Roz Hanby may have been a BOAC employee but she was picked for advertising British Airways, such a lovely smile!
As an Air Cadet on Summer camp at Brize in 1974I
I was lucky, I was in the local ATC. In my school holidays I was a regular at Brize for "Air Experience" flights. I think I accumulated over 100 hours as a passenger on the VC10 (plus many hours flying in Belfasts and Britannias).
As the flights I went on were training flights there were endless touch and gos, 2 engine overshoots, 2 engine take offs, with the third engine gradually powered up (I guess that was a practice for 2 or 3 engine ferries?)
Occasionally we flew to different airfields.
The VC10 is brick built, and was so demonstrated twice in one flight I had.
It was a miserable blustery winters day at Brize, The pilots consisted of a Captain on secondment from the US Air Force and a trainee Co-Pilot. (plus the Flight Engineer)
As we were coming in to land, just about to flare, a strong crosswnid gust caught us. The left wing lifted and we started to drift to the right (the trainee pilot was flying it at the time) The aircraft recovered to wings levelish (I was told the Captain put a "boot full" of left rudder). I can only assume that the Co-Pilot panicked slightly and pushed the control column forward. There was a thump and the whole airframe juddered as we landed nose wheel first.
That little incident has been the closest I've been to an aircraft accident and that is close enough thank you very much!
After that landing we flew to RAF St Mawgan, where the weather was more pleasant. But on a landing there, the nose went down just on flare out, thump, judder again!.
I think the VC 10 is a beautiful aircraft and will be sad when it finally stops flying (anyone for VC 10 to the sky?)
The unmistakeable whine of the Conway turbines, music to my (going deaf!) ears.
I did do a bit of work on the VC10, but that was only when we had no 707s in the hangar.
KB