sad looking VC10
 

Any idea where they found the VC10 for the opening scene of last night's drama - The Last Post ? Strange that it was wearing an inflight refuelling probe and a sad hue of the beautiful BOAC dark blue. Not to mention the photoshopped Lightnings in the background . . . .

From what you describe, I'm guessing Bruntingthorpe.

I don't think I ever saw a Lightning at Khormaksar?

Good point, neither do I. I believe they sent 2 from the UK for trials, one with a UHF set and one with a VHF set so they couldn't even talk to each other. Bags packed and off home.

But there was a clip of a Wessex flying away in ther distance (archive?) and some (definitely contemporary) footage of a Belvedere.

I gather it was all filmed in South Africa, near Capetown (not the VC10 obvs) - terrain looked about right - although my reference is Oman, which I guess was not too different from Aden......

it was a South African registered helo briefly in one of the shots, taken from underneath (a Huey, I think) ZU-ELP.

They seem to have done their research on the scenery. It's certainly not Shamsan (the volcanic remnant that surrounds Crater), but I don't think anyone would want to be shooting on location out there. Even without the present war, actors driving down M'allah in redcap uniform would be trouble.

Noah Zark. I think you're confusing it with the trailer for another programme.

Here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq4NkrHD_GE

Looks like they've superimposed the Duxford VC-10 in BOAC livery with everyone getting off it (and they have all the BOAC ground equipment) on the background.

The aircraft steps have the BOAC logo from an earlier era's font than the aircraft livery :) . I know this sort of comment dismays the producers, who want all attention on the actors...

I cannot be 100% certain but the consensus seems to point towards WHBM's answer: it is G-ASGC at Duxford with the background and a refuelling probe added in post-production. They did some filming at Duxford in July, that could have been for this series.

Please don't do that G-ASGC - she is special.

I came up the M11 motorway past Duxford two days ago, the only museum aircraft out on the ramp, which you get a fleeting glimpse of northbound, was the Monarch Britannia. A bit prophetic :( . But the rest of the aircraft must be inside, or pushed off to the left; the BOAC VC10 has been visible outside there for 20 years or more. I always look out for what is there on the odd occasions when I drive past.

The VC10 and the other airliners are further left on the platform (when seen from the motorway heading North). They moved several years ago, I think around the time that the superhangar was extended.

Indeed so - I too was confused (actually in Gogglebox shouting at the screen mode!) when I saw the Huey from below, and yet another heli-in-the-background shot for another prog set in Afghan.

Must have bought up a load of surplus MTP combats ......

This one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaOYN0Svd_U

The Huey is a 50-year-old ex-US Army UH-1H (originally a UH-1D).

For historical accuracy, it's about on a par with that BOAC VC-10 with the refuelling probe. :O

Did BOAC ever land VC10s in Aden, I don't recall seeing them, only the BUA VC10, for trooping flights?

Sure. There was a short period between the end of Comets and the withdrawl of services there. It was the sort of lesser operation the Standard VC10 was designed for.

Here's a 1966 timetable showing a service terminating there, operating via Tripoli and Khartoum.

http://www.timetableimages.com/ttima...66/ba66-15.jpg


Now for whether a Super VC10 made it there, as in the film sequence, that's a different matter.

I seem to remember BOAC had alternating VC10 and 707 flights. In the latter half of 1967, everyone was getting excited about the prospect of a VC10, most of us having arrived there in the first place on Britannias. In my case, that was a British Eagle Brit, G-ANCF (Ironically, post British Eagle, this aircraft went to Monarch!) When my turn to go home in October 1967 came, 6 of us were allocated seats on .... Yep! A Britannia! This time it was the ill fated XL638, fitted out primarily as a cas evac plane with arrangements for lots of stretchers and a wide door which allowed the ambulances to reverse up a ramp to the aircraft. (Hence the only 6 "regular" passengers). And, while the lucky sods going home on one of these new-fangled jets were there within a few hours, we had to endure 20 hours from Aden to Lyneham!

And another clip of a Vulcan flying overhead with serial number XH558.

No Routemasters though.........

I didn't count the hours.

I did by Hasting, and counted the days! :(

Herod,
I have come to realise the error of my post, and duly stand corrected. I realised that when I saw the trailer again last night.
Thank you.
N.Z.

No problem, Noah. These fleeting images of similar scenes are easily confused.

KelvinD
When I was on 99 Sqn Britannias we did Khormaksar - El Adem in around 6hrs 30mins and El Adem - Lyneham in around 5hrs 30mins, so not sure which route you flew if it took 20hrs.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...MedEvacLay.jpg
Britannia in CASEVAC role

I guess when they filmed 'The Crown' How did the BOAC Argonaut and the Viscount fly? It's all computer generated.

