How I just love people harking on about how things were 20 odd years ago and then using supposition to add their tuppence to the current state of things. If you’re not currently involved, a 20 year old anecdote is not really relevant today.
At the start of the 90's, the RAF acknowledged there was a problem with the VC10 and the major maintenance was taken over by RAF Abingdon and eventually RAF (DARA) St Athan and a whole lot of money was thrown at the jet. This improved the state of the aircraft immensely and a huge amount of time, effort and money was spent addressing the corrosion issue acmech 1957 alluded to. Whatever the argument about cost, the simple fact is the government would not pay to replace the aircraft.
Widger - The aircraft is RVSM compliant
I love my VC10 - even if I now become a freight dog!