NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Handley Page Victor

The Handley Page Victor was a British jet bomber aircraft produced by the Handley Page Aircraft Company. It was the third and final of the 'V bombers' which provided Britain's nuclear deterrent. The other two V-bombers were the Avro Vulcan and the Vickers Valiant. Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... RAF Victor bomber circa 1961 in anti-flash white with pale roundels Anti-flash white is a brilliant white color commonly seen on American and British nuclear bombers in the 1950s and 1960s. ... An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, and/or spacecraft. ... Handley Page logo The Handley Page Aircraft Company was founded by Frederick Handley Page in 1909 as the United Kingdoms first publicly traded aircraft manufacturing company. ... The Maiden flight of an aircraft is the first occasion on which an aircraft leaves the ground of its own accord. ... is the 358th day of the year (359th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This is a list of aviation-related events from 1952: // Events January January 5 - Pan Am commences trans-atlantic freight services. ... This is a list of aviation-related events from 1958: Events Gulfstream Aerospace founded in Savannah, Georgia, USA. London Gatwick Airport opens after two years of extensive reconstruction. ... This is a list of aviation-related events from 1993: Events The 1,000th Boeing 747 comes off the production line 26 years after the first 747 was built. ... â€œRAFâ€ redirects here. ... This is a list of aviation-related events from 1952: // Events January January 5 - Pan Am commences trans-atlantic freight services. ... This is a list of aviation-related events from 1963: Events January January 7 - Aeroflot commences direct services between Moscow and Havana February February 14 - the Indian Air Force receives its first batch of Soviet fighters, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21s March March 18 - the Dassault Balzac makes its first transitions... A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground targets, primarily by dropping bombs. ... Handley Page logo The Handley Page Aircraft Company was founded by Frederick Handley Page in 1909 as the United Kingdoms first publicly traded aircraft manufacturing company. ... The term V bomber was used for the Royal Air Force aircraft during the 1950s and 1960s that comprised the UKs strategic nuclear strike force. ... The Avro Vulcan was a British delta wing subsonic bomber, operated by the Royal Air Force from 1953 until 1984. ... The Vickers Valiant was a British four-jet bomber, once part of the RAFs V bomber force. ...

Design and development

Like the other V-bombers, the Victor was originally designed for high-altitude, high-speed penetration of Soviet airspace to deliver a free-fall nuclear weapon. It was intended to fly higher and faster than contemporary fighter aircraft. CCCP redirects here. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 kilometers (11 mi) above the hypocenter A nuclear weapon derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions of fusion or fission. ...

Handley Page's design, the HP.80, was prepared in response to Air Ministry Specification B.35/46. To achieve the required performance, the HP.80 was notable for its unique "crescent" wing. This was developed by German aerodynamicist Dr. Gustav Lachmann and his Handley Page deputy, Godfrey Lee. The sweep and chord of the wing decrease in three distinct steps from the root to the tip, to ensure a constant limiting Mach number across the entire wing and consequently a high cruise speed. The crescent wing was tested in a third-scale glider, the HP.87, and a modified Supermarine Attacker, the Handley Page HP.88. The HP.87 crashed on its maiden flight and by the time the HP.88 was ready the HP.80 wing had changed such that the former was no longer representative. In the event, design of the HP.80 had sufficiently advanced that the loss of the HP.88 in flight had little negative effect on the programme. The HP.80 also had an advanced construction, featuring a sandwich of two aluminium skins with a corrugated filling. This is a partial list of the British Air Ministry specifications for aircraft. ... Gustav Lachmann (1896-1966) was a German aeronautical engineer who spent most all of his professional life working for the British company of Handley Page. ... The swept wing of an airliner: British Midland Airbus A320-200 A swept-wing is a wing planform used on high-speed aircraft that spend a considerable portion of their flight time in the transonic. ... Cross section of an airfoil showing chord In reference to aircraft, chord refers to the distance between the front and back of a wing, measured in the direction of the normal airflow. ... An F/A-18 Hornet breaking the sound barrier. ... The Supermarine Attacker was a single-seat jet fighter of the Fleet Air Arm (FAA), built by the Supermarine company, and was the first jet fighter of the FAA. The Attacker developed from a Royal Air Force (RAF) fighter jet project, the E10//44. ... The Handley Page HP.88 was a British research aircraft, built to test the aerodynamics of the Handley Page Victor design and was essentially a scaled-down version of that aircraft. ... Aluminum redirects here. ...

