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. :ok:

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".

Concur with that. Well remember being a "Moonie" in Muckrack freshly delivered by a 10 late '65.

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.

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.

He still is..

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.

I guess he ignored the fact it outperformed most of the other world leaders aircraft despite it's vintage. Can't see airforce one operating out of the same places the VC-10 could either. Mind you he also killed concorde, Maggie would probably have had one handed to the RAF and used it every trip to europe she could if the fronceh tried that on in her day!

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 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?

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...:ok:

It was indeed a BA Aircraft, G-ASGR (although it should have been G-ASGD but that was under repair after a heavy landing in Antigua) one of the first to be painted in the full BA paint scheme after the merger with BEA. Flight Crew orders were still in the BOAC folders though.

I know I'm a bit late but at Akrotiri in the mid 70s she was 'The great white moonship'. I'm also pretty sure 'Ascot' was in use for TQF in the 60s. :}

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.

If the shiny fleet had to have a name then The Vanity would seem to be most appropriate....

I paid off a ship in Colombo and flew home in a VC-10. Our Captain, who was flying home with us, managed to blag us all a trip up to the cockpit. Really interesting.

To those of us who drove it the Vanguard was affectionately known as the 'Vibrator'. The freighter version (Merchantman) was, of course, the 'Guards Van'.

"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. :ok:

On Brize LSS we referred to them by their tail numbers. When speaking in general terms, it was "The Vicar's Knickers".