Why didn'tb the RAF give the VC-10 a name?
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Surrey
Posts: 371
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Yes we did, F E D. But because we hadn't quite got round to painting 'Royal Air Force Transport Command' in white over the doors of our Whirlwinds when they came back from FEAF, a la Wessex, we didn't have to repaint them. AFAIK, we never quite got round to painting on the new command title either. Just the odd tiger or three. 
Back to the thread, like many I will always think of the VC-10 as the Vickers FunBus. But 'VC-10' stuck at all levels, especially with passengers. When Aden was declared an operational area and the GOC addressed his troops he brightly said that, because of the conflict's new status, "you can now all win the VC!" A gloomy voice from the back of the ranks was heard to say: "The only VC that I want is a VC-10".
Back to the thread, like many I will always think of the VC-10 as the Vickers FunBus. But 'VC-10' stuck at all levels, especially with passengers. When Aden was declared an operational area and the GOC addressed his troops he brightly said that, because of the conflict's new status, "you can now all win the VC!" A gloomy voice from the back of the ranks was heard to say: "The only VC that I want is a VC-10".
Last edited by D120A; 18th Mar 2013 at 17:42.
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: On the Bay, Vic, Oz
Age: 80
Posts: 415
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
it was supposedly because it delivered the "Moonies", those whey-faced posted-in individuals who had not yet got their knees (or faces) brown.
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: london
Posts: 379
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The time for BOAC to invent a marketing class name (like Argonaut for DC-4M, Hythe for ex-Sunderland) would have been shortly before late-64 Standard VC10 inaugural Service. But by then passengers had become used to jet designations by type, not name (707/DC-8/CV880). RAF first delivery was 7/66, by when its identity was settled. I expect the reason that Vickers, then BAC did not produce one, was linked to (17/3) Jhieminga's Old Account/New Account point about profit/loss ownership. Later a dubble-bubble scheme was called Superb precisely to admit it as a common BAC project.
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: St Albans
Posts: 72
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
VC 10 and Tony Blair
Everyone loved the VC 10 except, it seems, Tony Blair. A published account of his second term reveals that the 'elderly' VC 10 was despised by Blair for the antiquity of its comms fit and its embarrassingly old vintage compared with aircraft used by other world leaders. There was talk of acquiring for him his very own 'Air Force One'. It must be remembered that, at the time, Blair was in thrall to George Bush and was at the height of his messianic phase.
Everyone loved the VC 10 except, it seems, Tony Blair. A published account of his second term reveals that the 'elderly' VC 10 was despised by Blair for the antiquity of its comms fit and its embarrassingly old vintage compared with aircraft used by other world leaders. There was talk of acquiring for him his very own 'Air Force One'. It must be remembered that, at the time, Blair was in thrall to George Bush and was at the height of his messianic phase.
FWIW, in BCAL (1971-on) we usually called it "The Ten". We sold our last VC10 at the end of 1974, and our first DC-10 didn't appear until a few years later - so no ambiguity for us.
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Wantage
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
VC 10 and Tony Blair
Everyone loved the VC 10 except, it seems, Tony Blair. A published account of his second term reveals that the 'elderly' VC 10 was despised by Blair for the antiquity of its comms fit and its embarrassingly old vintage compared with aircraft used by other world leaders. There was talk of acquiring for him his very own 'Air Force One'. It must be remembered that, at the time, Blair was in thrall to George Bush and was at the height of his messianic phase.
Everyone loved the VC 10 except, it seems, Tony Blair. A published account of his second term reveals that the 'elderly' VC 10 was despised by Blair for the antiquity of its comms fit and its embarrassingly old vintage compared with aircraft used by other world leaders. There was talk of acquiring for him his very own 'Air Force One'. It must be remembered that, at the time, Blair was in thrall to George Bush and was at the height of his messianic phase.
One of the things that killed the VC-10 commercially was it's fuel consumption. It was a thirsty beast.
I remember meeting one of my old Argosy colleagues over Gander one night heading east. He was flying from IAD to BZN and I was flying one of Freddie's DC-10s from LAX to LGW. He had 139 passengers on board. I had 345 (plus 15 tons of freight).
Despite the fact that he was 2,000 feet higher than me, he was burning the same amount of fuel.
I remember meeting one of my old Argosy colleagues over Gander one night heading east. He was flying from IAD to BZN and I was flying one of Freddie's DC-10s from LAX to LGW. He had 139 passengers on board. I had 345 (plus 15 tons of freight).
Despite the fact that he was 2,000 feet higher than me, he was burning the same amount of fuel.
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Surrey
Posts: 371
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I am sure I have said this before somewhere, but it's worth repeating here. It was jolly expensive modifying the RAF VC-10 for Mrs Thatcher; we had to remove the port wing and weld a second starboard wing to it.
Because she wouldn't fly in anything with a Left Wing attached to it...
Because she wouldn't fly in anything with a Left Wing attached to it...
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Wantage
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I remember a VC-10 brought Betty Windsor to Rarotonga in 1974, that must have been a perk trip for someone!
IIRC it was British Airways not RAF?
IIRC it was British Airways not RAF?
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: uk
Posts: 60
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
In the Gulf in the early seventies it was known as The Gohomey Bird. Taxiing out of Dubai the the Bristow crews used to bend their knees and "Salaam to the Gohomey Bird" as we passed.
OK now, here's a little excercise, think up an official name for the VC-10.
I'll start with a continuation of the Vickers "V" theme (Viking, Varsity, Valetta, Viscount, Vanguard et al ) and go for "Viceroy".
I'm sure someone can do better than that.
I'll start with a continuation of the Vickers "V" theme (Viking, Varsity, Valetta, Viscount, Vanguard et al ) and go for "Viceroy".
I'm sure someone can do better than that.
Paxing All Over The World
"Vivacious" ??
Nope, just the smooth running sound of the two letters and two numbers pronounced as a single number make a three syllable name that is Unmistakable and Unbeatable - just like the lady herself.
Nope, just the smooth running sound of the two letters and two numbers pronounced as a single number make a three syllable name that is Unmistakable and Unbeatable - just like the lady herself.
Cunning Artificer
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: The spiritual home of DeHavilland
Age: 76
Posts: 3,127
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
On Brize LSS we referred to them by their tail numbers. When speaking in general terms, it was "The Vicar's Knickers".
