VC-10s at Bruntingthorpe
 

To the south of Leicester at lunchtime today I saw a 2 VC-10s flying quite low with their gear down, I thought it may be some new idea for using the Vickers Funbus.
I then saw them turn in the direction of Bruntingthorpe where it looked like they landed after a couple of approaches.

Can any Ppruners satisfy my inquisitive mind as to what was going on?
TIA

Coming soon to a store near you, probably in the form of a disposable razor.

VC10 recycling begins: key.Aero, Military Aviation

They are all supposed to be going to have spare reclamation then scrapping at Brunty

Knew the first were due this month but did not realise so early.


2 VC-10's To Be Retired 31st march 2010

Yep. they arrived today. Another sad day!

Pics of them here............................ Sad Sad day as an Ex Eng on them.

Unlike the Grimrod these seem to getting disposed of almost under the table, without much fanfare after a superb service life, how many will survive and how many will be the unique C1?


So have the first VC10's arrived at Brunty today? - Key Publishing Ltd Aviation Forums

XV 109 at Bruntingthorpe
 

.... and to think that I did the airframe acceptance checks when XV 109 arrived at BZN sometime in the previous century! Very sad indeed. :sad: :sad: :sad:

C1K's ?
 

The C1's are all C1K's now.

Came over my house in Peterborough heading north in a very, very, close formation.
A lovely sight.

I realise that, but the C1 was a unique model specific to the RAF and not someone else's cast off's whether it has been bastardized into a tanker w*nker version or not :) and as such it should be the version saved if possible, after all there are a couple of Civilian versions out there already. :)

A very sad, but inevitable day :{

The video and photos on the Key Aviation link are well worth seeing. Quite a crosswind component at Bruntingthorpe today!

Thanks for the input guys, BBC East Midlands actually covered the arrival and I watched it this evening whilst having my tea.

It may be available on BBC iPlayer, not sure, also 0755 in the morning on BBC1 if you can get BBC East Midlands news on your digital TV.

I guess that these aircraft were part of the collection in BA colours at Abingdon that I could see from the A34 about 25 years ago.

And what a snip they were......:}

Sorry, couldn't resist - trust you had a good flight today.

:ok:

Nope, they were the C1's and the original fleet members of the RAF

Sad day. I remember these two from as far back as 1976, my first tour on 10 Sqn. At the time, XV109 seemed to be undergoing a very deep major in Base Hangar and bore the logo 'Enola Gay' daubed on her fuselage side. On my return to the fleet in 1989, XR807 was reported to have failed her pressurisation checks ex-major and 'will never fly again'. Of course, they both soldiered on for many more years, as did the rest of our once splendid strategic transport fleet (OK, I did the tanking thing too). Unfortunately I am in NZ right now, about 12000 miles from my logbooks as the crow flies, so I can't check any first flown/last flown dates or interesting route stops. However, by sheer coincidence, I was looking at a whale's t-tail today (on a postcard I hasten to add) and remarked to my wife on its uncanny resemblance to that of the VC10! I'll raise a glass of NZ's finest tonight.

I think you will find that the C1s where delivered direct new from the factory. The ex BA frames at Abingdon became the K2 and 3 and spares.

The BA ac at Abingdon were coverted to K4s, the K2s were ex Gulf Air and the K3s were ex East African.

Speaking of VC10s, I was aboard this one, out of Cottesmore. "The VC10 pounds powerfully through the inky darkness of the early morning ......... " Bollox, it was broad daylight. We'd taken off at 7. The guy next to me, electrics I think, had a window seat and spotted the problem before the crew. I kid you not! He said to me, "There's land down there and there shouldn't be". Two minutes later - a very hard left turn and lots of vehicles and flashing lights when we landed at Gander.

Incidents and Accidents

Za149 and XZA150 they had an extra 68psi? switch in their cabin compressing ducts........ odd the things you remember off your VC10 course many many moons ago :p

Already robbed?
 

Looking at the cockpit photo on the Key Aviation link, the Vickers badges from the centre of the Contol Columns have gone missing, no doubt they both fell out on landing :)

... and picked up by the aircrew as a FOD prevention measure? ;)