In 1991 Joe Ford was lucky to take a trip in a Victor, it was XL164 'Saucy Sal'. Another post will cover the full story later . But, it was only by a chance visit to Elvington and later conversation that the below became apparent.
Joe took a picture of XL231 on the pan at RAF Marham on the day of his Victor sortie, July 19th 1991. She was clearly undergoing maintenance at the time, It looked to me like the nose leg was removed as she was clearly on main and tail jacks.
I pulled the history of XL231 out of my archive and found the Maintenance Work Order and also the Log card for the leg itself. overhauled in 1988 at RAF St Athan after removal from XL158. Uninteresting to some but, a story to a snap shot of XL231 in RAF service with 55 Squadron just after Operation Granby, The Gulf War. In fact XL231 was to return to Bahrain to continue service in the Gulf and UK with the remaining Victor fleet until September of 1993 when the Victor's returned to participate in the UK NATO Exercise 'Elder Joust'. The Squadron disbanded on the 15th October.
Thanks for the below picture Joe.
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