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From today's Daily, I thought this deserved a thread of its own.


http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articl ... ns-373990/

The Royal Air Force's Vickers VC10 tanker squadron is preparing for the final rundown of its fleet as it works towards a planned March 2013 retirement of the 1960s transport design.

RAF Brize Norton-based 101 Sqn currently operates eight VC10 tankers, a mix of C1Ks and K3/K4s. Speaking at a VC10 50th anniversary gathering at the type's birthplace in Brooklands, near Weybridge, Surrey on 29 June to mark five decades since its first flight, 101 Sqn commanding officer Wg Cdr Kevin Brookes said the fleet is due to be gradually whittled down over the next nine months. "My out of service date at the moment is stated as 31 March next year," he said.

I recall an RAF engineer (talking at an airshow a few years ago) mentioning that replacing corroded parts on the old birds was becoming an almost impossible task, and that the VC-10's days were numbered. It will be a shame to see the last ones go, but at least there are plans to preserve at least one example and some of the last few to retire will have seen 47 years of RAF service, which is not bad for an aircraft that the RAF have worked very hard.

So are these going to be replaced by the A330 Tanker? Or do they plan to work the aging Tristars harder?

captoveur wrote:So are these going to be replaced by the A330 Tanker? Or do they plan to work the aging Tristars harder?

The remaining refuel-capable Tristars are K1 standard (single-point refuel) and can't fully replace the VC-10s, so will mostly be used as transport aircraft (the last revision of the RAF's plans were that 2 would remain air-to-air refuelling equipped, just in case). The A330MRTT will take over the vast majority of refuelling duties with a variety of 2 and 3 point refuelling set-ups.

Some of the old Tristars are reputed to be in a worse state than the VC-10s, so the MRTTs are a very welcome addition to the RAF.

Today is the last day of VC-10 flights. The final two frames are flying over the UK now refueling several different types and performing fly-pasts as they say farewell to the skies.

I'm off to Warton to see the old girl there around lunchtime. Stand by for terrible photos.

One of the RAF VC10s has been preserved at the new aviation museum down at Newquay.

JLAmber wrote:I'm off to Warton to see the old girl there around lunchtime. Stand by for terrible photos.

A bad day at the lake is better than a good day at work; terrible photos are better than no photos. And you never know, you may surprise yourself and take a great shot. Enjoy.

Sad to see the Conways leave the skies.

Best I could manage in shockingly poor light:

Goodbye to a very unique aircraft...

JLAmber wrote:Best I could manage in shockingly poor light:

Hey, that's a nice shot! Great angle for her, looks very sleek and clean with no engines cluttering the wing.

Thanks Queso

Having seen some of the other efforts from far better photographers, I'm actually quite happy with that shot. Other than a few of the obligatory massively over-shopped efforts, most don't do the old girl justice.

The local spotters around HAJ have compiled a nice collection of photos with VC-10's at Han(n)over; they were regular visitors to HAJ in RAF's service until early this year..
http://www.haj-spotter-forum.de/thread. ... =4416&sid=

When in the (mid ?-)1980's the runway at RAF Gütersloh (ETUO) was rebuilt, all supporting RAF traffic was diverted to GAF Wunstorf (ETNW), the airfield under whose approach path I live (runway 08). Among the then-regular visitors had been VC-10's, which were the loudest transport aircraft around even back then.

The VC-10, and especially the sound of those four Conway engines, sadly will be missed.
-HT

HT-ETNW wrote:The local spotters around HAJ have compiled a nice collection of photos with VC-10's at Han(n)over; they were regular visitors to HAJ in RAF's service until early this year..

That's a fantastic collection of images, please pass on my compliments to the respective photographers

JLAmber wrote:That's a fantastic collection of images, please pass on my compliments to the respective photographers

Done.
-HT

There have long been rumors Airfix is going to release a 1/72 scale model kit of the VC-10. I hope this speeds them along in that endeavor.

captoveur wrote:There have long been rumors Airfix is going to release a 1/72 scale model kit of the VC-10. I hope this speeds them along in that endeavor.

That would be a beast, especially coupled with a pair of 1/72 Typhoons.

Ugh, that's a wee bit too large for an airliner for my tastes but...

Any model airliner coming out new these days is ok in my book.

The Spotter Group at former RAF Gütersloh (ETUO) has a very nice website which includes pictures of VC10 from No.10 squadron (and much (!) more historic pictures).
RAF-No10-Sqn">http://sg-etuo.de/Visiting-Aircraft/RAF-No10-Sqn

EDIT: And also 101 Sqn. with VC10 RAF-No101-Sqn">http://sg-etuo.de/Visiting-Aircraft/RAF-No101-Sqn
END EDIT.

And all lovers of the English Electric Lightning should have a peek into http://sg-etuo.de/Squadrons/No19SquadronF2

-HT

JLAmber wrote:That would be a beast, especially coupled with a pair of 1/72 Typhoons.

They did a Nimrod.. Any idea how the 2 compare in terms of size?

captoveur wrote:

JLAmber wrote:That would be a beast, especially coupled with a pair of 1/72 Typhoons.

They did a Nimrod.. Any idea how the 2 compare in terms of size?

Size comparison Nimrod vs. VC10 (model 1101); dimensions in meters:
Length: 38.6 m vs. 48.4 m ( +25 %)
Span: 35 m vs. 44.5 m ( +27%)
Height: 9.1 m vs. 12.0 m ( +32%)

So, a 1/72 scale model of the VC10 would have the following approx. dimensions:
L: 67 cm (26.4 inch)
S: 61.8 cm (24.3 inch)
H: 16.6 cm (6.5 inch)

-HT

HT-ETNW wrote:

captoveur wrote:

JLAmber wrote:That would be a beast, especially coupled with a pair of 1/72 Typhoons.

They did a Nimrod.. Any idea how the 2 compare in terms of size?

Size comparison Nimrod vs. VC10 (model 1101); dimensions in meters:
Length: 38.6 m vs. 48.4 m ( +25 %)
Span: 35 m vs. 44.5 m ( +27%)
Height: 9.1 m vs. 12.0 m ( +32%)

So, a 1/72 scale model of the VC10 would have the following approx. dimensions:
L: 67 cm (26.4 inch)
S: 61.8 cm (24.3 inch)
H: 16.6 cm (6.5 inch)

-HT

Beat me to it, only the RAF K.3 (the last type flying) were conversions of type 1154 Super VC-10s which are 171'8" or 42.32 metres long. The 1/72 scale would be around 28.6" (72.2cm) long but otherwise the same dimensionally.

ZA147 landed at Bruntingthorpe an hour ago, bringing to an end the type's flying days. MAN's AVP bid for ZA150 but were outbid, reportedly by a scrap metal processor