"RAF 9022" Victor K.2 taxis for take-off to Pease AFB

Delivered to the RAF as Victor B.2 XL163 in 1962. Converted to a Victor K.2 tanker in 1969/70. Last flight to St. Athan in 1986 and used for battle damage repair training. Allocated maintenance serial 8916M. Scrapped in 1991.

Nose section about to undergo some restoration at IWM Duxford.

Delivered as a Victor B.2 in 1962. Converted to a Victor K.2 tanker in 1970. Crashed short of the runway at Hamilton, Ontario in 1986. Nose section saved. and moved to a private collector near Newbury, OH. Sections of the skin were used to make planetags. Sold and moved to Iron Mountain, MI in 2023 for restoration. There is a feature about it in the December 2024 edition of Flypast.

Victor K.2 takes off for an afternoon Red Flag mission into the Nellis ranges. A pair of these wonderful Victors staged from March during a 2 week Red Flag period in the latter half of October in 1989.

Departing on an afternoon Red Flag sortie. Pair of Victor K2's flew from March AFB the latter half of October 89' for a 2 week stint supporting Nellis/Red Flag.

Another view of XL165 to compliment my upload at #21927 which carries relevant information

This Victor was built as a B2 and retained by HP for autopilot trials, also with A&AEE Boscombe Down. XL164 never flew as a bomber, rather was selected at the end of 1972 to be one of a number of B2s converted into K2 tankers, with modification work carried out at Woodford. After serving with 57 and 55 Sqn, the latter being the last to operate the type, XL164 was wfu in September 1993 and flown to Brize Norton in for use as an instructional airframe (9215M). It was scrapped in August 1995 with the nose saved by the Gatwick Aviation Museum, moving to The Bournemouth Aviation Museum in May 2013.

To Catterick November 1974. Photo by Dereck Hine.

Cockpit preserved by the Midland Air Museum in the UK. Photo from: National Archives of Australia

Possibly recently repainted, with no unit markings carried. Unfortunately the serial is not visible in this image but I believe this to be XL162.

Delivered to the RAF as Victor B.2 XH673 in 1960. Converted to as K.2 tanker from 1968 to 1976. Withdrawn from use at Marham in 1986. Allocated maintenance serial 8911M and preserved there. Scrapped in 2020.

This Victor first flew in November 1959 and spent its entire career as a test frame based at Radlett, Boscombe Down and Bedford. It was placed into storage at Radlett in November 1968 but, after plans for tanker conversion fell through, SOC in October 1975 with 243 test flights to be then used as a spares source. In August 1983 the gutted hulk was scrapped with only the cockpit saved for preservation. This was bought by SWAM and will be restored to display condition, especially important as this is the last surviving section of any B.2, the others being B.1s or K.2 tanker conversions.