Two HP.80 prototypes - WB771 and WB775 - were built. The Victor was a futuristic looking machine. It was carefully streamlined, had the engines buried in the thick wing roots and a large, highly-swept T-tail with considerable dihedral on the horizontal stabilisers. A peculiar feature of the Victor was the prominent "chin" bulge. This contained the targeting radar, cockpit, nose landing gear unit and an auxiliary bomb aimer's position. Unlike the Vulcan and Valiant, the Victor's pilots sat at the same level as the rest of the crew, thanks to a larger pressurised compartment that extended all the way to the nose. As per the other V-bombers, only the pilots were provided with ejection seats, the three systems operators relying on explosive cushions that would help them from their seats and towards a traditional "bail out". A serial number is a unique number that is one of a series assigned for identification which varies from its successor or predecessor by a fixed discrete integer value. ... In geometry, the dihedral is the angle between two planes. ... For other uses, see Radar (disambiguation). ... Cockpit of a light aircraft, showing instrumentation dials and dual control yokes. ... Main and nosewheel undercarriage of a Qatar Airways Airbus A330 The undercarriage or landing gear is equipment which supports an aircraft when it is not flying. ... The crews of bomber aircraft, historically, included a bombardier, as they were known in the United States, or a bomb aimer, as they were known in other countries, who was responsible for targetting the planes munitions. ... Cabin pressurization is the active pumping of air into the cabin of an aircraft to increase the air pressure within the cabin. ... US Air Force F-15 Eagle ejection seat test using a mannequin. ...

The HP.80 prototypes performed well, but there were a number of minor design miscalculations that lead to the loss of WB771 in July 1954. Attached to the fin using three bolts, the tailplane was subject to considerably more stress than had been anticipated and it sheared off, causing the aircraft to crash with the loss of the crew. Additionally, the aircraft were considerably tail-heavy. This was remedied by large ballast weights in the HP.80 prototypes. Production Victors had a lengthened nose that also served to move the crew escape door further from the engine intakes and the tailplane attachment changed to a stronger four-bolt fixing.

Production B.1 Victors were powered by the Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire ASSa.7 turbojets rated at 11,000 lbf (49 kN) and carried the Yellow Sun weapon. Twenty-four were upgraded to B.1A standard by the addition of Red Steer tail-warning radar and a suite of radar warning receivers and electronic countermeasures (ECM). The Armstrong-Siddeley automobiles (and later aircraft engines) were an English marque manufactured from 1919 (after the company was formed in 1917 by a merger between two Coventry_based companies, Armstrong-Whitworth and Siddeley-Deasy) to 1960. ... The Sapphire was a jet engine produced by Armstrong Siddeley in the 1950s. ... Turbojets are the simplest and oldest kind of general purpose jet engines. ... The pound-force is a non-SI unit of force or weight (properly abbreviated lbf or lbf). The pound-force is equal to a mass of one pound multiplied by the standard acceleration due to gravity on Earth (which is defined as exactly 9. ... For other uses, see Newton (disambiguation). ... In astronomy, stellar classification is a classification of stars based initially on photospheric temperature and its associated spectral characteristics, and subsequenly refined in terms of other characteristics. ... The Rainbow Codes were a series of code names used to disguise the nature of various British military research projects from after the Second World War until 1958 when they were replaced by an alphanumeric code system. ... Inspecting an AN/ALQ-184 Electronic Attack Pod Electronic countermeasures (ECM) are a subsection of electronic warfare which includes any sort of electrical or electronic device designed to fool radar, sonar, or other detection systems like IR (infrared) and Laser. ...

