VC10 Display (White Waltham 1977)
 

White Waltham held an Air Pageant as part of HM the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977. The pageant included a very low flypast by a VC10 - as seen here (at about 2:45):


:hmm:

Wow, what a lovely clip.
That VC10 pass is superb, sadly that sort of thing would never happen nowadays though.
Did I spy a very youthful Brian Lecomber(RIP) at about 0.25?

What a wonderful clip. A "real" airshow......!!!

Heck, what was the "not below" limit - and the VC 10 was even lower!

Excellent find BEagle! I was there, it was a superb show. Yes, that is Brian Lecomber.

The recent thread about Neil Williams' articles on Kindle includes "A Weekend in the Country", Neil's take on displaying a number of very different aeroplanes at both White Waltham and the Biggin Air Fair which was the same weekend.

Lucky old you Treads. A fantastic flypast by some classic aircraft but the VC10 definitely stole the show. Thanks BEagle

Nurse!!. Screens please!!!!.

Superb film, thanks for posting. The Super VC 10 is still my favourite jet airliner. Sadly, IMO, the BA livery looks awful on a 10 compared to BOAC/Cunard livery.

I very much have a soft spot for the VC10, but I must say that the Mosquito also did its best to keep the grass trimmed! :ok:

What a great thread BEagle!

I was there as a young sixteen year-old with my father (a VC10 engineer) and, being a huge fan of the VC10 anyway, I remember the display well. I remember commenting to my father that it was an unusual item to have in the display alongside the Lancaster, Mossie, Spitfire, Rothmans Pitts etc., but when it made its spectacular appearance it certainly stole the show. As noted, the Mosquito did a couple of very low level passes too.

We were on the crowd line right by the Rothmans team and I remember being delighted to see Neil Williams, a hero of mine at the time. I only had an old Agfa Silette camera so my photos are very poor quality, but I've posted them here in case anyone's interested.

Ian

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h1...%201977-pp.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h1...mosq-ww-pp.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h1...othm-ww-pp.jpg

The mosquito and VC10 rather put the vulcan, assumed, roll into the "also ran" class.

I remember the VC10 display, having been on the fleet at the time.

I wasn't on board but wish I had been.

Where has the fun gone in life?

I am sad to think how boring it will be in another 38years time.

I may be wrong but I thought it was a standard G ARVM.

It was G-ARVM. Heard it was a training captain making his last flight before retiring?

VC10 at WW
 

At least the fuselarge of G-VM still exists!!

Also remember a story that 'VM had sat by the hangars for quite some time and was reactivated for training details.
During its pre - flight service a bar of gold was allegedly found secreted behind a wing panel.
I only heard that account once from an ex- VC-10 pilot however being a Standard model it would have made many trips through the Middle East.

I see the fuselage is located at Brooklands but I guess it's wings are long gone?

Thanks for posting, BEagle. :ok:

I have just shared the clip with my parents and brother - all of whom remember the day as clearly as I do, especially the VC10 low pass.

The wings and other bits that were removed all went to the scrapman. See here for some photos: C/n 815 - G-ARVM
I've also got some other photos and accounts of the White Waltham flypast that can be found through the links under 'More info' on that page.

Thanks for the link, sounds as though VM is well looked after and I guess there will be a few retired VC-10 folk in the area.

Nice photos BSAA...technical quality is always of secondary importance to subject matter!

'Lofty' Lecomber was the regular pilot of the Fokker Triplane in those days.

Holy Moly BEags, now that was low.

The man at the CAA would have a blue fit if this happened today.