VC 10 at Kemble mid 60s

[arthur harbrow]

Does anyone recall a VC 10 being scrapped at Kemble in the mid 60s or did i imagine it?

[Speedbird48]

Yes, you are correct. It was the Rolls Royce flying test bed that had one RB-211 on the left side and the normal two Conways on the other.
It was an ex-RAF airplane but had a civil registration. They said it was too costly to convert it back to the original configeration even though it had very low hours.
I saw it there together with a bunch of Argosys that were also being scrapped. I was there to view some Chipmunks that were for sale. They were all in the semi-underground hangers together with a lot of brand new, green primer, military Avro 748's that I believe went to New Zealand. The '748's had the fins removed to get them in the hangers.

[BEagle]

I think that the last few bits were in use at Brize fairly recently at the Baggage Crushers' School - (RAF Movements School) - including most of the fuselage which Trubby abused so splendidly!

[ID90]

The VC10 was G-AXLR, and I think it was scrapped in 1976.

[Beeayeate]

I think this may be the RR VC-10 at Kemble. Not my photo, but don't know who the photographer was so I can't give them a credit for it. :\

The Comet looks interesting though. . . any ideas which one, and why at Kemble?

http://www.canberra.plus.com/pics/R117.jpg

[treadigraph]

Comet looks like a former Dan-Air example.

[JW411]

The VC10 started life as XR809 with 10 Sqn at Brize. Rolls Royce borrowed it to use as an RB211 test bed and it became G-AXLR. As stated before, the RB211 was attached to a modified engine beam on the port side. The aircraft was supposed to come back to the RAF when Rolls Royce had finished with it.

I was at Brize (not on VC10s) when it was returned to the MU at Kemble. The story going around was that a crane and a truck turned up to take the RB211 away. They vanished out the gate and the conversation went something like this:

RAF: "It wasn't like this when we lent it to you. Where's our 2 Conways and the original engine beam then? We want you to put it back together again."

RR: "Sorry shag, it doesn't say that in the contract."

And neither did it - no one had thought about who was going to pay to put it back together again. Although it had very low hours, the RAF decided that they couldn't afford to restore it so it was used for spares recovery.

The moral is; get your contract pinned down before you lend anyone anything.

I think the Comet is one of the old Boscombe Down or Farnborough machines which would explain its presence at Kemble.

[arthur harbrow]

Thanks for the replies and picture which i found very interesting.
My memory was stirred by the site of a VC10 coming into land at Brize recently.Of course it was mid 70s not 60s.
I also recall getting inside one at the 1990 Abingdon airshow.
Happy days.

[26451]

The Comet that was at Kemble at the same time as the VC10 G-AXLR was not a Boscombe Down or Farnborough example as mentioned above but ex Dan Air aircraft G-APYC which arrived on Dec 4th 1978. It was used in the fire dump area for SAS terrorist and assault training. It was then broken up in and the remains removed 4th Sep 1982

The VC10 was also broken up and the remains removed 25th October 1982.

[Ex Oggie]

I am pretty sure the VC9½ at the Movers School was ex. G-ATDJ, later XX914. I still carry the scars after my head came into contact with the door frame once. :ouch:

[Wycombe]

Ahhhh, Hangar 30, what happy memories of many fun-filled weekends :D :mad: :mad: :D

[Ex Oggie]

Fraid I don't remember that much of H30. I thought it must be age, but on second thoughts, I think it was spending the night before in the Swamp with B Flight :E :} I fink I was led astray ;)

[Jhieminga]

Can't add much (nothing that is) about Hangar 30. But those wishing to reminisce about G-AXLR will find some more photos and some info here: G-AXLR/XR809 page (http://home.planet.nl/~hiemi003/Data\Individual\XR809.html)

[Beeayeate]

But those wishing to reminisce about G-AXLR will find some more photos and some info here: G-AXLR/XR809 page

Broken link there old boy. :hmm:

[Man-on-the-fence]

Works fine for me. A cracking site as well.

[Beeayeate]

Nope, still broke. All I get is . . .

PAGINA IS NIET BESCHIKBAAR
Helaas is de door u opgevraagde pagina niet, of niet meer, beschikbaar. Het is ook mogelijk dat de server instructies heeft deze pagina niet aan u te tonen (op basis van uw Internet-adres bijvoorbeeld).

. . . and an Error 404.


MotF, your casting of runes must be better'n mine. :hmm:

[Jhieminga]

The link seems to work fine. Must be something else going wrong. The main link to the site is http://Fly.to/VC10

If you don't like the popups (sorry, got to keep it an affordable hobby), you can try this one: http://home.planet.nl/~hiemi003/home.html

You'll find the G-AXLR page in the 'History' section

Good luck!