograph of Victor B.2, showing semi-recessed Blue Steel nuclear missile

Victor K.2 tanker XL161 landing at Abingdon in 1979

facw > user314 08/24/2020 at 11:05

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I love the Victor, such a cool looking plane.

Svend > user314 08/24/2020 at 11:29

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I love British aircraft of this period.

They have such a graceful beauty about them.

My favourite, is the Blackburn Buccaneer from 1958, it was such a great aircraft it even did 218 operations in the first Gulf War in 1991, only retiring in 1994.

user314 > facw 08/24/2020 at 11:29

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The Victor is like the IDF’s Mervka or the S wedish   S-103 : they’re 50-60 years old now, but still look like “The Future!”.

user314 > Svend 08/24/2020 at 11:38

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Yeah, the post-WWII British aviation industry produced some of the most underrated and/or best looking aircraft. The Venom , Gannet , Sea Vixen , Vulcan and JAAAAG  don’t get nearly enough love, especially on this side of the pond.

ttyymmnn > user314 08/24/2020 at 12:20

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Does it get more British?

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > user314 08/25/2020 at 14:41

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That is a ghastly- looking aeroplane.

user314 > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 08/25/2020 at 14:49

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Unfriended and blocked.

No, but seriously, I’ll admit that she’s no Vulcan, but the Victor does have a certain sci-fi appeal. Either way, it’s way better looking than the Valliant:

Why Vickers , why?!

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > user314 08/25/2020 at 16:49

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I love you, but these aeroplanes look like misplaced sea skates. They’re bloody awful.