#1591
Handley Page Victor
🇬🇧 United Kingdom ·first flew 1952· strategic bomber or aerial refuelling tanker aircraft
10 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Raf victor in 1961 arp: Arpingstone· Public domain
- 2. Avro Vulcan & Handley Page Victor nuclear bombers at the 1964 Richmond Air Show, NSW: aussiejeff· CC BY 2.0
- 3. H.P. Victor K.2 XL188 55 Sqn FFD 13.07.85 edited-2: RuthAS· CC BY 3.0
- 4. Handley Page HP-80 Victor K2, UK - Air Force AN0992865: Mike Freer - Touchdown-aviation· GFDL 1.2
- 5. Handley Page HP-80 Victor K2, UK - Air Force AN0992882: Mike Freer - Touchdown-aviation· GFDL 1.2
- 6. Handley Page HP-80 Victor K2, UK - Air Force AN1926561: Mike Freer - Touchdown-aviation· GFDL 1.2
- 7. Handley Page HP-80 Victor K2, UK - Air Force AN2272519: Mike Freer - Touchdown-aviation· GFDL 1.2
- 8. Handley Page HP-80 Victor K2 AN1103895: Mike Freer - Touchdown-aviation· GFDL 1.2
- 9. IWM Duxford-Victor: AviationPhotographer· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 10. Victor IWM Duxford: User Nick Dowling on en.wikipedia· CC BY-SA 3.0
what is it?
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.
How to recognise it: 4 jet engines · 33.5 m wingspan
base stats
Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).
fun facts
- First flew 74 years ago, in 1952.
- Top speed is 7.8× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- Wingspan of 33.5 m: about 7 cars parked nose to tail.
- Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 15 African elephants (~6 t each).
- Range of 9,662 km: Amsterdam to New York (≈5,850 km) without stopping.
- Can fly 1.9× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).
jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1952-12-24
- introduced
- 1958
- retired
- 1993
- status
- retired
- number built
- 86
- role
- strategic bomber or aerial refuelling tanker aircraft
- origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- makers
- Handley Page
- engines
- 4× Armstrong Siddeley A.S.Sa.7 Sapphire
- crew
- 5
- length
- 35 m
- wingspan
- 33.5 m
- height
- 8.6 m
- max take-off weight
- 93 t
- top speed
- 1,009 km/h
- range
- 9,662 km
- ceiling
- 17,069 m
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q499197, Wikipedia: Handley Page Victor (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.