The B.2 was an improved Victor powered by the Rolls-Royce Conway RCo.11 turbojet engines providing 17,250 lbf (76.8 kN). This required enlarged and re-designed intakes to provide greater airflow. The wing was stretched and incorporated two "speed pods" or "Küchemann carrots". These are anti-shock bodies; bulged fairings that reduced wave drag at transonic speeds (see area rule). The right wing incorporated a Blackburn Artouste auxiliary power unit. The latter allowed the aircraft to self-start and provided systems power for when the main engines were unlit. This feature was useful for aircraft designed to sit on constant alert. The B.2 also featured an aerial refuelling probe above the cockpit, large "slipper tanks" on the wings and a body at the base of the tailplane containing ECM gear, this featured distinctive "elephant ears" cooling inlets. Rolls-Royce Limited was a British car and aero-engine manufacturing company founded by Henry Royce and C.S. Rolls on 15 March 1906 and was the result of a partnership formed in 1904. ... The Rolls-Royce Conway was the first by-pass engine to go into service in the world. ... NASA Convair 990 with antishock bodies on the rear of the wings. ... Wave drag is an aerodynamics term that refers to a sudden and very powerful form of drag that appears on aircraft flying at high-subsonic speeds. ... Transonic is an aeronautics term referring to a range of velocities just below and above the speed of sound. ... Junkers patent drawing from March 1944. ... The Turbomeca Artouste was an early French turboshaft engine, first run in 1947. ... The APU exhaust at the tail end of an Airbus A380 An auxiliary power unit (APU) is a device on a vehicle whose purpose is to provide energy for functions other than propulsion. ... Aerial refueling, also called in-flight refueling (IFR) or air-to-air refueling (AAR), is the practice of transferring fuel from one aircraft to another during flight. ...

With the move to low-level penetration missions, the Victors received two-tone camouflage patterns, terrain following radar and cockpit rolling-map displays. Twenty-one B.2 were upgraded to the B.2(RS) with upgraded Conway RCo.17 engines - 20,600 lbf (91 kN) - and the Blue Steel stand-off nuclear missile. It had been intended that the AGM-48 Skybolt cruise missile would be carried (four per aircraft) but this system was cancelled in 1963. Type Nuclear stand-off missile Nationality UK Era Cold War Launch platform Aircraft Target History Builder Avro Date of design Production period Service duration 1963-1970 Operators UK RAF Variants One/mod for low-level delivery Number built 53 operational live rounds Specifications Type Diameter 1. ... The Douglas GAM-87A Skybolt was an air-launched ballistic missile (ALBM) developed during the late 1950s. ...

Nine B.2 aircraft were converted for "strategic reconnaissance" purposes to replace Valiants withdrawn due to wing fatigue. The received cameras, a bomb-bay mounted radar mapping system and wing-top "sniffers" to detect particles released from nuclear testing. Preparation for an underground nuclear test at the Nevada Test Site in the 1980s. ...

The withdrawal of the Valiant fleet left the RAF with a shortfall in front-line tanker aircraft, so the B.1/1A aircraft, now judged to be obsolescent in the strike role, were made re-tasked with this duty. Six B.1A aircraft received a two-point system with a "hose and drogue" system carried under each wing as B.1A (K2P). Fourteen further B.1A and eleven B.1 were given a more thorough conversion, receiving bomb-bay fuel tanks and a centreline dispenser unit as three-point tankers - the K.1A / K.1 respectively. Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Bermuda International Airport (IATA: BDA, ICAO: TXKF) is an airport in Ferry Reach, Bermuda, at the other end of the island from the capital, Hamilton, Bermuda. ... S-3 Viking at USNAS Bermuda. ...

The remaining B.2 aircraft were not as suited to the low-level strike mission as the Vulcan with its enormously strong delta wing. This, combined with the switch of the nuclear deterrent from the RAF to the Royal Navy with the Polaris missile) meant that the Victor was now surplus to requirements. Hence, 24 B.2 were modified to 'K.2 standard. Similar to the K.1/1A conversions, the wing was trimmed to reduce stress and had the nose glazing plated over. The K.2 could carry 91,000 pounds of fuel (41 metric tonnes). It served in the tanker role until withdrawn in October 1993. This article is about the navy of the United Kingdom. ... Polaris A-3 on launch pad in Cape Canaveral The Polaris missile was a submarine-launched, two-stage solid-fuel nuclear-armed ballistic missile (SLBM) built during the Cold War by Lockheed for the United States Navy. ...

