Handley Page Victor | British Strategic Nuclear Bomber And In-Flight Refueling Tanker
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- čas přidán 24. 08. 2023
- The Handley Page Victor was designed and in service as a strategic nuclear bomber, some were converted to in-flight refueling tankers and remained in service until 1993. Much use was made of them in the 1982 Falklands campaign and the 1991 Gulf War.
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The Victor was produced to Specification B35/46 and fifty MkI aircraft powered by Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire engines were built and delivered as bombers. Most were converted to tankers in 1965 and their bombing role was taken over by the more powerful and higher-flying MkII aircraft with Rolls-Royce Conway engines. After initial service carrying free-fall nuclear weapons, the Avro Blue Steel stand-off missile was fitted. Eight aircraft were converted to the Strategic Reconnaissance role and served with No.543 Squadron.
The Victor 2 bomber fleet was withdrawn in 1968.
Due to the failure of the Handley Page company, the conversion of 24 MkII aircraft to tankers was undertaken by Hawker Siddeley at Woodford.
The Victor K2 aircraft carried out all of the in-flight tanking requirements during the Falklands campaign. The final major use of these machines occurred in the Gulf War when 299 sorties were demanded and all were completed successfully in spite of the aircraft being over 30 years old.
The origin of the Victor and the other V bombers is heavily linked with the early British atomic weapons program and nuclear deterrent policies that were developed in the aftermath of the Second World War. The atom bomb program formally began with Air Staff Operational Requirement OR.1001 issued in August 1946, which anticipated a government decision in January 1947 to authorize research and development work on atomic weapons; the U.S. Atomic Energy Act of 1946 (McMahon Act) prohibited exporting atomic knowledge, even to countries that had collaborated on the Manhattan Project. OR.1001 envisaged a weapon not to exceed 24 ft 2 in (7.37 m) in length, 5 ft (1.5 m) in diameter, 10,000 lb (4,500 kg) in weight, and suitable for release from 20,000 ft (6,100 m) to 50,000 ft (15,000 m).
At the same time, the Air Ministry drew up requirements for bombers to replace the existing piston-engined heavy bombers such as the Avro Lancaster and the new Avro Lincoln which equipped RAF Bomber Command. In January 1947, the Ministry of Supply distributed Specification B.35/46 to aviation companies to satisfy Air Staff Operational Requirement OR.229 for "a medium range bomber landplane capable of carrying one 10,000 lb (4,500 kg) bomb to a target 1,500 nautical miles (1,700 mi; 2,800 km) from a base which may be anywhere in the world." A cruising speed of 500 knots (580 mph; 930 km/h) at heights between 35,000 ft (11,000 m) and 50,000 ft (15,000 m) was specified. The maximum weight when fully loaded ought not to exceed 100,000 lb (45,000 kg). The weapons load was to include a 10,000 lb (4,500 kg) "Special gravity bomb" (i.e. a free-fall nuclear weapon), or over shorter ranges 20,000 lb (9,100 kg) of conventional bombs. No defensive weapons were to be carried, the aircraft relying on its speed and altitude to avoid opposing fighters.
General characteristics
Crew: 5
Length: 114 ft 11 in (35.03 m)
Wingspan: 110 ft (34 m)
Height: 28 ft 1.5 in (8.573 m)
Wing area: 2,406 sq ft (223.5 m2)
Airfoil: Root: 16% Modified RAE Airfoil; Tip: 6% Modified RAE Airfoil
Empty weight: 89,030 lb (40,383 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 205,000 lb (92,986 kg)
Powerplant: 4 × Armstrong Siddeley A.S.Sa.7 Sapphire turbojet engines, 11,050 lbf (49.2 kN) thrust each
Performance
Maximum speed: 545 kn (627 mph, 1,009 km/h) at 36,000 ft (11,000 m)
Range: 5,217 nmi (6,004 mi, 9,662 km)
Service ceiling: 56,000 ft (17,000 m)
Armament
Bombs:
Up to 35 × 1,000 lb (450 kg) bombs or
1× Yellow Sun free-fall nuclear bomb
#bomber #aircraft #nuclear - Věda a technologie
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Christmas Island is in the Indian, not the Pacific Ocean.
😅
The Victor has to be one of, if not my favorite military bomber of all time, it looks so odd, meanicing, and graceful all at the same time, all while being increadably powerful.
One of the best looking planes ever made ❤
THAT FRONTAL VIEW OF THE VICTOR, ALWAYS MADE ME THINK THAT SHE BELONGED IN THE OCEANS, LIKE A PRE-HISTORIC DEEP-SEA PREDITOR.
