The Victor was one of the most important aircraft of the Cold War. This is a story that follows the long life of one of Britain’s legendary V-Bombers through the Cold War. – Most Highly Recommended
NAME: The Handley Page Victor, Tales From a Crew Chief, 40 Years of Life with the Victor FILE: R2829 AUTHOR: Roger R Brooks PUBLISHER: Pen and Sword BINDING: hard back PAGES: 128 PRICE: £19.99 GENRE: Non Fiction SUBJECT: strategic jet bombers, jet bombers, nuclear bombers, MAD, Col War, Falklands War, refuelling tankers, V Bombers, nuclear deterrent, RAF, Black Buck, Op Corporate, Op Granby
ISBN: 1-52673-257-2
IMAGE: B2829.jpg BUYNOW: http://tinyurl.com/y543drvu LINKS: DESCRIPTION: The Victor was one of the most important aircraft of the Cold War. This is a story that follows the long life of one of Britain's legendary V-Bombers through the Cold War. - Most Highly Recommended At a time when the British people see huge opportunities of Britain as once more a sovereign nation, and politicians have no confidence in themselves or their country, the story of the Victor is a timely example of how Britons can lead in the field of advanced technology. Sadly, with the retirement of the last airworthy Vulcan, the V-bombers can now only be seen in museums, with some still able to taxi under their own power. At the time they were developed they were leading edge technology and carried the British nuclear deterrent at a critical period in the Cold War before the duty of national nuclear defence was passed to the submarine-based missiles of the Royal Navy. The Vickers Valiant was the first to enter service and represented the lowest risk of the three proposed aircraft, but was still a very advanced aircraft. Suffering fatigue problems, it enjoyed a much shorter service life, but introduced a long range nuclear bombing capability to the RAF while the two sister models were completing their development. The Victor and the Vulcan introduced a significant increase in capability, but the only V-bomber to drop bombs on an enemy was the Vulcan, this being a full load of conventional bombs at the end of a very long flight to the Falklands, when the Black Buck raid denied the Argentine bandits full use of the airport at Stanley. To get there, the Vulcan s had to rely on their Victor sisters for multiple refuelling in the air. Although the Victor was withdrawn from service still as a bomber, the Victor was to provide continuing service as a refuelling tanker and was particularly important during the 1990-91 Gulf War, when it refuelled fighters and attack aircraft in hostile airspace. With its distinctive crescent wing, the Victor was an aggressive, purposeful looking combat aircraft. It would have performed well as a bomber had it been called upon in action, but it was as a tanker that it provided excellent service, being able to refuel an impressive range of military aircraft types, for the RAF and for NATO. The author gained 40 years experience of the Victor, gaining encyclopedic knowledge of this wonderful aircraft. He has done very well to distil this knowledge into a very readable volume that includes some very interesting illustration.