After
the war Handley Page started working on new designs for better
bombers. One of the studies was on a tail-less swept wing
aircraft. It attracted the interest of the Air Ministry and by
the start of 1947 an official specification was issued to cover
the development of this new aircraft, designated by Handley Page
as the HP.80. It would be one of three V-bombers of RAF, the
others being the Avro
Vulcan
and Vickers Valiant. The intention was to get the aircraft into
service by 1951.
Handley
Page also decided to test their crescent wing and tail design on
a smaller aircraft. A Supermarine type 510 fuselage which was
basically and attack aircraft was bought from Supermarine and
was moved to Blackburn where it got the crescent-shaped wings
and a T-tail which was known as the YB.2, or HP.88. Coded VX330,
it actually flew too late to be of much use in the Victor
programme and was lost in an accident on August 26th, 1951,
killing HP pilot.
By
mid-1952 the first HP.80 was ready to fly. In June an order for
25 aircraft was placed and the prototype WB771 flew on December
24, 1952.
In
common with the Valiant and Vulcan, only the pilots had ejector
seats. While the initial design had included an escape capsule
enclosing the entire crew area, the Air Ministry had changed it
by 1950.
The
first HP.80, and the second (WB775) were soon found to have some
problems, particular a mis-positioned centre of gravity. While
lead weights sorted this out in the first two, future examples
had a lengthened front fuselage.
By
early 1956 the first Victor B.1 had finally come off the
production line, and flew on February 1. Fitted with more
powerful versions of the Sapphire engines used in the HP.80
prototypes, the Victor's cleared maximum speed of mach 0.95 soon
proved to be a little on the pessimistic side when test pilot
Johnny Allam inadvertantly achieved mach 1.1 in a one to two
degree dive! Deliveries to the first RAF units began in November
1957, and Bomber Command became operational with the Victor in
April 1958. Victors soon became a part of the nuclear deterrent,
initially carrying the “Yellow Sun” hydrogen bomb.
Some
of them were converted to flying tankers. After serving in the
Gulf War retirement came
on October 15,
1993.