She is a sexy bird
Are you being sarcastic?
Just a small disagreement, the BONE "B1" makes it look like a 1930s moon rocket 🚀
That must be some pretty good acid you took, Arron. Cuz that "Victor" plane is just plain *hideous* to look at.
In the 1960s at a SAC Offit Airbase airshow a British Crew of a Victor took me aboard for a tour. The Interior was tight and as I child I had little understanding of all the instruments. Still I remain honored to have boarded an Hadley Page Victor.
jEEEEZUS, If that was tight, to a child, the Vulcan, i've heard, was much tighter.
V is for VICTORY BOMBERS! Every one of the girls was BEAUTIFUL!
This design is still futuristic today and wouldn't look out of place in a Sci fi film with different propulsion.
That last shot of the three Victors in formation bought shivers down my spine, Thank You.
My first sighting of the Vulcan was in 1964 at the Farnborough airshow. The bomber had a huge large black box attached to the bottom of it which I later learned was the experimental RR Olympus engine which would later be used on concord. The most memorable thing however was the feeling of my internal organs shaking as the plane took off on full reheat on every engine, blazing along the runway 200yds away. This is forged an indelible memory on this five year old not in fear but in awe.
The Vulcan did not have afterburners.
@@basilb4733the concord did and this particular airframe had that engine hooked up as a testbed
@markvauhan1301 Must have shook your brain cell too, the vulcanised engines never had reheat on its four engines.
My favorite of the 3 V bombers. Such a cool design. Doesnt look like it was designed in the 50s. Could easily be a star wars ship!
Unique and wonderful lines, forever futuristic!
I swear, if I ever become a billionaire, I will bring this plane back from the dead and trick the hell of it to be the most rad looking private jet. A man can dream...
Oh alright, BUT don't you go bombing anyone, and don't be long, your dinner'l be ready in half 'our.
But daaaaAAAAAAaaaaaAAAaaaad!@@MrDaiseymay
So happy to see this fly maybe twice at airshows.
My dad was a Crew Chief on the Victor K-2's based at RAF Marham in the 70's and 80's. I went in numerous times on the weekend with him as a child. I was allowed to crawl all over these beauties as well as the USAF B-52's based there at one time. I saw the MRCA Tornado being ground tested with the Victor refuelling system and got some wicked photo's. The Victor just looks the business, with those swept wings and big wing tanks. I can't imagine a 12 year old being allowed to sit in the cockpit of a tanker and flip the tank switches while it ground fuelled nowadays.
I sat in the cockpit of one of these at a local aircraft museum. They have a front fuselage section, as well as the Vulcan. Incredible stuff.
What Museum if i may ask? Will definitely add that to my list of places to go visit one day.
What a beautiful, elegant aircraft! Glad one survived.
Such a shame there are only a few V bombers left and none still flying. One Valiant, four Victors and I'd guess at least ten Vulcans in museums dotted around the UK
at 17:45 I think I should point out that the jet engines flown by the me262 and others like it were axial flow engines like we have today. The centrifugal engines would become the standard for a short time until the axial design had matured a bit. The Jumo 004 was ahead of its time in that regard. Paid the price for it too as it had a service life of only 80 hours before a rebuild was needed.
It is also the only jet engine I know of that can be started with a pullcord. Like a lawnmower or a chainsaw.
I've always loved the look of this plane. I have always thought if I was the richest bastard in the world I'd turn one of these into my private jet LOL.
Do you know the size of it?
It was parked at an airshow and I looked it over. Then I stood slightly off centre and walked to the nose. The nosewheel cavity drew my attention.
Nobody was looking so I stepped to the side, ducked my head and came up in the cavity with plenty space above my head.
I tried to work out what the purposes of the various hydraulic tubes and cylinders were but decided it would be easier to use my 35mm camera. It looks bigger than the 737.
@@20chocsaday I do indeed. While I am an American I was lucky enough to see one at an airshow in the early 90's when my father was posted in the UK. We lived in Suffolk while he was posted to RAF Lakenheath. We lived there from when I was like 5-9 so '92-'96. Yes they are huge. I was also surprised at how big the Vulcan was in real life as well. I really wanna go back. I made so many cool friends, many of which I still talk to on a regular basis.
Visiting is fairly easy if you have the time and the money. Possibly to stay as well but don't believe me. A friend came from USA and worked around the world. His British wife may have had something to do with it.
But to see and touch the planes at an airshow tells you an awful lot more than descriptions and views can.