Looks more comfortable than some of today's aircraft.

Warmtoast: Now that would have been a nice route! When I travelled (October 1967), we had upset the Arab states, with allegations the RAF had bombed Cairo during the 6 day war a couple of months earlier. This resulted in the RAF being banned from overflying Arab states so our track went:
Aden sort of easterly toward Oman, left turn up the Gulf to Bahrain
When we arrived in Bahrain, I remember thinking "how are they going to deal with this now we have Arab countries all around us?" We left Bahrain and crossed the Gulf, headed toward Iran in a generally northerly direction.
From Iran, we avoided Turkey and flew over Armenia and Georgia. Bearing in mind this was the height of the Cold War, that surprised me. The Captain very helpfully sent a chart for us to see. The chart was covered in a heavy polythene and the route was marked with a good old chinagraph and he had highlighted the 2 Soviet territories.
We skirted Turkey until we hit the Black Sea and swung around in a big curve, flying over (I think) Bulgaria and Greece and headed for Cyprus.
From Cyprus, we flew to Malta and finally to Lyneham.
The in flight catering consisted of thin cheese sandwiches and lemon squash on every sector. Departing Aden, the crew apologised for the catering and said we would get a hot meal in Bahrain. We got coffee" Departing Bahrain, more cheese sandwiches and another apology with a promise of a hot meal at Akrotiri. At Akrotiri, we got coffee and Keo brandy which we bought ourselves.
Departing Akrotiri, guess what; more apologies and a promise of a hot meal at Luqa. We picked up a few forces families in Malta (a couple of wives and kids) and set off for Lyneham.
As we were about to cross the Channel, the crew came round with a hot English breakfast along with customs and immigration forms. Lovely breakfast but a bugger to eat while filling in the forms and watching the UK coast getting ever closer!
The flight made it into the news the day after we arrived. When the aircraft parked, the ground people placed a big wooden ramp alongside the aircraft and an ambulance began backing up toward the ramp. Along came HM Customs and shooed the ambulance away. According to some of the casualties the Customs people boarded and went through the CASEVAC section like a dose of salts. One told me later that they used thin dowels to poke into bandages and casts to check if anything was hidden there! We walking passengers were given a real 3rd degree in the terminal and everybody paid customs duty on every bloody item. My return was 4 days short of a year since departure and I had bought a new watch while away and despite it being very close to a year (that was the threshold for duty payable), I was hit with the full import duty. Someone (whether passenger or crew, I don't know) told the newspapers. I heard later that HM Customs didn't attend inbound CASEVAC flights over the following days.
So, quite a trip! One abiding memory I have was during the flight over Iran, I noticed a large ring bolt in the bulkhead/deckhead and during this part of the journey I watched the amount of frost and ice that grew on this bolt. I presumed this bolt must have been through the fuselage and it was extremely cold outside!
Thanks for the photo. In all those 20 hours, I never did get to see that part of the aircraft.
Aah! Looking closely at your photo, I can see the ring bolts, holding the vertical supports for the stretchers. We were curtained off in the front. The first time I ever sat in seat 1A!

KelvinD
 

There was a particularly nasty customs man at Lyneham at that time, can't remember his name, who was even worse after his beloved Swindon Town had lost - so most of the time!

Yep, remember him well, but not his name. There was one case where a crewmember has a demijohn of wine from Cyprus, and was going to be charged some ridiculous amount. He proceeded to pour it onto the floor, at which point said personage stated that since the floor was UK territory, duty was still payable.

Lots of chat about this on the RAF Khormaksar thread on Military Aircrew. The first VC10 I ever saw was a BUA one at Khormaksar in 1966, when they had the trooping contract and I was so impressed. Like KelvinD I flew out and back on Britannias, but RAF, not British Eagle. I did fly out to Singapore on a British Eagle Brit the following year. Heathrow - Kuwait- Colombo - Paya Lebar - 24 hours which was long enough for me, so I sympathise with Ian16th who had to endure the Hastings!

Apparantly BOAC did use the VC10 on the Aden run in 1967 as this photograph shows. Perhaps this where the Last Post Director's Military adviser got the idea to use a BOAC VC10 in the programme.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c6...ps3lkc7l7y.jpg
See the following link.
Vickers VC10 Srs1101 - BOAC | Aviation Photo #1244563 | Airliners.net

Another BOAC VC10 at Aden with Hunters in the background.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c6...ps2pvu0g86.jpg

But that second image was taken before the VC-10 actually entered service with BOAC. As the caption says it was on certification testing at the time.

