The Handley Page Victor was the third and last of the RAF's 'V Bomber' fleet which represented a significant part of Britain's nuclear deterrence force during the Cold War. Like the Vulcan, the Victor was an highly unconventional design although for entirely different reasons: it featured cresecent shaped wings, a swept T-tail with significant dihedral and large, bulged forward fuselage which gave it a futuristic look. It was designed for high-altitude operations and could carry a larger payload than even the Vulcan and at a higher ceiling. The first Victors entered service in the late 1950s and served well throughout the following decade although it was outlived as a bomber by the Vulcan. Nevertheless, the Victor was successfully adapted for numerous other roles such as strategic reconnaissance and, especially, as tankers where they were used in the Falklands and even during the Gulf War. The last Victor was finally retired in 1993.

First flight of the initial H.P.80 prototype took place on 24 December 1954 with the first production Victor B.1 units entering servce two years later. A number of these were given improved ECM capability as the B.1A pending the arrival of the final B.2. These were equipped with more powerful turbofans, larger wings with Kuchemann fairings, and more ECM features (the B.2R was given Conway Mk. 201 engines). For other roles, conversions included the B(SR).2 strategic reconnaissance platform and the K.1 and K.1A tankers followed by the K.2 each of which was based on their respective bomber variants.