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142-776: The Handley Page Victor is a British jet-powered strategic bomber developed and produced by Handley Page during the Cold War . It was the third and final V bomber to be operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF), the other two being the Vickers Valiant and the Avro Vulcan . Entering service in 1958, the Victor was initially developed as part of the United Kingdom's airborne nuclear deterrent , but it

284-432: A barrel roll during practices for a display flight at Farnborough Airshow . Manoeuvrability was greatly enabled by the light controls, quick response of the aircraft, and the design of certain flight surfaces such as the infinitely-variable tail-mounted airbrake. The Victor was designed for flight at high subsonic speeds, although multiple instances have occurred in which the sound barrier was broken. During development of

426-400: A free-fall nuclear weapon ), or over shorter ranges 20,000 lb (9,100 kg) of conventional bombs. No defensive weapons were to be carried, the aircraft relying on its speed and altitude to avoid opposing fighters. The similar OR.230 required a "long range bomber" with a 2,000 nautical miles (2,300 mi; 3,700 km) radius of action at a height of 50,000 ft (15,000 m),

568-429: A nuclear reactor . Plasma thrusters accelerate a plasma by electromagnetic means. The pump-jet, used for marine propulsion , uses water as the working fluid, pressurized by a ducted propeller , centrifugal pump , or a combination of the two. Cephalopods such as squid use jet propulsion for rapid escape from predators ; they use other mechanisms for slow swimming. The jet is produced by ejecting water through

710-455: A siphon , which typically narrows to a small opening to produce the maximum exhalent velocity. The water passes through the gills prior to exhalation, fulfilling the dual purpose of respiration and locomotion. Sea hares (gastropod molluscs) employ a similar method, but without the sophisticated neurological machinery of cephalopods they navigate somewhat more clumsily. Some teleost fish have also developed jet propulsion, passing water through

852-658: A tandem rotor civil helicopter. The result was the 13-seat Type 173 , which made its first flight in Filton in 1952. Five examples were built for evaluation purposes. Although no airlines ordered the Type 173, it led to military designs, of which the Type 192 went into service with the RAF as the Belvedere . First flying in 1958, 26 were built in total. Pursuing the idea of a civil tandem rotor helicopter, Hafner and his team developed

994-508: A "Phase 2" bomber, to be followed by "Phase 3" Victors with the wingspan increased to 137 ft (42 m) and powered by Bristol Siddeley Olympus turbojets or Rolls-Royce Conway turbofans . The Sapphire 9 was cancelled and the heavily modified Phase 3 aircraft would have delayed introduction, so an interim "Phase 2A" Victor was proposed and accepted, to be powered by the Conway but with minimal modifications. The "Phase 2A" proposal became

1136-419: A 'guarantee to fly', Sir George succeeded in getting 15,000 francs compensation from Zodiac. After this failure, the company decided to embark upon designing its own aircraft to serve as a successor. Drawings were prepared by George Challenger for an aircraft based on a successful design by Henri Farman whose dimensions had been published in the aeronautical press. These drawings were produced in little over

1278-558: A 50% share of the new company, with Hawker Siddeley group holding the other 50%. In 1966, Bristol Siddeley was purchased by Rolls-Royce , leaving the latter as the only major aero-engine company in Britain. From 1967, Bristol Siddeley's operations became the "Bristol Engine Division" and the "Small Engine Division" of Rolls-Royce, identified separately from Rolls-Royce's existing "Aero Engine Division". A number of Bristol Siddeley engines continued to be developed under Rolls-Royce including

1420-593: A combination of radar , cameras, and other sensors. Prior to the introduction of Polaris, some had already been converted into tankers to replace Valiants; further conversions to tankers followed and some of these re-purposed Victors refuelled Vulcan bombers during the Black Buck raids of the Falklands War . The Victor was the last of the V-bombers to be retired from service on 15 October 1993. The Victor

1562-511: A cruising speed of 575 miles per hour (925 km/h), and a maximum weight of 200,000 lb (91,000 kg) when fully loaded. 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. Realising that

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1704-469: A definitive three-point tanker conversion of the Victor Mk.1. Fourteen further B.1A and 11 B.1 were fitted with two permanently fitted fuel tanks in the bomb bay, and a high-capacity Mk 17 centreline hose dispenser unit with three times the fuel flow rate as the wing reels, and were designated K.1A and K.1 respectively. The remaining B.2 aircraft were not as suited to the low-level mission profile that

1846-513: A further 28 1,000 lb bombs to supplement the main bomb bay, but this option was not pursued. In addition to a range of free-fall nuclear bombs, later Victor B.2s operated as missile carriers for standoff nuclear missiles such as Blue Steel. Target information for Blue Steel could be input during flight, as well in advance of the mission. It was reported that, with intensive work, a B.2 missile carrier could revert to carrying free-fall nuclear weapons or conventional munitions within 30 hours. Like

1988-399: A futuristic-looking, streamlined aircraft, with four turbojet (later turbofan) engines buried in the thick wing roots. 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. It was originally required by

2130-669: A hundred aircraft and the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) consisted of only seven squadrons equipped with a miscellany of aircraft types, none of them armed. Official War Office policy was to purchase only aircraft designed by the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE), and Bristol had already built a number of their B.E.2 two-seater reconnaissance aircraft. However, pressure from the pilots of the RFC and Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) led to orders being placed for

2272-658: A licensed and improved version of an aircraft manufactured in France by société Zodiac , a biplane designed by Gabriel Voisin . This aircraft had been exhibited at the Paris Aero Salon in 1909 and Sir George had been impressed by the quality of its construction. Accordingly, a single example was purchased and shipped to England to be shown at the Aero Show at Olympia in March 1910, and construction of five more begun at

2414-655: A low-level high-speed approach supported by increasingly sophisticated ECMs was adopted in its place. The improved Victor B.2 started to be delivered in 1961, with the first B.2 Squadron, 139 Squadron , forming in February 1962, and a second, 100 Squadron , in May 1962. These were the only two bomber squadrons to form on the B.2, as the last 28 Victors on order were cancelled. The prospect of Skybolt ballistic missiles, with which each V-bomber could strike at two separate targets, meant that fewer bombers would be needed. The government

