Red White and Blue Voyager
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Hanging off the end of a thread
Posts: 22,895

Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Hanging off the end of a thread
Posts: 22,895
transportation when I served back in the 60s/70s. For long-haul overseas diplomacy we'd happily convert two VC10s for Royal or Prime Ministerial trips at the drop of a hat. But of course RAF airmens' labour and paint supplies are free of charge, aren't they? [img]images/smilies2/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]
We started pricing one as we went along and up until being ordered to stop we were in the hundreds of thousands, and we were seriously under estimating costs in parts alone. we did one for Charles and Diana to go to a charity fundraiser ball, it would’ve been cheaper to simply have paid a donation into the charity than to put the aircraft on.
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: SW England
Age: 75
Posts: 3,872
Well I am glad at least that the great British public weren't consulted about the scheme. These after all were the people who voted for an Antarctic explorer ship to be named "Boaty McBoatface". God knows what they would have come up with. Anyway I quite like it (with reservations about the gold).
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: UK
Age: 67
Posts: 1,261
Thought police antagonist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Where I always have been...firmly in the real world
Posts: 1,165
Ah yes, about projecting the UK abroad ….with that paint scheme, shurely the covert loud speakers will be used on arrival in foreign shores in the same way as "Ride of the Valkyries " in "Apocalypse Now "...….blasting out "Land of Hope and Glory ". ...and other well known musical scores.
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: The foot of our stairs
Age: 64
Posts: 6
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Surrey
Posts: 2,197
Ah yes, about projecting the UK abroad
.with that paint scheme, shurely the covert loud speakers will be used on arrival in foreign shores in the same way as "Ride of the Valkyries " in "Apocalypse Now "...
.blasting out "Land of Hope and Glory ". ...and other well known musical scores.
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Cayley's County - Yorkshire
Posts: 184
Yes, coasting out towards the North Sea as Tartan58. There is a Typhoon slightly further north off the coast - presumably the trials aircraft with the pilot wearing approved RayBans to see if the scheme detracts from his ability to tank...........


Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
Age: 61
Posts: 954
Ah yes, about projecting the UK abroad
.with that paint scheme, shurely the covert loud speakers will be used on arrival in foreign shores in the same way as "Ride of the Valkyries " in "Apocalypse Now "...
.blasting out "Land of Hope and Glory ". ...and other well known musical scores.
Do not give him ideas, its been a costly enough bit of Boris promotion as is, without the sound effects dept coming in.
Incidentally good to see you are still with us.
Kind regards
Mr Mac
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: West Sussex
Age: 80
Posts: 4,566
Vespina is a genus of muth according to Wiki. Though perhaps more interestingly it is also a range of electrical motor scooters for children :-
https://www.amazon.it/SCOOTER-ELETTR...%2C154&sr=1-40
https://www.amazon.it/SCOOTER-ELETTR...%2C154&sr=1-40
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Next to Ross and Demelza
Age: 51
Posts: 1,172
It doesn't look as bad as the designs suggested, though why 'UNITED KINGDOM' is painted in gold when it could have been dark blue (if needed at all- doesn't the Union flag design give it away?) is beyond me. And why have the serial in such big letters in such a prominent place? It could have been tucked away on the red band under the tail. Unless it is allow taxpayers to note that they have only repainted one aircraft in the new scheme.
Apart from those niggles I'll take it.
Apart from those niggles I'll take it.
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Swindonshire
Posts: 1,979
Vespina is a genus of muth according to Wiki. Though perhaps more interestingly it is also a range of electrical motor scooters for children :-
https://www.amazon.it/SCOOTER-ELETTR...%2C154&sr=1-40
https://www.amazon.it/SCOOTER-ELETTR...%2C154&sr=1-40

Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Bourton-on-the-Water
Posts: 977
More on that £900,000 price tag...
Aviation Week's London-based Tony Osborne says
https://aviationweek.com/defense-spa...c367bad88af05f
airsound
Aviation Week's London-based Tony Osborne says
Part of that cost likely stems from the fact that the Voyagers are not owned by the RAF, but operated on their behalf by the Airtanker consortium—a joint venture of Airbus, Cobham, Rolls-Royce and Thales—and the livery is a bespoke scheme. According to the UK defense ministry, the work was contracted directly with Airtanker through its Private Finance Initiative contract and had to account for the aircraft’s certification, regulatory and licensing requirements. A competitive tender was issued for the repainting work.
airsound
Last edited by airsound; 26th Jun 2020 at 11:51. Reason: adding url
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Not a million miles from EGTF
Age: 66
Posts: 1,579
Well - what a fuss over nothing. The cost must have involved further mods.
The one criticism for me is that the red is too garish and there's too much of it. Might cover up the blood after airborne punchups though
The one criticism for me is that the red is too garish and there's too much of it. Might cover up the blood after airborne punchups though