Operational history

The Victor was the last of the V-bombers to enter service and the last to retire, 9 years after the last Vulcan (although the Vulcan survived longer in its original role as a bomber). It saw service in the Falklands War and 1991 Gulf War as an in-flight refuelling tanker. During the Borneo conflict of 1962-66, two B.1A aircraft flew the Victor's only offensive mission. Combatants Argentina United Kingdom Commanders President Leopoldo Galtieri Vice-Admiral Juan Lombardo Brigadier-General Ernesto Crespo Brigade-General Mario MenÃ©ndez Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Admiral Sir John Fieldhouse Rear-Admiral John â€œSandyâ€ Woodward Major-General Jeremy Moore Casualties 649 killed 1,068 wounded 11,313 taken prisoner 75 fixed... (Redirected from 1991 Gulf War) See also: 2003 invasion of Iraq and Gulf War (disambiguation) C Company, 1st Battalion, The Staffordshire Regiment, 1st UK Armoured Division The Gulf War was a conflict between Iraq and a coalition force of 34 nations led by the United States. ... Aerial refueling, also called in-flight refueling (IFR) or air-to-air refueling (AAR), is the practice of transferring fuel from one aircraft to another during flight. ... The Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation was an intermittent war over the future of the island of Borneo, between British-backed Malaysia and Indonesia in 1962â€“1966. ...

Vertically Supersonic

The Victor has the dubious honour of being one of the heaviest aircraft ever to go supersonic in a dive. The Victor was used during testing of the Blue Steel missile at the Woomera test range in Australia between 1957 and 1965. During one of these routine flights, the right air speed indicator failed, indicating Mach 1.03. The Victor was not designed to go supersonic so a "transonic" flight signal was sent to the auto stabilisers. They initiated a pitch-up manoeuvre in an attempt to slow the aircraft down. When the pilots checked the readouts on the two airspeed indicators, they chose to believe the faulty unit, and they too added positive pitch using the control yoke, also in an attempt to slow the bomber down. This resulted in a violent pitch up followed by a wing-over taking the Victor from plus 5G to minus 3G - well beyond the airframe design limits. The bomber then settled in to an uncontrollable, vertically supersonic flat spin, descending from 46,000ft to 16,000ft in 20 seconds. One of the flight crew had significant experience in prototype aircraft and elected to pull the braking parachute - normally used to slow the aircraft down after landing. The chute deployed but broke away within seconds. Fortunately, it induced just enough drag that some heavy stick-pulling by the crew managed to regain straight and level flight. It's worth understanding that this all happened in the space of a little under a minute, to an 80 ton aircraft carrying a fully-fueled Blue Steel nuclear-capable standoff missile.
Source : Frank Longhurst, weapons officer on-board the flight described here. This entry originally added by Chris Longhurst; Frank's son. Woomera Prohibited Area is a weapons testing range located in central South Australia. ... Type Nuclear stand-off missile Nationality UK Era Cold War Launch platform Aircraft Target History Builder Avro Date of design Production period Service duration 1963-1970 Operators UK RAF Variants One/mod for low-level delivery Number built 53 operational live rounds Specifications Type Diameter 1. ...

Variants

Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The Rainbow Codes were a series of code names used to disguise the nature of various British military research projects from after the Second World War until 1958 when they were replaced by an alphanumeric code system. ... Inspecting an AN/ALQ-184 Electronic Attack Pod Electronic countermeasures (ECM) are a subsection of electronic warfare which includes any sort of electrical or electronic device designed to fool radar, sonar, or other detection systems like IR (infrared) and Laser. ... Type Nuclear stand-off missile Nationality UK Era Cold War Launch platform Aircraft Target History Builder Avro Date of design Production period Service duration 1963-1970 Operators UK RAF Variants One/mod for low-level delivery Number built 53 operational live rounds Specifications Type Diameter 1. ...

Operators

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Survivors

Five Victors have survived (as of 2007) plus a few cockpit sections. All are located in England. They are, in age order; Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 600 pixelsFull resolution (2048 Ã— 1536 pixels, file size: 614 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Other versions Originally from en. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 600 pixelsFull resolution (2048 Ã— 1536 pixels, file size: 614 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Other versions Originally from en. ... 2007 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ...