2556-630: A mainstay of the RAF during the 1920s. More than 5,300 of the type were produced and the Fighter remained in service until 1931. Another aircraft designed at this time was the Bristol Monoplane Scout . Although popular with pilots, the success of this aircraft was limited by War Office prejudice against monoplanes and only 130 were built. It was considered that its relatively high landing speed of 50 mph made it unsuitable for use under

2698-514: A much larger design, the Type 194. This was in an advanced state of design when the Bristol Helicopter Division was merged, as a result of government influence, with the helicopter interests of other British aircraft manufacturers ( Westland , Fairey and Saunders-Roe ) to form Westland Helicopters in 1960. When the competing Westland Westminster was cancelled, the management of the combined company allowed development of

2840-506: A new aircraft manufactured by Bristol, known as the Scout . In 1915, Barnwell returned from France, his skills as pilot being considered to be of much less value than his ability as a designer. At this time Leslie Frise , newly graduated from Bristol University's engineering department, was recruited by Barnwell. In 1916, the company's founder Sir George died; he was succeeded in managing the company by his son Stanley. The first project that

2982-406: A passive radar warning receiver, a metric radar jammer and communications jamming equipment. Streamlined fairings on the trailing edges of the wings that could house large quantities of defensive chaff / flares were also new additions. While trials were conducted with terrain-following radar and a side scan mode for the bombing and navigation radar, neither of these functions were integrated into

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3124-744: A presence at the Filton site where the Bristol Aeroplane Company was located. The British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Ltd was founded in February 1910 by Sir George White , chairman of the Bristol Tramways and Carriage Company , along with his son Stanley and his brother Samuel, to commercially exploit the fast-growing aviation sector. Sir George met with the American aviation pioneer Wilbur Wright in France in 1909 by chance, during which he became aware of aviation's business potential. Unlike many aviation companies of

3266-413: 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 high 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

3408-529: A prototype Bristol Badger in May 1919. For £15,000 Bristol got the Cosmos design team, headed by Roy Fedden , along with a small number of completed engines and tooling. Although it was to be several years before Bristol showed any profit from the aero engine division, the Jupiter engine eventually proved enormously successful; indeed, during the inter-war period, the aero-engine division was more successful than

3550-615: A second squadron, 15 Squadron , forming before the end of the year. Four Victors, fitted with Yellow Astor reconnaissance radar, together with passive sensors, were used to equip a secretive unit, the Radar Reconnaissance Flight at RAF Wyton . The Victor bomber force continued to build up, with 57 Squadron forming in March 1959 and 55 Squadron in October 1960. At its height, the Victor was simultaneously operating with six squadrons of RAF Bomber Command. According to

3692-508: A sense of a crew unity was considered highly important; Victor crews would typically serve together for at least five years, and a similar approach was adopted with ground personnel. In order to maximise the operational lifespan of each aircraft, Victor crews typically flew a single five-hour training mission per week. Each crew member was required to qualify for servicing certificates to independently undertake inspection, refuelling and turnaround operations. In times of high international tension,

3834-712: A separate helicopter division in the Weston-super-Mare factory, under helicopter pioneer Raoul Hafner . This facility was taken over by Westland in 1960. Other post-war projects included Bristol Cars , which used pre-war BMW designs as the basis for the Bristol 400 . Vehicle production was conducted at Patchway , Bristol. The engine developed for the Bristol 400 found its way into many successful motor cars manufactured by other companies, such as Cooper , Frazer Nash and AC and, in 1954 and 1955 , powered

3976-462: A series of detachments of Victor B.1As was deployed to RAF Tengah , Singapore as a deterrent against Indonesia during the Borneo conflict , the detachments fulfilling a strategic deterrent role as part of Far East Air Force , while also giving valuable training in low-level flight and visual bombing. In September 1964, with the confrontation with Indonesia reaching a peak, the detachment of four Victors

4118-465: A small tractor configuration biplane and a monoplane . Both of these were exhibited at the 1911 Aero Show at Olympia but neither was flown successfully. At this time, both Challenger and Low left the company to join the newly established aircraft division of the armament firm Vickers . Their place was taken by Pierre Prier , the former chief instructor at the Blériot flying school at Hendon : he

4260-454: A target 1,500 nautical miles (2,800 km; 1,700 mi) from a base which may be anywhere in the world". A cruising speed of 500 knots (930 km/h; 580 mph) at heights between 35,000 ft (11,000 m) and 50,000 ft (15,000 m) was specified. The maximum weight when fully loaded ought not to exceed 100,000 lb (45,000 kg). The weapons load was to include a 10,000 lb (4,500 kg) "Special gravity bomb" (i.e.

4402-430: A tendency for the aircraft to pitch upwards during low-to-moderate Mach numbers. At low altitude, the Victor typically flew in a smooth and comfortable manner, in part due to its narrowness and flexibility of the crescent wing. 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

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4544-410: A unit would jam. A separate hydraulic circuit was used for each of the following: landing gear, flaps, nose flaps, air brakes, bomb doors, wheel brakes, nose-wheel steering, ram-air-turbine air scoops. An AC electrical system and auxiliary power unit were significant additions to the later Victor B.2, electrical reliability being noticeably improved. To evade enemy detection and interception efforts,

4686-494: A variety of cameras, a bomb bay-mounted radar mapping system and air sampling equipment to detect particles released from nuclear testing . Designated Victor SR.2, a single aircraft could photograph the whole of the United Kingdom in a single two-hour sortie. Different camera configurations could be installed in the bomb bay, including up to four F49 survey cameras and up to eight F96 cameras could be fitted to take vertical or oblique daylight photography; nighttime photography required

4828-402: A week, and Sir George promptly authorised the construction of twenty examples. The first aircraft to be completed was taken to Larkhill for flight trials, where it performed its first flight on 20 July 1910, piloted by Maurice Edmonds. The aircraft proved entirely satisfactory during flight tests. The first batch equipped the two training schools, as well as serving as demonstration machines;

4970-489: Is expanded through one or more nozzles . Technically, most jet engines are gas turbines , working on the Brayton Cycle . Two types of jet engines, the turbojet and turbofan , employ axial-flow or centrifugal compressors to raise the pressure before combustion and turbines to drive the compression. Ramjets operate only at high flight speeds because they omit the compressors and turbines, depending instead on

