Originally Posted by
Chris Scott
Reckon you've guessed already, Jelle: the unique
Type 1109...
Aahh... I should have guessed that, but I didn't.... Good to see a bit of the prototype surviving. There are plenty of bits of VC10 shaped skin out there, also ex-G-ARTA, but this item is just a bit more special.
As for gear down speeds, one of the ex-Vickers F/Es once told me that they did VNE dive tests with the gear down, as they needed the drag to control the speed and the gear doors (the ones attached to the leg, not the inboard ones) could take it as long as there was no yaw on the aircraft. I don't know about the fuel penalty for a gear down ferry though, I couldn't find it in the Cruise Control Manual.