Indeed all fuel had to be dumped before the over wing tanks could be jettisoned.
If I remember correctly what C/T Jarred told me (ground runner of the Lightning in Dr FOD) the tanks were 270 gals each and it required 270 gals to overcome the extra drag.

It served as ‘L’ for a few years on 56

Re the pylons Chox.
I assume they used the same hard points as the planned Skybolt pylons. There were a number of a/c fitted with them. The hard points were even used during the Black Buck operations for Shrike and ECM

Hi Pagen
They were indeed fitted to the K2 Victor on the stbd side, Nav rad postion on his left. Two side-by side above the HDU panel. I believe that they were moved to the AEO position when the a/c were modded for a four man crew.
Sorry no pics though.

Do you have some photo’s?

@ over G
First, the only time I’ve been called Mr was by my ex Commanding Officer when I demobbed;)

What I read of the DSI tests is that it serves the same purpose as a VG intake and auxilliary doors without the complexity and weight. Fixed intakes on supersonic (Mn 2+) a/c isn’t new. Even the Lightning had a fixed intake, albeit with a spike.
The tests showed that you get the same performance with DSI in your bench mark a/c, in this case a block 30 F16. That is why it was tested up to Mn 2. It says nothing about the top speed of the F35, it merely says we can produce the intake far simpler, lighter and cheaper than previous versions, and you don’t lose any performance
I had assumed you were saying roughly the same.

Yep, the Victors were all different. Exchanging panels with other a/c was not done. Even fitting the spectacles (jetpipe fairings) could involve a “walk around the pan” to fit all the Dzus fasteners. There were countless lines in the spares book stating “applicable to……. only”
Discussions with Woodford about these were technical diversions tended to include the sentence “oh yes, we know about that”.