Victor Nose Section XL164

I think you have the makings of a great cockpit project there for sure.. She looks like she has remained pretty dry inside

Best of luck with the move! Hope it all goes well.

WB556,

Best of luck with the project……..It’s going to be a huge job!

But thanks for saving the cockpit.

I doubt the scappers would have made much or have been interested as the time taken to sort the metals would not have been worth it for them.

Hi WB-556,
Just like to say ,thanks for saving XL-164’s nose section. The real Anti-Flash Paint job Victor 2 for me was XL-161. And although she is long dead, great to see XL-160 and XL-164 Nose sections survive the cull. Guess they would have been close buddies with XL-161 on the production line at Handley Page’s. YES !! please see that 164 is painted up in white anti-flash and YES, please do put back the Bomb Aimers Nose window Glazing. Nice video, in fact, although C/pit looks bad,there really is loads of original stuff still in there. Very best wishes to you in this endeavour. 164 is now very important UK history.

(My Victor connection with XL-161 is that she was “My” Aircraft back in 1962-65 as I was an RAF “Rigger” on her during the “Blue Steel” Trials at Edinburgh Field,South Aussie. As far as I know, XL-161 was the only Victor to have ever got into a spin (And recovered) with a “Live” Blue Steel on board. The Blue Steel was jettisoned and brake chute deployed to pull her out, it worked !!!! John Saxon is only crew member of that day who is still with us.)

Bill T.

She moves Friday. Pictures, video and a new thread will follow!

I was actually pretty encouraged when I sat there filming that video, its a big job but the framework is all there.

Could we take the book discussion to private message please – I don’t think this is the place to be openly critical of someone elses work.

Bit of a thread drift…

I was at Barnham a few times in my RAF career….never saw a Victor there….where was it, out of interest.

Great picture of RAF Barnham on Google Earth in 1945!

Ive also got the K2 parts catalogue if your interested.

XL164 interior condition

crap

Actually it was very good indeed while crucially her internal trim and fittings were all intact, a real bonus when I saw her around 8 years ago. A lot of ours is missing but all upper roof panels and trim and side/crew-door trim etc was in place – if no rain has got into her then she will still be a very good project and ‘all’ that needs fitting back is her panels and instrumentation.

I believe her side consoles were intact also, plus throttle boxes and all windows were again intact and not cracked, while her probe was all there – ours was missing when we found XL160 inverted and damaged at RAF Barnham around 18 years ago and ‘164 would have been more preferable but we had to take on what was going at the time as finding another one was unknown then.

If the main rear desk panels can be sourced and pilots panels found then she will start to come together again, though I know this is obviously harder so many years after retirement – but the bonus is certainly that all her trim is intact while some paneling is already in her and it is a cockpit with great potential and little repairing to do internally.

Blue 2
I would be interested in the errors and the poor writing as cannot find a book on the victor any better what do you consider a better book.

Trenchard Brat

Not as bad as I feared Peter. Still pretty bad though…
Trenchardbrat, I have a shelf full of excellent books on the Victor at home. The Brooks book is fine if you ignore the poorly written, error riddled text and just admire the pictures.
The recent Victor Boys book by Tony Blackman (not to be confused with Blackburn, the dj!) Is a rather good read.

Blue2
What do you consider a better book than that by Roger Brooks as I would be very interested in the History of XL164 and others.

Trenchard Brat

When they said stripped out, they really meant it.. wow!

I personally like the high gloss camouflage Victor B.(SR)2’s of 543 Sqn, RAF Wyton!!

http://airrecce.co.uk/postww2/ac/Victor/victor.html

*other, better written Victor books are available… :dev2:

That’s interesting, what did she do for 9 years as a B.2 before conversion?

She XL164 was a Trials aircraft for the B2 retrofit aircraft and then in store at St Athan before conversion to a tanker

That’s interesting, what did she do for 9 years as a B.2 before conversion?

Just out of interest can anyone name all of the named Victors from Operation Granby?

If you look in Roger Brooks books on the Victor you will find all the details of the Nose art from Operation Granby as well as the FULL history of XL164 the only RAF Service had was as a K2 with 55 and 57 Squadrons

All the best

WB556, I have just registered here to allow me to post this message.
If you want to get in touch with me i have some interesting information for you that we could help each other out on if you are the buyer of XL164.

Best Regards

G. Britton

The advice from one of our number who spends his working life doing minor and major airframe repairs to large airliners is to remove the damaged skin complete with artwork back to suitable frame areas. Then you can do an almost invisible repair and you have preserved the original artwork albeit damaged. This then gives you the choice to put it into white B2 (like that a lot!) or hemp and reproduce the artwork.

The person who painted all the Victors nose arts was a corporal andy price. I’m currently restoring Lindy’s art work, so know its not easy but can be done with research and patience oh and warm weather!! P/m if you want any advice or photos.