I am aware of that, the image was posted for interest and to highlight that Hunters were stationed at Khormaksar.

KelvinD: That route over Iran and Turkey to/from Cyprus was known to those of us in the trade as the CENTO route. And it was in regular use from at least February 1967, before the 6-Day War - with a falling out with Egypt over issues in South Yemen the more probable cause for its adoption.

Re the archive clip of a Wessex - look at 10.52 in on the BBC iPlayer. The Wessex has a yellow top to the fuselage. This indicates a Fleet Air Arm anti-submarine role Wessex HAS Mk1 and could well be my old Squadron - 815 - which was detached from HMS Centaur to Aden in January and again in May 1964. Just before my time with the Squadron as I joined them the following year.

All the sonar anti-submarine gear was stripped out from the Wessex and they operated in the troop transport role flying from Thurmier Airstrip in the Radfan Mountains. The Wessex shown in the accompanying photo whilst operating in the Radfan - XM873 - crashed at Wadi Misrah in June 1964 during a landing at 5000ft elevation in the mountains, rolled over 5 times and fell 150ft into a gully, sadly with the death of one of the troops.

Note the harp on the side of the helicopter - at that time we were 'sponsored' by Guinness!

ICM: Thanks for that. It was the Captain who told us it was due to the 6 day war that we were persona non-grata. If it had been Egypt only, we could have made it over Saudi Arabia, Jordan etc. It was interesting to see that route was already in use. I am still amazed we had the USSR being so friendly, while we had to make a huge circle to avoid Turkey, supposedly our CENTO mates.

BOAC Standard VC10 G-ARVL a shuttle from Khartoum - Aden - Khartoum on 28 April 1967.

The whole trip had been London - Tripoli - Khartoum on the night of 24/25 April. Then the shuttle to Aden and back on the 28th, followed by the return flight to London via Tripoli on 2 May.

KelvinD: This is getting rather off the VC 10 topic but my apologies for not reading your original post thoroughly. If you were in a RAF Britannia, then I have difficulty in believing that you flew over Armenia and Georgia, and I suspect that a very thick chinagraph had been used on that Pax Map. Flying from Bahrain or Sharjah, the CENTO route that I mentioned passed over Iran, up into eastern Turkey, and due west over the mountains until it was time to turn southwards for Cyprus. Overflight of Bulgaria would have been out of the question and there was no need for overflight of Greece. The same routing was used in reverse.

The 6-Day War did not help things in the area as rumours started and spread that RAF aircraft had flown from Cyprus in support of Israel. I was with an Argosy crew positioned at Masirah as standby support for a Lightning Trail to the Far East (Op Hydraulic) over those days, and I've often wondered whether the mix of Victor tankers and Lightnings operating through Akrotiri at the time might have helped spark those rumours.

If they had a BOAC Viscount, that was correct. BOAC never ran Viscounts, but their overseas-ownership arm, BOAC Associated Services, did, and leased Viscount 700s to Aden Airways, among a number of others, in BOAC livery with small Aden titles.

First VC10 deliveries, April 1964 to BOAC, September 1964 to British United. The BOAC ones replaced Comet 4s on these routes. The BUA ones did initially do military charters (always a mainstream use for BUA Britannias) before replacing Britannias on East Africa schedules, and later supplanting BOAC on South America.

Alas the media image. Russians in private life are actually some of the most pleasant, honourable and hospitable people you may find :) . And they have always despised their leaders (Czars, Socialists, New Russians, in equal quantities).

So I will tell this one. The very first time I ever arrived in Russia, at St Petersburg, I anticipated a KGB-style reception. But in the customs hall it was the opposite. Elegant Russian 40-something woman has her suitcase opened on the inspection counter. Russian customs officer, young-20-something, young enough to be her son, full old-socialist style uniform with oversized hat, on the other side. Woman is giving the officer what for in full volume. Officer is slightly cowering backwards, not knowing what to do, under the torrent of invective (I presume). Not the image at all ! I think she won.

Just a short while ago, Singapore to LHR nonstop on a 777, we took this exact same route, direct overhead Baku.

Did you look down on The Caspian coast to see the Ekranoplan - alias Caspian Sea Monster ? :) The prototype must have been trialling about then.

Not forgetting the two rather handsome Cambrian Viscounts that flew in BOAC's livery between Edinburgh/Belfast and Prestwick in the early 70s to feed their transatlantic services:

http://www.airport-data.com/images/a...566/566466.jpg