5112-455: Is produced by some reaction engines or animals when thrust is generated by a fast moving jet of fluid in accordance with Newton's laws of motion . It is most effective when the Reynolds number is high—that is, the object being propelled is relatively large and passing through a low-viscosity medium. In animals, the most efficient jets are pulsed, rather than continuous, at least when

5254-427: Is the effective exhaust velocity and m ˙ {\displaystyle {\dot {m}}} is the propellant flow rate. Reaction engines produce thrust by expelling solid or fluid reaction mass ; jet propulsion applies only to engines which use fluid reaction mass. A jet engine is a reaction engine which uses ambient air as the working fluid and converts it to a hot, high-pressure gas which

5396-452: Is used as the unit of propellant, then specific impulse has units of velocity . If weight ( newton or pound-force ) is used instead, then specific impulse has units of time (seconds). Multiplying flow rate by the standard gravity ( g 0 ) converts specific impulse from the mass basis to the weight basis. A propulsion system with a higher specific impulse uses the mass of the propellant more effectively in creating forward thrust and, in

5538-507: The Victor B.2 , with Conway RCo.11 engines providing 17,250 lbf (76.7 kN), which required enlarged intakes to increase the airflow to the engines, and the wingspan was increased to 120 ft (37 m). The B.2 also added a pair of retractable "elephant ear" intakes on the upper rear fuselage forward of the fin, to feed air to Ram Air Turbines (RAT) to provide electricity should an in-flight engine failure occur. The first flight of

5680-586: The Bristol 450 sports prototype to class victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race. In 1953, S.H. Arnolt, a US car dealer who sold British sports cars, commissioned the Bristol Car Division to build a sports car for the US market, called the Arnolt-Bristol . It is estimated that about 177 were built before production ceased in 1958. In 1960, Sir George White was instrumental in preventing

5822-623: The Bristol Aeroplane Company, Ltd . During this time the company, acting under pressure from the Air Ministry , bought the aero-engine division of the bankrupt Cosmos Engineering Company , based in the Bristol suburb of Fishponds , to form the nucleus of a new aero-engine operation. There was already a good working relationship between Bristol Aircraft and Cosmos, the Cosmos Jupiter having been first flown in

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5964-643: The British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) and Bristol Aero Engines merged with Armstrong Siddeley to form Bristol Siddeley . BAC went on to become a founding component of the nationalised British Aerospace , now BAE Systems . Bristol Siddeley was purchased by Rolls-Royce in 1966, who continued to develop and market Bristol-designed engines. The BAC works were in Filton , about 4 miles (6 km) north of Bristol city centre. BAE Systems , Airbus , Rolls-Royce , MBDA and GKN still have

6106-729: The Olympus turbojet – including the joint development Bristol started with Snecma for Concorde – and the Pegasus . The astronomical names favoured by Bristol indicated their heritage in a Rolls-Royce lineup named after British rivers . The Bristol Aeroplane Company's Helicopter Division had its roots in 1944, when the helicopter designer Raoul Hafner , released from the Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment (AFEE), came to Bristol along with some members of his team. Under Hafner's direction,

6248-751: The Second World War , Bristol's most important aircraft was the Beaufighter heavy two-seat multirole aircraft, a long-range fighter, night fighter , ground attack aircraft and torpedo bomber . The type was used extensively by the RAF, other Commonwealth air forces and by the USAAF . The Beaufighter was derived from the Beaufort torpedo bomber, itself a derivative of the Blenheim. In 1940, shadow factories were set up at Weston-super-Mare for

6390-615: The Type 200 (a competitor of the Hawker Siddeley Trident ) and its derivatives, the Type 201 and Type 205. None of these designs were built. In 1959, Bristol was forced by Government policy to merge its aircraft interests with English Electric , Hunting Aircraft , and Vickers-Armstrongs to form the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Bristol formed a holding company which held a 20 per cent share of BAC, while English Electric and Vickers held 40 per cent each. In 1966,

6532-511: The actual exhaust velocity because the mass of the combustion air is not being accounted for. Actual and effective exhaust velocity are the same in rocket engines not utilizing air. Specific impulse is inversely proportional to specific fuel consumption (SFC) by the relationship I sp = 1/( g o ·SFC) for SFC in kg/(N·s) and I sp = 3600/SFC for SFC in lb/(lbf·hr). From the definition of specific impulse thrust in SI units is: where V e

6674-476: The dynamic pressure generated by the high speed (known as ram compression). Pulse jets also omit the compressors and turbines but can generate static thrust and have limited maximum speed. The rocket is capable of operating in the vacuum of space because it is dependent on the vehicle carrying its own oxidizer instead of using the oxygen in the air, or in the case of a nuclear rocket , heats an inert propellant (such as liquid hydrogen ) by forcing it through

6816-528: 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. The Victor's bomb bay was much larger than that of the Valiant and Vulcan, which allowed heavier weapon loads to be carried at the cost of range. As an alternative to the single "10,000 lb" nuclear bomb as required by

6958-685: The Blue Danube nuclear weapon and later with the more powerful Yellow Sun weapon when it became available. Victors also carried U.S.-owned Mark 5 nuclear bombs (made available under the Project E programme) and the British Red Beard tactical nuclear weapon. A total of 24 were upgraded to B.1A standard by the addition of Red Steer tail warning radar in an enlarged tail-cone and a suite of radar warning receivers and electronic countermeasures (ECM) from 1958 to 1960. On 1 June 1956,

7100-777: The Bristol holding company which held 20 per cent of BAC and 50 per cent of Bristol Siddeley engines was acquired by Rolls-Royce . Bristol also had the following holdings and subsidiary companies at this time:- Bristol Aerojet (50 per cent) – Bristol Aeroplane Co Australia – Bristol DE Mexico SA (78 per cent) – Motores Bristol De Cuba SA – Bristol Aeroplane Co of Canada – Bristol Aero Industries Ltd – Bristol Aeroplane Co USA – Spartan Air Services Ltd (46.5 per cent) – Bristol Aeroplane Co New Zealand – Bristol Aircraft Services Ltd – Bristol Aeroplane Plastics Ltd – SECA (30 per cent) – Short Bros & Harland (15.25 per cent) – SVENSK-ENGELSK Aero Service AB – TABSA (25 per cent) – Westland Aircraft Ltd (10 per cent). The Canadian Bristol group of companies

