Last Handley Page Victor Flight

[mrclark303]

Morning all,

While I continue to sweep up old images on my achieved office system, I came across this set of images I took at Bruntingthorpe airfield in Leicestershire back in 2009.

The "Official" final flight of a Victor took place way back in 1993. Victor XM715 was delivered to the care of the outstanding Cold War Jets Collection at the airfield for ground preservation in 1993.

Over the years she has been kept live and capable of fast taxing along with many other British classics, Lightnings, Comet, Nimrod etc etc . Though the collection is grounded they are kept live.

Back in 2009 I took my annual pilgrimage up the Fosse Way to the airfield to wallow in pure nostalgia and have my very soul shaken to the core by Rolls Royce Conway's ,Avons and Spays at in very close proximity.

When the Victor did its bit and blasted off down Bruntingphorpes 10,000 foot runway, I expected the usual power off and brake chute, but she powered on ... and on ... and took off!

The copilot didn't throttle back for some reason so the pilot had to reach across to shut down the throttles, the Victor did what she was designed to do and leapt into the air like a homesick angel!

She got to an altitude off about 100ft before the pilot managed to get her back on the deck before running out of runway, luckily the controls responded to the pilots inputs after all those years out in the open.

A true testimony to how well the ex RAF team had been looking after her!

So, apart from a shaken ground and aircrew, no one was hurt and the grand old lady lived to fast taxi another day!

Quite a sight to see though ... The final flight of the majestic Victor!

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.