Duncan,
Read the XH558 story...
To be very brief, XH558 was kept nearly airworthy at Bruntingthorpe, AND arrived with 600 tons of spares. Enough people got involved and enough money was found to do a complete Major and get her flying again.
None of that is valid, alas, for the Victor, AND the airframe is way over its fatigue life.
So the story IS different from the Lightnings.
CJ