7242-504: The Bulldog was retired from front line service. Since the Bulldog had started life as a private venture rather than an Air Ministry-sponsored prototype it could be sold to other countries, and Bulldogs were exported to, among others, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, and Australia. During this time, Bristol was noted for its preference for steel airframes, using members built up from high-tensile steel strip rolled into flanged sections rather than

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7384-555: The Falklands, with approximately 1.1 million gal (5 million L) of fuel consumed in each mission. At the time, these missions held the record for the world's longest-distance bombing raids. 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

7526-593: The Mexican Government to be installed in training schools throughout Mexico. Malcolm Roebuck was hired from Alfred Herbert Ltd along with William Walford Webb Woodward to supervise this project. In 1977, BAC was nationalised, along with Scottish Aviation and Hawker Siddeley , to form British Aerospace (BAe), which later became part of the now-privatised BAE Systems . The Canadian unit was acquired by Rolls-Royce Holdings and sold in 1997 to current owner Magellan Aerospace . A small number of records from

7668-471: The RAF at this time was the Blenheim light bomber. In August 1938, Frank Barnwell was killed flying a light aircraft of his own design; Barnwell was succeeded as Bristol's Chief Designer by Leslie Frise . By the time war broke out in 1939, the Bristol works at Filton were the largest single aircraft manufacturing unit in the world, with a floor area of nearly 25 hectares (2,691,000 square feet). During

7810-666: The RAF had adopted for carrying out strategic bombing missions as the Vulcan with its stronger 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 Victors were declared surplus to requirements. Hence, 24 B.2 were modified to K.2 standard. Similar to the K.1/1A conversions, the wing, which was to have been fitted with tip fuel tanks to reduce wing fatigue, had 18 inches removed from each tip instead and

7952-517: The Reynolds number is greater than 6. Specific impulse (usually abbreviated I sp ) is a measure of how effectively a rocket uses propellant or jet engine uses fuel. By definition, it is the total impulse (or change in momentum ) delivered per unit of propellant consumed and is dimensionally equivalent to the generated thrust divided by the propellant mass flow rate or weight flow rate. If mass ( kilogram , pound-mass , or slug )

8094-473: The Soviet detection network. This tactic was employed in conjunction with the Victor's extensive onboard ECM to increase the chances of evasion. 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:

8236-588: The Type 194 to continue, but it too failed to find a market. The Helicopter Division started out at the main Bristol Aeroplane Company site in Filton, but from 1955 it was moved to the Oldmixon factory in Weston-Super-Mare , which had built Blenheims during the War. The factory is now the site of The Helicopter Museum . Bristol did not systematically assign project type numbers until 1923, starting with

8378-508: The Type 90 Berkeley. In that year, they also retrospectively assigned type numbers in chronological order to all projects, built or not, from August 1914 onwards. Thus the Scouts A and B did not get a type number but the Scout C did and was the Type 1. The final Bristol project, numbered Type 225, was an unbuilt 1962 STOL transport. Of these 225 Types, 117 were built. This list does not include

8520-493: The U.S. Atomic Energy Act of 1946 (McMahon Act) prohibited the export of atomic knowledge, even to countries that had collaborated on the Manhattan Project . OR.1001 envisaged a weapon not to exceed 24 ft 2 in (7.37 m) in length, 5 ft (1.5 m) in diameter, 10,000 lb (4,500 kg) in weight, and suitable for release from 20,000 ft (6,100 m) to 50,000 ft (15,000 m). At

8662-492: The V-bombers would have dispersed and been maintained at a high state of readiness; if the order was given to deploy a nuclear strike, Victors at high readiness would have been airborne in under four minutes. British intelligence had estimated that the Soviets' radar network was capable of detecting the Victor at up to 200 miles away, so to avoid interception, the Victor would follow carefully planned routes to exploit weaknesses in

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8804-598: The Victor B.2 prototype , serial number XH668 was made on 20 February 1959, 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). Most of the wreckage had been recovered by November 1960, following an extensive search and recovery operation. The accident investigation concluded that

8946-536: The Victor B.2, the RAF had stressed the concept of tactical manoeuvrability, which led to much effort in development being given to increasing the aircraft's height and range performance. The Victor was the last of the V bombers to enter service, with deliveries of B.1s to No. 232 Operational Conversion Unit RAF based at RAF Gaydon , Warwickshire taking place in late 1957. The first operational bomber squadron, 10 Squadron , formed at RAF Cottesmore in April 1958, with

9088-615: The Victor B.2s on order would be fitted to carry two Skybolts. This plan was abandoned when the U.S. cancelled the Skybolt programme in 1963. 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. Nine B.2 aircraft were converted for strategic reconnaissance purposes to replace Valiants which had been withdrawn due to wing fatigue, with delivery beginning in July 1965. These aircraft received

9230-512: 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. Victor squadrons were dispatched on several extended deployments to the Far East , and short term deployments to Canada were also conducted for training purposes. At one point during the early 1960s, South Africa showed considerable interest in

9372-453: The Victor was outfitted with an extensive ECM suite which were operated by the air electronics officer (AEO), who had primary responsibility for the aircraft's electronics and communication systems. The ECM equipment could be employed to disrupt effective use of both active and passive radar in the vicinity of the aircraft, and to provide situational awareness for the crew. Enemy communications could also be jammed, and radar guided missiles of

9514-465: The acquisition of several bomber-configured Victors. Several of the Victor B.2s had been converted for Strategic Reconnaissance missions following the retirement of the Valiant in this capacity. 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

9656-478: The ailerons, elevators and rudder, with no manual reversion which required duplication as back-up. Since the control surfaces were fully powered an artificial feel unit was provided, fed by ram air from the pitot in the nose. Pilot control movements were transmitted via a low-friction mechanical system to the flying control units. Duplication was provided on the premise that the single pilot's input would remain functional and that neither hydraulic motors nor screwjack on

9798-424: The aircraft were hidden under wooden framing and tarpaulins printed with "GELEYPANDHY / SOUTHAMPTON" to make it appear as a boat hull in transit. GELEYPANDHY was an anagram of "Handley Pyge", marred by a signwriter's error. On 24 December 1952, piloted by Handley Page's chief test pilot Hedley Hazelden , WB771 made its maiden flight, which lasted for a total of 17 minutes. Ten days later, the Air Ministry announced

