Part of the aviation research files collection: a retired relic of the Cold War, this Handley-Page 'Victor' was part of Britain's V-Bomber independent nuclear strike force, poised to take off from alert within four minutes over nearly a decade, during the most intense years of facing down the threat from Eastern Europe. The Victor had the fastest speed and heaviest nuclear payload capacity of the three British 'V' bombers, which included the 'Vulcan' and 'Valiant'. A deterrent long superseded by the missile silo (another British invention), and submarine deployed ICBMs, this example was later converted for extended use as an in-flight refuelling tanker, which was used to support the Vulcan conventional bombing runs to the Falkland Islands during the Argentinean invasion of 1982.