Handley Page Victoria EB Mk.2In 1959, Handley Page identified that there was an increasing need for a higher speed replacement for the English Electric Canberra medium bomber. While the idea of higher, faster, carrying a nuclear bomb was predominate in the minds of many aeronautical people at the time, as epitomised by the TSR.2 and the Mirage IV, there was still a need for a conventional "bomb truck" which could carry a reasonable bombload, a reasonable distance. The design office decided to offer a scaled down version of their Victor heavy bomber. Equipped with four Rolls Royce Avon engines, the new bomber was expected to be capable of Mach 0.9 performance with a range of approximately 1,200 miles, carrying a 10,000 lb bomb load.
The Handley Page board gave the go ahead, in high secrecy for a private venture bomber to be produced. While the rest of the aviation world's attention was firmly focused on the upcoming TSR.2 bomber and F-111 or the Mirage IV, their plans went ahead. First flying in late 1961, the aircraft was a near complete success. Based on the Victor B.1 the bomber flew at near the speed of sound and to a range of 1,400 miles with ease while carrying it's bombload.
Seeking to repeat the success of the Canberra H.P. chose to name the aircraft after a city in the Commonwealth, in this case Victoria, Canada. Inviting the Canadian Prime Minister, John Diefenbaker, to officially unveil the new bomber, he declined making any statement on whether the RCAF would order the aircraft. The Canadian Air Force was beginning to go through considerable turmoil, with its forced amalgamation with the other two Canadian armed services and was not interested in acquiring a medium bomber, which when compared to the TSR.2 and the F-111 was considered rather passe'.
New Zealand, however, was very interested in moving up a “notch”. The RNZAF was equipped with older Canberras. It's commitments in South-East Asia were increasing and it was foreseen that it would need newer aircraft to meet them in Malaysia in particular. When Konfrontasi (Confrontation) with Indonesia broke out in 1964, the decision had just been taken for the RNZAF to acquire a squadron of the new bomber. Several other countries followed suit, with Chile and Venezuela acquiring a squadron each. In 1966, the RNZAF decided that another squadron was required and acquired them. By then, New Zealand and Australia were committed to the defence of South Vietnam as well. The RNZAF aircraft flew missions over North and South Vietnam.
In 1967, North Vietnam had acquired SA-2 and SA-3 surface-to-air missiles. The USA responded by forming specialised SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defence) squadrons, flying “Wild Weasel” missions. The RNZAF responded by adding increased ECM and ECCM equipment to their aircraft. In 1970, it began, with American agreement and co-operation to create a new version of the Victoria, which became a dedicated special missions aircraft. Grumman aircraft was appointed as prime contractors. In 1971, the decision was taken to graft an entire new nose section onto the Victoria bomber, from the EA-6B Prowler special missions aircraft. It would carry most of the sensors required, with support equipment housed in part of the bombbay behind. The fuselage diameters were similar and little work was required to match the takeup points.
The result was the Victoria EB Mk.2, a model unique to the RNZAF. It carried four crew and extensive ECM equipment, which enabled it to act as a blanket jammer. It could also carry a reduced bombload and had two external hard points on the wings for the carriage of ECM pods. However, the eight aircraft acquired arrived too late to take part in the war against North Vietnam. It's service life was to be relatively long but uneventful, with it's only aggressive use in exercises with the RAAF (by this time, New Zealand had been ejected from the ANZUS treaty because of the anti-nuclear stance of it's Government under David Lange). The aircraft proved, despite it's apparent age, challenging to the RAAF's fighter squadrons, equipped first with Mirages and then later, F/A-18s.
The Victoria EB Mk.2 served until the late 1980s, when with the down turn in the Cold War and it's eventual end, the decision was taken to reduce the size of the RNZAF and retire this unique aircraft.
The ModelThe model is an old Lindberg 1/96 scale H.P. Victor to which the nose from a Hobbycraft EA-6B Prowler has been attached. The two nearly matched perfectly. The idea was provided by an illustration at BTS by someone who has since removed his posts from the forum. The two nearly matched perfectly. It is painted in a late SEA Camouflage, with minimal markings.
