Strange that VD is not used these days, STD instead.

DaveReidUK & Jhierminga.... The points made in your threads noted. PM

I thought that STD was some form of telephone system?

The following are current::

G-AMVD Auster 5
G-BYVD Grob G115E Tutor
G-CBVD Cameron C-60
G-CDVD Evektor EV-97 Eurostar
G-CEVD Rolladen-Schneider LS3
G-CGVD Van's RV-12
G-CJVD Team Mini-Max 1600
G-CKVD Rolladen-Schneider LS1-f
G-CLVD Schempp-Hirth Discus-2c FES
G-HRVD CCF T-6 Harvard Mk.4
G-NHVD Leonardo AW169

all but one registered in the last 30 or so years.

Presumably the alleged puritanical keeper of the Reggie Ledger had retired by the time the later G-B registration blocks were allocated in the early 1990s! G-BUVD was a 1992 Jetstream 31, 'BSVD and 'BTVD not allocated... G-APVD was a WS-51 registered in '59

BEAGLE

It was 'Subscriber Trunk Dialing back in the day or real phones with dials, ie you didnt have to clal the operator any more.
Loved the old Air Pic , the one with the 727-100 on cover immediately caught my eye , I was 12 and cycled from home to HAtton cross to see the new BOAC VC10s mentioned in the registration changes section at the old BOAC base at Hatton Cross, LHR.

PB

There are probably other examples of 'disrespectful' alternate reggies. The original Britannia Airways B737-200s (delivered 1968-9) were getting a little weary by the time they were sold on (mid 1980s). G-AVRM was (sort of) affectionately known as 'Rigor Mortis'.

<br />For a while Westland S51 1A Dragonfly (serial no:<span style="color:#444444;">WA/H/90)</span> flitted around wearing the marks G-ANAL ( I am sure I have seen a photograph) until it alighted on the more mundane marks G-ANZL. It would have made the perfect mate for G-AR*E ( that, of course, was not issued) !!<br />

If I recall aright, there is one in Pat Malone's excellent biography of Alan Bristow who flew demo flights in it while working for Westlands.

<br /> This one escaped the net as well....... "https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1098490 The aircraft still flies but with the more prosaic marks TJ565......&lt;br /&gt;<br />

Going back to the Britannia, here are the original registration entries:

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....49ad2e81f7.png
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....52c4f8e9f8.png
The aircraft was registered for a while under the original marks, up to the change on 19-3-1958. The VC10s were all registered throughout 1962, 1963 and 1964 but the reservations for that block of registration marks may well have been processed years earlier, the first order for VC10s was signed in 1958. I looked up some photos of the Britannia and found some that showed two different livery variations and one underneath which the photographer mentioned that the registration change was due to BOAC's problems with the type. So whether it was a puritanical lady, the public image of BOAC or superstition, I guess there was something around in the late 1950s that led to some registrations being skipped, and at least one changed.

The Auster is of course still on the civil register as G-AMVD, but as with many historical aircraft that have a military connection (real or wannabe), it has an exemption from the CAA that allows it to display a military serial in lieu of its civil registration.