9940-446: The aircraft's official name to be Victor . The prototypes performed well; however, design failings led to the loss of WB771 on 14 July 1954, when the tailplane detached whilst making a low-level pass over the runway at Cranfield , causing the aircraft to crash with the loss of the crew. Attached to the fin using three bolts, the tailplane was subjected to considerably more load than had been anticipated, causing fatigue cracking around

10082-584: The aircraft, which gained the nickname of the Boxkite , went on to become a commercial success, a total of 76 being constructed. Many served in the company's flying schools and examples were sold to the War Office as well as a number of foreign governments. Although satisfactory by the standards of the day, the Boxkite was not capable of much further development and work soon was started on two new designs,

10224-413: The bolt holes. This led to the bolts loosening and failing in shear. Stress concentrations around the holes were reduced by adding a fourth bolt. The potential for flutter due to shortcomings in the design of the fin/tailplane joint was also reduced by shortening the fin. Additionally, the prototypes were tail heavy due to the lack of equipment in the nose; this was remedied by adding large ballast weights to

10366-402: The bomb aimer's nose glazing was replaced with metal. 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 . The K.2 could carry 91,000 lb (41,000 kg) of fuel. It served in the tanker role until withdrawn in October 1993. The Victor was

10508-565: The bomb bay remained available for weapons. Handley Page worked day and night to convert these six aircraft, with the first being delivered on 28 April 1965, and 55 Squadron becoming operational in the tanker role in August 1965. While these six aircraft provided a limited tanker capability suitable for refuelling fighters, the Mk 20A wing hosereels delivered fuel at too low a rate to be suitable for refuelling bombers. Work therefore continued to produce

10650-469: The campaign. The Victor also undertook several reconnaissance missions over the South Atlantic. These missions provided valuable intelligence for the retaking of South Georgia by British forces. 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

10792-465: The car division being lost during the wider company's merger with BAC. Accordingly, Bristol Cars Limited was formed, and remained within the Filton complex. Sir George retired in 1973 and Tony Crook purchased his share, becoming sole proprietor and managing director. Pre-fabricated buildings, marine craft and plastic and composite materials were also amongst the company's early post-war activities; these side-ventures were independently sold off. Bristol

10934-459: The case of a rocket, less propellant needed for a given delta-v , per the Tsiolkovsky rocket equation . In rockets, this means the engine is more effective at gaining altitude, distance, and velocity. This effectiveness is less important in jet engines that employ wings and use outside air for combustion and carry payloads that are much heavier than the propellant. Specific impulse includes

11076-409: The chaff. The fairings behaved like " Küchemann carrots". These were anti-shock bodies which reduced wave drag at transonic speeds (see area rule ). Handley Page proposed to build a further refined "Phase 6" Victor, with more fuel and capable of carrying up to four Skybolt (AGM-48) ballistic missiles on standing airborne patrols, but this proposal was rejected although it was agreed that some of

11218-450: The company developed the new Bristol Perseus line of radials based on the sleeve valve principle, which developed into some of the most powerful piston engines in the world and continued to be sold into the 1960s. In 1956, the division was renamed Bristol Aero Engines and then merged with Armstrong Siddeley in 1958 to form Bristol Siddeley as a counterpart of the airframe-producing company mergers that formed BAC. Bristol retained

11360-550: The company in October 1914. Barnwell went on to become one of the world's foremost aeronautical engineers, and worked for the company until his death in 1938. The company expanded rapidly, establishing a second factory at the Brislington tramway works; the firm employed a total of 200 people by the outbreak of the First World War . At the outbreak of war in August 1914, Britain's military forces possessed just over

11502-574: The company include the 'Boxkite' , the Bristol Fighter , the Bulldog , the Blenheim , the Beaufighter , and the Britannia , and much of the preliminary work which led to Concorde was carried out by the company. In 1956 its major operations were split into Bristol Aircraft and Bristol Aero Engines . In 1959, Bristol Aircraft merged with several major British aircraft companies to form

11644-399: The company's Filton works. It was then transported to Brooklands for flight trials, where it immediately became apparent that the type had an unsatisfactory wing-section and lacked sufficient power; even though Bristol fitted the aircraft with a new set of wings, it only achieved a single brief hop on 28 May 1910, after which work on the type was abandoned. Since the machine had been sold with

11786-410: The contribution to impulse provided by external air that has been used for combustion and is exhausted with the spent propellant. Jet engines use outside air, and therefore have a much higher specific impulse than rocket engines. The specific impulse in terms of propellant mass spent has units of distance per time, which is an artificial velocity called the "effective exhaust velocity". This is higher than

11928-426: The division produced two successful designs that were sold in quantity. The first, designated the Type 171 , had a shaky start after the wooden rotor blades of the second prototype failed on its first flight in 1949. Nevertheless, the Type 171, called Sycamore in military service, was sold to air forces around the world and 178 were built in total. After the Type 171, the Bristol Helicopter Division started work on

12070-409: The early history of this company are held within the papers of Sir George White at Bristol Archives (Ref. 35810/GW/T) ( online catalogue ). Other records at Bristol Record Office include the papers of Lionel Harris, an engineer at the Bristol Aeroplane Company in the 1940s (Ref. 42794) ( online catalogue ) The Bristol Engine Company was originally a separate entity, Cosmos Engineering , formed from

12212-454: The end of 1968. The RAF had experienced intense demand on its existing aerial refuelling tanker fleet, and its existing fleet of Victor B.1 tankers that had been converted earlier were due to be retired in the 1970s, so it was decided that the stored Victor B.2Rs would be converted to tankers also. Handley Page prepared a modification scheme that would see the Victors fitted with tip tanks, the structure modified to limit further fatigue cracking in

12354-461: The era were also reportedly rendered ineffective. The Victor B.2 featured an extended area located around the base of the tail fin which contained cooling systems and some of the ECM equipment. Some of the ECM equipment which initially saw use on the Victor, such as the original chaff dispenser and Orange Putter tail warning radar, had been developed for the earlier English Electric Canberra bomber and

