I remember being taken round the East African VC10s (88-91 time I think) when they were being converted at Filton. An ex Flt Sgt from Base hangar by the name of Al Shrewsbury was working there as a civvie and I was based at RR on the Eurofighter Team. Because I knew Al from Brize he showed us things on those 10s that would make your eyes water. For example the corrosion to the main ECU spas, (which you could see when you opened the back panel of the rear toilets was unbelievable). It was like a peeled onion.
At the time we all agreed that they would never fly again and if they did it would only be for a few hours.
How wrong we were!!