...Cold War masterpieces of British aeronautical engineering
From an aircrew perspective perhaps, an opinion not necessarily shared by those who had to keep them airworthy.
They were certainly ingenious contraptions, but hardly qualify as 'masterpieces'. Harry Tripp would have given Vickers 4 out of 10 for the Valiant, Avro would have got 6 out of 10 for the Vulcan and Handley Page a massive 7 out of 10 for the Victor. But you needed 8 out of 10 from Harry for your work to qualify as a Masterpiece.