Handley Page Victor – Photos et vidéo

Lla Handley Page Victor était un bombardier stratégique à réaction britannique, développé et produit par la Handley Page Aircraft Company, qui a servi pendant la guerre froide. Il s’agissait du troisième et dernier des bombardiers V exploités par la Royal Air Force (RAF), les deux autres bombardiers V étant l’Avro Vulcan et le Vickers Valiant. Le Victor avait été développé pour fonctionner dans le cadre de la dissuasion nucléaire aéroportée du Royaume-Uni. En 1968, le type a été retiré de la mission nucléaire à la suite de la découverte de fissures de fatigue, qui avaient été exacerbées par la RAF’l’adoption d’un profil de vol à basse altitude pour éviter l’interception.

Source: Handley Page Victor sur Wikipedia

The Handley Page Victor was a British jet-powered strategic bomber, developed and produced by the Handley Page Aircraft Company and served during the Cold War. It was the third and final of the V-bombers operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF); the other two V-bombers being the Avro Vulcan and the Vickers Valiant. The Victor had a distinctive crescent-shaped wing that enabled it to fly at high altitudes and speeds, making it less vulnerable to interception. The Victor was initially designed to carry a single nuclear bomb, but later variants were equipped with conventional bombs, cruise missiles, or aerial refueling pods.
The Victor entered service in 1958 and was retired from the nuclear deterrent role in 1968, following the discovery of fatigue cracks in the airframe. Some Victors were converted into strategic reconnaissance aircraft, using a combination of radar, cameras, and other sensors to gather intelligence. Others were modified into tankers to provide aerial refueling for other aircraft, such as the Vulcan bombers that participated in the Falklands War. The Victor was the last of the V-bombers to be retired from service, in 1993. It was replaced by the Vickers VC10 and the Lockheed Tristar as tankers, and by various other aircraft as bombers and reconnaissance platforms.