I looked at a plane (is it the F-16 that has one engine?) and saw the aluminium above the air intake but below the fuselage was rough. So promptly you think, "Why?" That silly little piece of information could never come out any other way.
@@20chocsaday Yeah definitely not in the budget at the moment. And yes the F-16 is the single engine medium fighter.
Aviation doesn't get better looking than this 😋
Have seen t vulcan at airshows several times but sadly never saw a Victor ☹️
Aviation didn't get better-looking than this until Concorde entered service in 1976.
Was quite a tough thing. Valiant was fragile, too much harmonics in it's structure giving it early metal fatigue, and the Vulcan was claustrophobic, it had a cockpit like the inside of a VW Beetle for many crew, very cramped.
How they squeezed two extra on the Dickie seats in the rear I don't know. It used to be said inside the Vulcan smelt of fuel, oil, paint, wiring, sick and blokes!
Did the flight control system of the Victor/Vulcan during training at RAF Cosford, could take off, fly a set route, do its thing, then come back and land, without the pilots having to touch anything else usual. Localisers used to make the runway dig holes because they landed exactly on the same spot.
Christ, we were good.
@@MrDaiseymay But it was full of unreliable electrical solenoids though - that is why each aircraft had to have a top notch aircraft flight engineer on each, to change a black box suddenly and do a reboot.
It looks like something out of a Dan Dare comic. Such a beautiful scifi look!
I loved the Victor. Was looking dated in certain ways it was still a capable aircraft. Will definitely miss it as with the Vulcan
Look at Thunderbird 2 - that was a modified fictional version of the HP Victor by Gerry Anderson for televisual children art. 🙂👍
@@huwzebediahthomas9193 Thunderbirds are go!
1 off the most beautiful looking planes I have seen.
". . . the Berlin blockade of 1948, followed by the building of the Berlin Wall marked the beginning of the Cold War."
No.
Yes, the blockade of West Berlin was probably the first overt action of the Cold War, but the Berlin Wall was erected in 1961, a full thirteen years later. And, arguably, the Cold War began during WWII itself, at one of the triumvirate conferences (Yalta, Tehran or Potzdam, I don't recall which one).
Still in love with The Vulcan, even though this is a pretty one!
Released this as I'm finishing a 1/72 Victor model so great timing to get to watch it as I do so
The best bus the RAF has now, that Airbus military version A330 cargo - amazingly impressed I am. 👍 Thanks for this DroneScapes. 10/4 roger roger and out. 👍🙃🙃🙃
The first Aircraft I ever worked on out Royal Air Force ground crew technician training was 55 squadron and the Victor. I look back and consider myself incredibly lucky to have worked on these things.
I was lucky enough to see the V team fly regularly on Ascension island never got tired of listening and watching them executing sorties!
On first glance: "This ugly bird can fly?" ... but then: "What a beauty!" 😍
Thanks Dronescapes
Fabulous looking aircraft, like a fugitive from a sci-fi movie. I think I like the design even more than the iconic Vulcans. I count myself lucky to seeing both actually flying and have been in at least two vulcan cockpits
15:30 god i love that howling Vulcan
Like the spitfire it was gracefully beautiful in the air.
Hadley Hazeldine is a great name for a test pilot.
Suddenly i know where the creators of Mobile Suit Gundam got their ideas for Zeon aircraft design.
Wow, fantastic, thank you , great content. Amazing plane!!!
Awsome never before seen uk planes. Thanks
Avro had problems with the Vulcans wings - hence the wing design modifications soon after. At RAF Swinderby during a Wednesday passing out parade in the mid 1980's, a fly pass by a single Vulcan, the old hangers were having their corregated iron roof panels being replaced by civil contractor at the time - you can guess the rest, many of them roof panels flew with a crash bang everywhere. Gladly with no injuries, apart from said old hangers. 🙂😁
What modifications were done to the Vulcan wing, Being delta I thought it was perfect.
A kink was introduced in the leading edge to overcome aerodynamic issues. It's mention in the video.@@kiwidiesel
This is one badass looking plane ,for its time and british design and engineering at its best ,all designed with a pencil paper drawing board, slide rule and pure brains and vision no computers or cad cam , pure brilliance
Very Nice !!, Bomber Victor
Lol, the word is pitot, (pronounced peetoe) . The aircraft crashed due to a pitot head failure, not a pilot head error 😁
Mind you, a fair number of flying accidents have been due to an error in the pilot's head!
I wondered about that. Thanks for clearing it up!