12496-480: The era, which were started by enthusiasts with little financial backing, British and Colonial was well funded from its outset. Sir George chose to establish a separate company from the Bristol Tramway Company, as the venture might be seen as too risky by many shareholders, and the new company's working capital of £25,000 was subscribed entirely by Sir George, his brother, and his son. The affairs of

12638-468: The fallout from French nuclear tests conducted in the South Pacific . Originally reconnaissance Victors were equipped for visual reconnaissance; it was found to be cheaper to assign Canberra light bombers to this duty and the cameras were removed in 1970. Subsequently, radar-based reconnaissance was emphasised in the type's role. The reconnaissance Victors remained in use until 1974 when they followed

12780-523: The field conditions of the Western Front, and the type's active service was limited to the Near East. By the end of the war, the company employed over 3,000 at its production works, which were split between Filton and Brislington. Its products had always been referred to by the name 'Bristol' and this was formalized in 1920, when British and Colonial was liquidated and its assets transferred to

12922-469: The fitting of F89 cameras. Prior to the demise of the Valiant as a tanker, a trial installation of refuelling equipment was carried out using the Victor, including: overload bomb-bay tanks, underwing tanks, refuelling probe and jettisonable de Havilland Spectre Assisted Take-Off units. The aircraft involved in the trials, B.1 "XA930", carried out successful trials at Boscombe Down at very high all-up weights with relatively short field length take-offs. With

13064-609: The flight controls. In the event of engine flameout RATs would enable the crew to keep control of the aircraft until the engines could be relit. The Victor was commonly described as having good handling and excellent performance, along with favourable low speed flight characteristics. During the flight tests of the first prototype, the Victor proved its aerodynamic performance, flying up to Mach 0.98 without handling or buffeting problems; there were next to no aerodynamic changes between prototype and production aircraft. Production aircraft featured an automated nose-flap operation to counteract

13206-414: The gills to supplement fin-driven motion. In some dragonfly larvae, jet propulsion is achieved by the expulsion of water from a specialised cavity through the anus. Given the small size of the organism, a great speed is achieved. Scallops and cardiids , siphonophores , tunicates (such as salps ), and some jellyfish also employ jet propulsion. The most efficient jet-propelled organisms are

13348-472: The ground or in the air as an emergency power supply if the engine-driven generators failed. It also reduced the need for some ground support equipment. Two turbine-driven alternators, otherwise known as ram air turbines (RATs), had been introduced on the B.2 to provide emergency power in the event of electrical power being lost. Retractable scoops in the rear fuselage would open to feed ram air to them enabling them to generate sufficient electrical power to operate

13490-477: The late 1950s, the company undertook supersonic transport (SST) project studies, the Type 223 , which were later to contribute to Concorde . A research aircraft, the Type 188 , was constructed in the 1950s to test the feasibility of stainless steel as a material in a Mach 2.0 airframe. By the time the aircraft flew in 1962, the company was already part of BAC. In parallel with these supersonic studies, several subsonic designs were schemed in this period, including

13632-472: The light alloys more generally used in aircraft construction. On 15 June 1935, the Bristol Aeroplane Company became a public limited company . By this time, the company had a payroll of 4,200, mostly in the engine factory, and was well positioned to take advantage of the huge re-armament ordered by the British Government in May of that year. Bristol's most important contribution to the expansion of

13774-477: The majority of likely targets would not require such a long range, a less demanding specification for a medium-range bomber, Air Ministry Specification B.35/46 was issued. This demanded the ability to carry the same 10,000 lb bomb-load to a target 1,500 nautical miles (2,800 km; 1,700 mi) away at a height of 45,000–50,000 ft (14,000–15,000 m) at a speed of 575 mph (925 km/h). The design proposed by Handley Page in response to B.35/46

13916-522: The nose as a result of the Blue Steel installation. 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. However, the added skin friction drag meant an overall slight drag increase. So large streamlined fairings were added to the top of the each wing to hold

14058-408: The nuclear delivery role, the Victor was finished in an all-over anti-flash white colour scheme, designed to protect the aircraft against the damaging effects of a nuclear detonation. The white colour scheme was intended to reflect heat away from the aircraft; paler variations of RAF's roundels were also applied for this same reason. When the V-bombers were assigned to the low-level approach profile in

14200-446: The onboard electromechanical analogue bomb-aiming apparatus. Some of the navigation and targeting equipment was either directly descended from, or shared concepts with, those used on Handley Page's preceding Halifax bomber. Operationally, the accuracy of the bomb-aiming system proved to be limited to roughly 400 yards, which was deemed sufficient for high-level nuclear strike operations. The Victor had fully powered flying controls for

14342-439: The operational doctrine developed by the RAF, in the circumstance of deploying a large-scale nuclear strike, each Victor would have operated entirely independently; the crews would conduct their mission without external guidance and be reliant upon the effectiveness of their individual tactics to reach and successfully attack their assigned target; thus great emphasis was placed on continuous crew training during peacetime. Developing

14484-424: The operational fleet. The Victor B.1 was powered by four Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire turbojet engines. The engines were embedded in pairs in the wing roots. Because of the mid wing position, the tail was mounted at the tip of the fin to keep clear of the jet efflux. Sapphire engines installed in the Victor suffered 'centre-line closure' failures flying in dense cloud or heavy rain flying in the tropics. The Victor B.2

14626-569: The other two V-Bombers, the Victor made use of the Navigational and Bombing System (NBS); a little-used optical sight had also been installed upon early aircraft. For navigation and bomb-aiming purposes, the Victor employed several radar systems. These included the H2S radar , developed from the first airborne ground-scanning radar, and the Green Satin radar . Radar information was inputted into

14768-514: The parent company and Bristol came to dominate the market for air-cooled radial engines . Apart from providing engines for almost all Bristol's aircraft designs, the Jupiter and its successors powered an enormous number of aircraft built by other manufacturers. Bristol's most successful aircraft during this period was the Bristol Bulldog fighter, which formed the mainstay of Royal Air Force (RAF) fighter force between 1930 and 1937, when

14910-485: The post-war rapid contraction of military orders, Cosmos Engineering went bankrupt and the Air Ministry let it be known that it would be a good idea if the Bristol Aeroplane Company purchased it. The Jupiter competed with the Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar through the 1920s but Bristol put more effort into their design and, by 1929, the Jupiter was clearly superior. In the 1930s, and led by Roy Fedden,