The names, and accompanying nose art, were applied during the 1991 Gulf War. Of these "Lindy" and "Tina" are the only "live" aircraft. They are run up regularly, performing high speed taxi runs with parachute braking at annual events. American Air Museum Duxford The Imperial War Museum Duxford in Cambridgeshire, commonly referred to simply as Duxford, houses the Imperial War Museums aircraft collection, as well as having a large collection of tanks, military and naval vehicles. ... Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs) is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west. ... Generally, aircraft in British military service were known by names assigned by their manufacturer, or (for various imported types) bestowed upon them by the first military service to bring them into service. ... An Avro Lancaster in the main hangar of the RAF Museum Hendon The Royal Air Force Museum (RAF Museum) is a museum dedicated to the history of aviation, and the British Royal Air Force in particular. ... Cosford is a village in Shropshire, England. ... Shropshire (pronounced /, -/), alternatively known as Salop[6] or abbreviated Shrops[7], is a county in the West Midlands of England. ... For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ... Hawker-Siddeley Harrier plinthed as a gate guardian at RAF Stafford. ... RAF Marham is a Royal Air Force station in Norfolk, England. ... Norfolk (IPA: //) is a low-lying county in East Anglia in the east of southern England. ... The Yorkshire Air Museum, (RAF Elvington airfield during the World War II), is an air museum in the United Kingdom. ... York shown within England Coordinates: , Sovereign state Constituent country Region Yorkshire and the Humber Ceremonial county North Yorkshire Admin HQ York City Centre Founded 71 City Status 71 Government - Type Unitary Authority, City - Governing body City of York Council - Leadership: Leader & Executive - Executive: Liberal Democrat - MPs: Hugh Bayley (L) John... The Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome and Proving Ground is a privately-owned airport in Leicestershire. ... Leicestershire ( IPA: (RP), IPA: (locally)), abbreviation Leics. ... Nose art on a B-17 Flying Fortress Nose art is a painting or design done on the fuselage near the nose of a warplane, usually for decorative purposes. ...

Trivia

, Radlett is a small town located north of London in the county of Hertfordshire between St Albans and Elstree on Watling Street with a population of approximately 8,000. ... MoD Boscombe Down is an aircraft testing site located south of Amesbury, Wiltshire, England. ... For the game, see Anagrams. ... A car from 1956 Year 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 152nd day of the year (153rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Test pilots are aviators who fly new and modified aircraft in specific maneuvers, allowing the results to be measured and the design to be evaluated. ... This page is about the physical speed of sound waves in a medium. ... An F/A-18 Hornet breaking the sound barrier. ... Watford is a town and district in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, situated 34 km (21 miles) northwest of London and within the bounds of the M25 motorway. ... , The modern Castle Quay Shopping Centre in Banbury alongside the Oxford Canal, with Banbury Museum in the background. ... A sonic boom produced by an airplane moving at twice the speed of caramel cheese. ... For information about the heavy metal band, see Iron Maiden (band) Categories: Stub | Torture ...

Specifications (Handley-Page Victor B.1)

General characteristics

Performance

Armament

Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The distance AB is the wing span of this Aer Lingus Airbus A320. ... In aviation, the Maximum Take-Off Weight (or MTOW) is the maximum weight with which an aircraft is allowed to try to achieve flight. ... The Sapphire was a jet engine produced by Armstrong Siddeley in the 1950s. ... Turbojets are the simplest and oldest kind of general purpose jet engines. ... V speeds are speeds that define certain performance and limiting characteristics of an aircraft. ... The maximal total range is the distance an aircraft can fly between takeoff and landing, as limited by fuel capacity in powered aircraft, or cross-country speed and environmental conditions in unpowered aircraft. ... In aeronautics, the service ceiling is the maximum density altitude where the best rate of climb airspeed will produce a 100 feet per minute climb(twin engine) and 50 feet(single engine) at maximum weight while in a clean configuration with maximum continuous power. ... Thrust-to-weight ratio (where weight means weight at the Earths surface) is a dimensionless parameter characteristic of rocket and jet engines, and of vehicles propelled by such engines (typically space launch vehicles and jet aircraft). ... Type Nuclear stand-off missile Nationality UK Era Cold War Launch platform Aircraft Target History Builder Avro Date of design Production period Service duration 1963-1970 Operators UK RAF Variants One/mod for low-level delivery Number built 53 operational live rounds Specifications Type Diameter 1. ...

References

External links

Encyclopedia > Handley Page Victor

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