I was surprised to notice that we don't already have a Victor thread here, bearing in mind how many forum members love the aircraft so much. So I thought I would start one off with this great news about Duxfords example & a photo I took last year -
(Courtesy of the IWM website -)
'I am pleased to confirm that work will commence on the conservation of IWM's Handley Page Victor in late April 2016.
The aircraft will be dismantled in the Conservation Hall in AirSpace and transported to the Conservation in Action hangar. While a survey of the aircraft has shown the aircraft to be in better condition internally than the exterior appearance would suggest, the conservation work is likely to take between three and five years.
On completion, the Victor will be displayed in the AirSpace exhibition'
On 1 June 1956, a production Victor XA917 flown by test pilot Johnny Allam inadvertently exceeded the speed of sound after Allam let the nose drop slightly at a higher power setting. Allam noticed a cockpit indication of Mach 1.1 and ground observers from Watford to Banbury reported hearing a sonic boom. The Victor maintained stability throughout the event. Aviation author Andrew Brookes has claimed that Allam broke the sound barrier knowingly to demonstrate the Victor's superiority to the earlier V-bombersThe Victor was the largest aircraft to have broken the sound barrier at that time
Were you doubting me? I found out it was supersonic when I asked a Victor captain what the maximum speed of a Victor was, and he told me that at one term they were cleared for supersonic flight. And during the transatlantic air race in 1969 the Victors all broke mach one.
I suspect the correct term would be "capable of supersonic flight" in ideal conditions and with no extra bits on. I wonder what the largest supersonic military aircraft was. I exclude Concorde.
No Amount Of Evidence Will Ever Persuade An Idiot (probably not Mark Twain)
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