Handley Page HP.80 Victor K.Mk.2

Handley Page HP.80 Victor K.Mk.2

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XL231 was one of 34 Victor B.Mk.2s produced by Handley-Page at Radlett, when delivered to No. 139 (Jamaica) Squadron at RAF Wittering, Cambridgeshire, England on February 1, 1962, it became the first operational Victor B.Mk.2. From November 1963 it was retrofitted with aerodynamic refinements, updated ECM equipment, and provision for the 'Blue Steel' atomic missile; redesignated B.Mk.2R it returned to Wittering in July 1964.

By the end of 1968 XL231 had been withdrawn from use and stored at the manufacturers Radlett facility for eventual conversion to a tanker. As Handley Page went into liquidation on February 27, 1970, Hawker Siddeley undertook the conversion of Victors to the K.Mk.2 high-performance tanker version; XL231 became the prototype and was first flown on March 1, 1972. It saw operational service in support of the Falklands War in 1982 and the Gulf war in 1991.

The aircraft was retired in November 1993 and its last flight was made when it flew into the Yorkshire Air Museum. It has been kept in full working order by volunteers led by owner Andre Tempest and occasionally performs fast taxi-runs and deploying the braking parachute. It still wears its service nose art 'Lusty Lindy', more recently it has also been named 'Spirit of Godfrey Lee' after the Victor designer.


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XL231 was one of 34 Victor B.Mk.2s produced by Handley-Page at Radlett, when delivered to No. 139 (Jamaica) Squadron at RAF Wittering, Cambridgeshire, England on February 1, 1962, it became the first operational Victor B.Mk.2. From November 1963 it was retrofitted with aerodynamic refinements, updated ECM equipment, and provision for the 'Blue Steel' atomic missile; redesignated B.Mk.2R it returned to Wittering in July 1964. By the end of 1968 XL231 had been withdrawn from use and stored at the manufacturers Radlett facility for eventual conversion to a tanker. As Handley Page went into liquidation on February 27, 1970, Hawker Siddeley undertook the conversion of Victors to the K.Mk.2 high-performance tanker version; XL231 became the prototype and was first flown on March 1, 1972. It saw operational service in support of the Falklands War in 1982 and the Gulf war in 1991. The aircraft was retired in November 1993 and its last flight was made when it flew into the Yorkshire Air Museum. It has been kept in full working order by volunteers led by owner Andre Tempest and occasionally performs fast taxi-runs and deploying the braking parachute. It still wears its service nose art 'Lusty Lindy', more recently it has also been named 'Spirit of Godfrey Lee' after the Victor designer.