I used to enjoy Victor XM715 Teasing Tina on fast taxi runs at Bruntingthorpe fast jet open days, sadly no more due to the change of use of the airfield. She was actually the last Victor to fly in such a role hopping quite a few meters due to Co pilot error on one of the few days I didn't attend! There are a couple of clips on CZcams.
Victor look like it was doing Mk 2 on the ground . Not that it could I no.. lovely plane😊😊❤
Very interesting docu, the victor looks very good
Very interesting, incredible how far the tec has been in the 60s
Head on, THe Victor always looks like a monster from the DEEP. All three 'V' Bomber's , were way ahead of every other country's Bomber designs, and technically. Makes me PROUD.
The Victor is defiantly the Darth Vader of the "V" bombers. It looks mean, it's the bigger of the 3, carries the bigger load and looks like it will take a base ball bat to a street brawl.
The Messerschmitt 262 engines were from Junkers, the Jumo 004. They are axial flow compressors. Not centrifugal as outlined in this video. The difference is vast.
Probably the most beautifully sinister aircraft ever built. For a time it was the largest aircraft to ever break the sound barrier....Also it had a bigger payload than the mighty B-52. Incredible aircraft for its time!!
It’s payload was 35,000lb whereas the big belly B:52D could tote 72,000, but it’s role was strategic nuclear delivery and it’s payload in that role would not have been that big.
The title is in-accurate, most of the video is about the Avro Vulcan.
The Me262 had axial flow engines
As far as nuclear bombers go, the Victor is muy sexy. Those were the days for British Aviation.
… and all done on German research which started already in the late 1930s. As well as the emergency exit seat, which was first in the Heinkel 280.
Interesting video but I think it could more properly be titled "The story of the RAF V Bombers" as it covers all three of these amazing aircraft from the 50's
I’m lucky enough to see these beauty’s fly…
The first aircraft I ever worked on out of training in the Royal Air Force
Thank you for your service!
Same here, from Halton to MEAS at Marham in '78 for 4 years.
Gawwwd, these planes are cool.
Be still mine heart.
That is one cool looking bird.
After gary powers was shot down, the RAF changed tactics, and decided to fly at treetop height. Th Victor and valiant airframes were not suitable for low level interdiction, sso the task remained with the Vulcan, the Victor was converted to a tanker role
The need to move to low level was understood by around 1957, not long after the V bombers entered service as this was how SAM and fighter and AAM technology was progressing. HP proposed a low level Victor development with podded engines but since ICBMs were the ultimate intention it was seen as cheaper to just use the Vulcan rather than trying to develop a new type that might not be ready before the V bomber force was retired.
Interesting just past 1:12 as the Victor taxi's out a U2/TR1 is landing in the background.
My favourite of the V bombers
it still loks like a spaceship now
For its size, and to go past Mach .65, supersonic? Cool
Wait..."pilot head" failure?
Like...detachment? 😵💫
It was a pitot-head that detached and if I remember correctly that head fed airspeed information which controlled the (then) automatic leading-edge slats which deployed inadvertently and caused the loss of the aircraft.
The Victor, Vickers and Vulcan? Just realised why I’m so confused about British bombers.
Vickers Valiant,
Avro Vulcan,
Handley Page Victor,
Vickers was the designer, Valiant was the name of the aeroplane.
It's not surprising that the Shorts Sperrin never made the grade, but maybe if it's name began with a V, it might have been different story. To be honest though, the Sperrin was ugly and just a big 4-engined version of the Canberra.
@@125brat Turning the Canberra from a Halifax into a Lancaster. What might have been, eh?
What’s crazy is they had ejector seats …hopefully that crazy cockpit opened up quick !
The original design was for the whole crew compartment to be jettisoned with all occupants similar in concept to the F-111, but it was considered too complicated. The next idea was to provide ejection seats for all the crew, but again it was considered too complex with canopy jettison etc, so just the pilots were provided with ejection seat and the rear crew of 3 or 4 (if the 6th seat was occupied) had to bale out of the crew entrance door. The rear-facing seats (Nav radar, Nav plotter and Air Electronics operator) and the 6th seat (Crew chief or passenger etc) could swivel and were equipped with booster cushions to help them get out of their seat quickly if the Abandon Aircraft command was given.
Victors only had ejector seats for the pilots, as did Vulcans. Bit of a sh*t if you were a navigator, flight engineer or AEW.. Apparently almost no way to get out for them if you had difficulties, especially the Victor
Is that a U2 landing at 1:12:28 ?
Minor correction, At 3.18 that's an Avro Manchester, not a Lancaster.
Great video , just a shame about the intrusive music.Totally needless cacophony.
