Question about the tanker version. I had a couple of trips on these with ATC cadets in the 1980s and was interested in the escape hatch which was originally intended to be used for crew abandonment (just aft of the flight deck on the port side). I think the idea was binned fairly early on when it was realised that getting a crew of four out was one thing, but a crew of four and a dozen odd pax was something else again.
Anyone know what sort of trials were done on this escape hatch and how it worked? I think there was some sort of extending slide to take escapees clear of the aircraft, but as it was all welded up by that time, I'm not sure about that. I take it even at the development stage nobody ever actually jumped out of a VC10