15052-526: The pre-First World War automobile company Brazil-Straker . In 1917, Cosmos was asked to investigate air-cooled radial engines and, under Roy Fedden , produced what became the Cosmos Mercury , a 14-cylinder two-row (helical) radial, which they launched in 1918. This engine saw little use but the simpler nine-cylinder version known as the Bristol Jupiter was clearly a winning design. With

15194-460: The production of Beaufighters, and underground at Hawthorn, near Corsham , Wiltshire, for engine manufacture. Construction in the former stone quarry at Hawthorn took longer than expected and little production was achieved before the site closed in 1945. The company's war-time headquarters was located in the Royal West of England Academy , Clifton, Bristol. When the war ended, Bristol set up

15336-561: The programme. Two HP.80 prototypes, WB771 and WB775 , were built. WB771 had been partially assembled at the Handley Page factory at Radlett airfield when the Ministry of Supply decided the runway was too short for the first flight. The aircraft parts were transported by road to RAF Boscombe Down where they were assembled for the first flight; bulldozers were used to clear the route and create paths around obstacles. Sections of

15478-434: The proposal matured, a high-mounted, full tailplane was adopted instead. 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. The HP.80 and Avro's Type 698 were chosen as the best two of the proposed designs to B.35/46, and orders for two prototypes of each were placed. It

15620-526: The prototypes. 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. The lengthened nose also improved the center of gravity range. Production B.1 Victors were powered by the Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire ASSa.7 turbojets rated at 11,000  lbf (49  kN ), and were initially armed with

15762-461: The salps, which use an order of magnitude less energy (per kilogram per metre) than squid. Bristol Aeroplane Company The Bristol Aeroplane Company , originally the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company , was both one of the first and one of the most important British aviation companies, designing and manufacturing both airframes and aircraft engines . Notable aircraft produced by

15904-451: The same level as the rest of the crew, due to a large pressurised compartment that extended all the way to the nose. As with the other V-bombers, only the pilots were provided with ejection seats ; the three systems operators relying on "explosive cushions" inflated by a CO 2 bottle that would help them from their seats, but despite this, escape for them would have still been very unlikely in most emergency situations. While assigned to

16046-648: The same time as the termination, Bristol decided to focus on development of a large turboprop-powered airliner, known as the Britannia . Capable of traversing transatlantic routes, it proved a commercial success; both it and the Freighter were produced in quantity during the 1950s. However, sales of the Britannia were poor and only 82 were built, primarily due to its protracted development; having been ordered by BOAC on 28 July 1949 and first flown on 16 August 1952, it did not enter service until 1 February 1957. Bristol

16188-575: The same time, the Air Ministry drew up requirements for bombers to replace the piston-engined heavy bombers such as the Avro Lancaster and the new Avro Lincoln which equipped RAF Bomber Command . 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

16330-433: The sound barrier knowingly to demonstrate the Victor's higher speed capability compared to the earlier V-bombers. The Victor was the largest aircraft to have broken the sound barrier at that time. The RAF required its bombers to be capable of higher operational ceilings, and numerous proposals were considered for improved Victors. Initially, Handley Page proposed using 14,000 lbf (62 kN) Sapphire 9 engines to produce

16472-406: The specification that the whole nose section could be detached at high altitudes to act as an escape pod, but the Air Ministry abandoned this requirement in 1950. The Victor had a five-man crew, comprising the two pilots seated side by side and three rearward-facing crew, these being the navigator/plotter, the navigator/radar operator, and the air electronics officer (AEO). The Victor's pilots sat at

16614-403: The specification, the bomb bay was designed to carry several conventional armaments, including a single 22,000 lb (10,000 kg) Grand Slam or two 12,000 lb (5,400 kg) Tallboy earthquake bombs , up to forty-eight 1,000 lb (450 kg) bombs or thirty-nine 2,000 lb (910 kg) sea mines. One proposed addition to the Victor were underwing panniers capable of carrying

16756-452: The standard bombers into the tanker conversion line; a handful of modified Avro Vulcans assumed the maritime radar reconnaissance role in their place. Both the Victor and the Vulcan, played a high-profile role during the 1982 Falklands War. In order to cross the distance of the South Atlantic, a single Vulcan required refuelling several times from Victor tankers. A total of three bombing missions were flown against Argentine forces deployed to

16898-464: The starboard pitot head had failed, causing the flight control system to force the aircraft into an unrecoverable dive. Minor changes resolved the problem, allowing the B.2 to enter service in February 1962. 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 . Anti-radar chaff storage had to be relocated from under

17040-617: The subsequent 1991 Gulf War . RAF strike aircraft such as the Panavia Tornado would frequently make use of the tanker to refuel prior to launching cross-border strikes inside Iraq. The remaining Victor fleet was retired in 1993, at which point it had been the last of the three V-bombers in operational service. A total of four Victors have survived and are on display in the United Kingdom. None are flightworthy. 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

17182-486: The tail continued to sink, giving a cushioned landing without any command or intervention by the pilot. However, this characteristic was considered to be of no special advantage according to an assessment of the second prototype by the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment. The Victor has been described as an agile aircraft, atypical for a large bomber aircraft; in 1958, a Victor had performed several loops and

17324-424: The two companies were closely connected, and the company's first premises were a pair of former tram sheds used for aircraft manufacture at Filton leased from the Bristol Tramway Company. Additionally, key personnel for the new business were recruited from the Bristol Tramway Company, including the chief engineer and works manager, George Challenger . Flying schools were established at Brooklands , Surrey, which

17466-555: The wing decreased in three distinct steps from the root to the tip, to ensure a constant critical Mach number across the entire wing and consequently a high cruise speed. The other parts of the aircraft which accelerate the flow, the nose and tail, were also designed for the same critical mach number so the shape of the HP.80 had a constant critical mach number all over. Early work on the project included tailless aircraft designs, which would have used wing-tip vertical surfaces instead; however as

17608-455: The wings, and ejection seats provided for all six crewmembers. The Ministry of Defence delayed signing the order for conversion of the B2s until after Handley Page went into liquidation . The contract for conversion was instead awarded to Hawker Siddeley , who produced a much simpler conversion proposal, with the wingspan shortened to reduce wing bending stress and hence extend airframe life. While

