My idea:
Post World War II the US and USSR ended up on opposite sides of the Cold War, and while the nations of Western Europe, fearing American hegemony and Soviet Power, worked together to build a capable military force. They decided to divide up the various responsiblities. Each nation kept a useful-size force of all types (air, ground, naval) but the nations divded the work, and all the best weapons of the European forces went to everyone.
Britain took on the challenge of the Air Forces. As such, Britain and its empire took on and kept developing the best air force in the world, one that many considered to be an equal of the USAF or Soviet Air Force. The majority of British military development money went towards the RAF, and as such the RAF developed one after another of the best in the world, and Britain in many cases not only sold to their European allies but also to their friends in the world and the remaining parts of the empire.
The V bombers were the centerpiece of the nuclear-armed air forces of Britain, in the heavy bombing role. The V bombers, along with the TSR.2 ultra-high-speed bomber and the highly versatile Avro Arrow providing the backbone of the RAF. The V bombers once Britain went to missiles to use nuclear weapons stayed in service as heavy conventional bombers.
The Hadley Page Victor was the most unorthdox of the designs, but also one of the strongest. The Victor, which was also supplied to more than a dozen other nations (including, interestingly, the USA). Along with the English Electric Canberra and the Boeing B-52, the Victor would be a staple of many airforces around the world, and would see service in numerous wars.
In the RAF, after the removal of their nuclear deterrent, the Victor and its brothers, the Avro Vulcan and Vickers Valiant, would be assigned to conventional bombing duties. In the 1970s, the Victor would see service in wars in Indonesia, India/Pakistan, Rhodesia, South Africa, Kenya and Vietnam. None of these were for the RAF however. The Valiant was retired in the early 1970s, leaving the Vulcan and Victor to have the bomber roles for the RAF.
Their baptism of fire came in the Falkland Islands in 1982. Argentina's March 1982 invasion was responded to by Britain, and the Victor and Vulcan led the way in doing so. Launching from Britain and tanking several times, the bombers managed to hit both the Falklands and mainland Argentina. In an act that caused huge outrage, Argentine intelligence agents on May 25, 1982, bombed a department store in London, killing 27. The Argentines had figured attacking Britain itself would make the Brits back off.
That turned out to be a big mistake.
After 5/25, Thatcher went ballistic and Britain lined up behind her. The Victor and Vulcan would lead Britain's air campaign against the Falklands, dropping thousands of tons of bombs on Argentina and the captive islands. Britain all but eliminated the problem of air attack responses when HMS Invincible found sank Argentina's carrier, the Veintincinco de Mayo, on June 18. The Falklands War proved to be a massive loss for Argentina, culminating in Britain using air to ground missiles mounted on Avro Arrow Mk.2 fighters to demolish the Argentine Junta on July 20, 1982. The Argentines surrended on July 25, two months after the attack in London.
After the Falklands War, when combined with President Reagan's insistence on much increased defense spending in the USA, led to a massive rebuild of the RAF. The long-delayed Avro CF-180 "Destroyer" fighter went into service, and the Avro Vulcan went into service as the chief bomber of the RAF for a while. But the Victor, with its heavier payload, stayed as the RAF's primary "bombtruck" well into the 21st century.