The origin of the Victor and the other V bombers is linked to the early British atomic weapons programme and nuclear deterrent policies that were developed after the Second World War.

[N 1] 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 (2,800 km; 1,700 mi) from a base which may be anywhere in the world".

[5] Responses to OR.230 were received from Short Brothers, Bristol, and Handley Page; the Air Ministry recognised that developing an aircraft to meet these stringent requirements would have been technically demanding and so expensive that the resulting bomber could be purchased only in small numbers.

To achieve the required performance, Handley Page's aerodynamicist Dr. Gustav Lachmann and his deputy, Godfrey Lee developed a crescent-shaped swept wing for the HP.80.

[8] Early work on the project included tailless aircraft designs, which would have used wing-tip vertical surfaces instead; however as the proposal matured, a high-mounted, full tailplane was adopted instead.

[10] The profile and shaping of the crescent wing was subject to considerable fine-tuning and alterations throughout the early development stages, particularly to counter unfavourable pitching behaviour in flight.

[23] Production Victors had a lengthened nose to move the crew escape door further from the engine intakes as the original position was considered too dangerous as an emergency exit in flight.

Aviation author Andrew Brookes has claimed that Allam broke the sound barrier knowingly to demonstrate the Victor's higher speed capability compared to the earlier V-bombers.

[35][36] The first flight of the Victor B.2 prototype , serial number XH668 was made on 20 February 1959,[37] and it had flown 100 hours by 20 August 1959, when it disappeared from radar, crashing into the sea off the Pembrokeshire coast during high-altitude engine tests carried out by the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE).

The accident investigation concluded that the starboard pitot head had failed, causing the flight control system to force the aircraft into an unrecoverable dive.

[40] A total of 21 B.2 aircraft were upgraded to the B.2R standard with Conway RCo.17 engines (20,600 lbf or 92 kN thrust) and facilities to carry a Blue Steel stand-off nuclear missile.

Coincidentally, Peter White, a senior aerodynamicist attended a symposium in Brussels and learned of Whitcomb's conical bodies set on the top of a wing which would add volume while reducing wave drag.

[45] With the move to low-level penetration missions, the Victors were fitted with air-to-air refuelling probes above the cockpit and received large underwing fuel tanks.

[25] These aircraft received a variety of cameras, a bomb bay-mounted radar mapping system and air sampling equipment to detect particles released from nuclear testing.

[48] With the withdrawal of the Valiant because of metal fatigue in December 1964 the RAF had no flight-refuelling capability, so the B.1/1A aircraft, by then surplus in the strategic bomber role, were refitted for this duty.

To get some tankers into service as quickly as possible, six B.1A aircraft were converted to B(K).1A standard (later redesignated B.1A (K2P)[49]), receiving a two-point system with a hose and drogue carried under each wing, while the bomb bay remained available for weapons.

During 1982, the glazing was reintroduced on some aircraft, the former nose bomb aimer's position having been used to mount F95 cameras in order to perform reconnaissance missions during the Falklands War.

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, nose landing gear unit and an auxiliary bomb aimer's position.

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.

Retractable scoops in the rear fuselage would open to feed ram air to them enabling them to generate sufficient electrical power to operate the flight controls.

[81] One unusual flight characteristic of the early Victor was its self-landing capability; once lined up with the runway, the aircraft would naturally flare as the wing entered into ground effect while the tail continued to sink, giving a cushioned landing without any command or intervention by the pilot.

[69] Whilst originally the Victor would have maintained high-altitude flight throughout a nuclear strike mission, rapid advances of the Soviet anti-aircraft warfare capabilities (exemplified by the downing of a U-2 from 70,000 ft in 1960) led to this tactic being abandoned: a low-level high-speed approach supported by increasingly sophisticated ECMs was adopted in its place.

The introduction of standoff weapons and the switch to low-level flight in order to evade radar detection were said to be decisive factors in the successful penetration of enemy territory.

[103] Handley Page prepared a modification scheme that would see the Victors fitted with tip tanks, the structure modified to limit further fatigue cracking in the wings, and ejection seats provided for all six crewmembers.

[106] While the Victor was never permanently based with any units stationed overseas, temporary deployments were frequently conducted, often in a ceremonial capacity or to participate in training exercises and competitions.

In service, this type was primarily used in surveillance of the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Seas, capable of surveying 400,000 square miles in an eight-hour mission; they were also used to sample the fallout from French nuclear tests conducted in the South Pacific.

[113] The deployment of other assets to the theatre, such as the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod and Lockheed Hercules, required the support of the Victor tanker fleet, which had been temporarily relocated to RAF Ascension Island for the campaign.

[116] Following the invasion of Kuwait by neighbouring Iraq in 1991, a total of eight Victor K.2s were deployed to Bahrain to provide in-flight refuelling support to RAF and other coalition aircraft during the subsequent 1991 Gulf War.

[146] A fifth airframe, Victor K.2 XH673: A K.2 served as Gate guardian at RAF Marham when retired in 1993, but in early 2020 she was offered up for disposal, with the word being that she was in a structurally unsafe condition.

[153] Data from Handley Page Aircraft since 1907[125]General characteristics Performance Armament A 1964 Gerhard Richter painting titled XL 513 depicts Victor K.2, which was lost in a 1976 accident at RAF Marham.