17750-503: 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) ), receiving a two-point system with a hose and drogue carried under each wing, while

17892-406: Was already considered to be nearly obsolete by the time the Victor entered service. Significant improvements and alterations were made to the avionics and ECM suites, as effective ECMs had been deemed critical to the Victor's role;. For example, the introduction of the more capable Red Steer tail warning radar . The introduction of the Victor B.2 was accompanied by several new ECM systems, including

18034-653: Was also involved in helicopter development, with the Belvedere and Sycamore going into quantity production. Another post-war activity was missile development, culminating in the production of the Bloodhound anti-aircraft missile. Upon introduction, the Bloodhound was the RAF's only long range transportable surface-to-air missile. Bristol Aero Engines produced a range of rocket motors and ramjets for missile propulsion. The guided weapons division eventually became part of Matra BAe Dynamics Alenia ( MBDA ). In

18176-452: Was also unhappy with Sir Frederick Handley Page 's resistance to its pressure to merge his company with competitors. Following Skybolt's cancellation, Victor B.2s were retrofitted as carrier aircraft for the Blue Steel standoff nuclear missile. 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. In 1964–1965,

18318-465: Was formerly MacDonald Brothers Aircraft, and was the largest of the subsidiaries and the group's only airframe plant. Bristol de Mexico, S.A. de CV. (Central Airport, Mexico City), overhauled piston engines for South American operators. Bristol de Mexico S.A. obtained a license to manufacture Alfred Herbert Ltd machine tools in 1963 and commenced assembling their centre lathes in 1963. They also commenced building their own design of small engine lathes for

18460-475: Was given the Handley Page HP.88 designation. The HP.88 crashed on 26 August 1951 after completing only about thirty flights and little useful data was gained during its brief two months of existence. By the time the HP.88 was ready, the HP.80 wing had changed such that the former was no longer representative. The design of the HP.80 had sufficiently advanced that the loss of the HP.88 had little effect on

18602-422: Was given the internal designation of HP.80. 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. Aviation author Bill Gunston described the Victor's compound-sweep crescent wing as having been "undoubtedly the most efficient high-subsonic wing on any drawing board in 1947". The sweep and chord of

18744-621: Was involved in the post-war renaissance of British civilian aircraft, which was largely inspired by the Brabazon Committee report of 1943–5. In 1949, the Brabazon airliner prototype, at the time one of the largest aircraft in the world, first flew. This project was deemed to be a step in the wrong direction, gaining little interest from military or civilian operators, resulting in the Brabazon being ultimately cancelled in 1953. At

18886-433: Was later joined by Gordon England . In January 1912 Romanian aircraft engineer Henri Coandă was appointed as the company's chief designer. During early 1912 a highly secret separate design office, known as the " X-Department ", was set up to work on Dennistoun Burney 's ideas for naval aircraft. Frank Barnwell was taken on as the design engineer for this project, and took over as Bristol's chief designer when Coandă left

19028-436: Was offered up for disposal, with the word being that she was in a structurally unsafe condition. In spite of preservation attempts as of December 2020 most of the airframe had been scrapped. In February 2021, the RAF released the time-lapse footage of this airframe being dismantled. Data from Handley Page Aircraft since 1907 General characteristics Performance Armament Jet-powered Jet propulsion

19170-548: Was powered by the newer Rolls-Royce Conway turbofan which at one point was the most powerful non- afterburning engine outside the Soviet Union. The Conway had significantly higher thrust than the Sapphire engine in the B.1. The Victor B.2 had a Blackburn Artouste auxiliary power unit (AAPU) installed in the starboard wing root. It provided high-pressure air for starting the engines, and also provided electrical power on

19312-428: Was prepared for rapid dispersal, with two aircraft loaded with live conventional bombs and held on one-hour readiness, ready to fly operational sorties. However, they were never required to fly combat missions and the high readiness alert finished at the end of the month. Following the discovery of fatigue cracks, developing due to their low-altitude usage, the B.2R strategic bombers were retired and placed in storage by

19454-497: Was recognised, however, that there were many unknowns associated with both designs, and an order was also placed for Vickers' design, which became the Valiant . Although not fully meeting the requirements of the specification, the Valiant design posed little risk of failure and could therefore reach service earlier. The HP.80's crescent wing was tested on a ⅓-scale glider , the HP.87, and a heavily modified Supermarine Attacker , which

19596-536: Was replaced by Vickers VC10 and Lockheed Tristar tankers. 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 . The atom bomb programme formally began with Air Staff Operational Requirement OR.1001 issued in August 1946, which anticipated a government decision in January 1947 to authorise research and development work on atomic weapons;

19738-543: Was retired from the nuclear mission in 1968, following the discovery of fatigue cracks which had been exacerbated by the RAF's adoption of a low-altitude flight profile to avoid interception , and due to the pending introduction of the Royal Navy's submarine-launched Polaris missiles in 1969. With the nuclear deterrent mission relinquished to the Royal Navy a large V-bomber fleet could not be justified. A number of Victors were modified for strategic reconnaissance, using

19880-503: Was the largest of the overseas subsidiaries. The group undertook aircraft handling and servicing at Dorval Airport , Montreal. Vancouver Airport was the base for Bristol Aero Engines (Western), Ltd., one of the Canadian company's four operating subsidiaries. Work at Vancouver included the overhaul of Pratt and Whitney and Wright engines for the R.C.A.F. and commercial operators. Bristol Aircraft (Western), Ltd (Stevenson Field, Winnipeg)

20022-450: Was then the centre of activity for British aviation, where Bristol rented a hangar; and at Larkhill on Salisbury Plain where, in June 1910, a school was established on 2,248 acres (9.10 km ) of land leased from the War Office . By 1914 308 of the 664 Royal Aero Club certificates issued had been earned at the company's schools. The company's initial manufacturing venture was to be

20164-407: Was worked on by Barnwell after his return, the Bristol T.T.A. , was designed in response to a War Office requirement for a two-seat fighter intended to conduct home defence operations against Zeppelin raids. This was not successful but, in 1916, work was started on the Bristol F.2A , which was developed into the highly successful F.2B Fighter , one of the outstanding aircraft of the 1914–18 war and

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