UNIQUE VICTOR BACK TO ITS BEST

A VBomber icon has completed a successful restoration effort at the Imperial War Museum Duxford. Tom Baker and Martin Needham report

Conservation staff at the Imperial War Museum Duxford have completed what is to date their most ambitious restoration project. And their herculean, six-year effort to return Handley Page Victor B.1A(K.2P), serial XH648, to the condition in which it arrived at the airfield on June 2, 1976, was marked by a reunion of the Victor’s former crew members in September 2022. The Cold War-era bomber is arguably one of the most iconic British aircraft of all time. The third and last of the famous ‘V Bombers’ to enter service with the RAF, the Victor initially served as part of Britain’s airborne nuclear deterrent before the fleet

TWO VICTOR B.1A(K.2P) S OF 214 SQUADRON AT RAF MARHAM, CIRCA 1970. THE CONVERTED V BOMBERS BECAME THE MAINSTAY OF THE RAF’S TANKER FORCE KEY COLLECTION

THE NEWLY RESTORED VICTOR WILL REMAIN IN THE CONSERVATION HALL IN THE SHORT TERM MARTIN NEEDHAM

XH648 UNDERGOING RESTORATION AT THE HANDS OF ANDREW MARRIOTT, FEBRUARY 2022 KEY COLLECTION /BEN DUNNELL

“ The complexity of the aircraft , its physical size and the depth of work that was required meant that we had quite a challenge on our hands”