Looked like it came straight out of a thunderbirds
Pilot head failure 12:08
I thought English test pilots were sensible people
What happened to the British aerospace industry? They used to be among the best in the world, leading edge technology. Now they can't produce anything without a partner or a consortium.
Globalization ruined everything!!
We build the wings engine and gear for airbus. All the difficult bits. We could easily do a whole aircraft if needed trouble is consortium and work share is more profitable than going alone.
Airbus and Typhoon, makes the vertical lift for the F35.
At 19:00 -ish "atomic bomb, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, yadda yadda . . .Japan quickly surrendered."
That's - at best - only half the story. Also in August 1945, the Soviet Union invaded Japanese-occupied Manchuria. This dashed Japan's hopes of a negotiated surrender, forced them to accept the allies' demand for unconditional surrender.
What is those two huge air scoops on the aft upper fuselage. APU intakes?
They're a kick back from it's nuclear role, forget what they're for tho..
They are air intake scoops for ram-air turbines to provide emergency electrical power in the event of loss of all 4 engines. This was considered a precaution as in the event of being caught in the wake of a nuclear blast, all main engines could have flamed-out. The RATs gave sufficient power to control the aircraft until hopefully the engines could be restarted.
Looks like it was shaped to slither out of the cocoon that spawned it, and not off of a technical drawing.
Hmmm do I want the ejector seat or the inflatable cushion, piles or paniic.
12:00 it crashed due to a pilot head failure. Did it fall off, did he go mad? What does that mean?
Searching Google, a pitot failure.
Too aerodynamically clean, the bombs wouldn't always fall out gecause of the airflow. They had to put something infront of the bomb bay that opened to disrupt it to get them to drop.
Yes, they were referred to as "Gills" like on a fish which fanned-out into the airflow when the bomb-bay doors were opened.
56:10 - and then the low level plans and shenanigans.... Forget with white paint lads, we have now got to paint it like a World War Two Spitfire or Mosquito. Wurh, Chief Tech¿?!???¿
General Patten was right. TD Atlanta
More product for all the good elf’s
I always think this the most sinister looking 'plane that I've seen. 😁
Blue "Dan-oob"!? 😉
The "English" Strategic Nuclear Air Arm? So the Scottish, the Welsh and the Northern Irish didn't have one of those then? 🤔
You really do need to do a bit more research, don't you? In particular about the difference between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, Great Britain and The United Kingdom. 🙂
Is this the same three videos spliced together?
"Pitot head" not Pilot head (1959 crash into the sea)... Great video though.
I'm fairly sure reverse engineering the super fort was anything but simple.
HP was big in passenger aircraft, all the way back to just after World War One. Their Imperial Airline ones, classics. Each one even had a cocktail bar. Very typical 1920's English, ol' boy. 🤪😁
What an elegant plane
Designed by a German, an amazing design. It even went supersonic.
Nose to me looks a little like the Bell X-1
The Sapphire was developed from the Metrovick line started in 1939. Vickers sold off Metrovick to Hawker just after WW2.
The smartest looking bomber ever made. The B52 came in a distant second as far as the best nuclear bomber of its time compared to this beauty. The UK should have done what America did and continually upgrade this plane that would certainly not be out of place in todays deterrent force.
Just the sight of it should have put the fear of god into the enemy!!!!
Video production team need to get on top of audio. Moreover the silly Hollywood music is so dated and quite uneccesary. Interviewees giving fascinating insights and talk over commentary lost because of racketing music. These are amateur failings.
Oh come on, what to you expect, multiple billions Hollywood production?
@@huwzebediahthomas9193 No .. just elementary review and adjustment. That was interesting material but background music was way too loud .
@@causewaykayak
We could say this is a V.1 a version 1? The next version, which I no doubt will be cleaned up, aurally, will be better. 👍🙂😁
True. No need for the music. Also, the commentator is a wee bit too hurried.
@@huwzebediahthomas9193 One hopes. These are quite valuable historical documentaries.
Dan Dare's private aircraft....
The Vulcan eventually engines, used later, modified, in the Concorde, Rolls Royce Olympus. A noisy bastard.
48:20 - the 'West' v Soviet technology development then - to me, to you, to me, etc development, then. Yawn! Man is MAD... Hence the comic.
Never saw combat? The Falkland Conflict not count then?
And Desert Storm
But why such funny looking airplanes. I love the flying usefulness and ahead of the world.
Wasn't that a brilliant chruchillike move, to sell the latest and modernest jet engine to the bolsheviks so they were able to copy that thing?