Martin Needham reports from the Imperial War Museum Duxford on the completion of its Handley Page Victor B.1A(K2P) restoration
Conservation staff at the Imperial War Museum (IWM) Duxford have completed what is regarded as the most ambitious restoration project undertaken at the Cambridgeshire site. The six-year-long effort to return Handley Page Victor B.1A(K2P), XH648 (c/n HP80/48), to the condition in which it arrived at Duxford on June 2, 1976, was marked by a reunion of former Victor crew members on September 26.
Originally built to Victor B.1 standard at Radlett, Hertfordshire, the jet made its first flight late in November 1959. It joined 57 Squadron at RAF Honington, Suffolk, the following month, spending 11 months on strength before returning to Radlett in October 1960 for conversion to B.1A standard. This included fitting new electronic countermeasures, an improved radar and radio, and uprated Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire turbojet engines.
