It would have been nice to see one in a museum, but what I was trying to get across, is don't judge a structure by its external appearance, often the green grime etc comes off with a simple wash showing the aircraft finish in a better light..



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This was in March 2016. The paint had faded but apart from that the airframes appeared to be in a decent state.
Tristar_1 by Jelle Hieminga, on Flickr

The real nice thing would have been to get one into a museum somewhere. Even a flight deck, but there is no interest from anywhere apparently. I know we can’t save every type the airforce has flown but the TriStar was a workhorse that was usually overlooked by the powers that be, generally due to misunderstanding of its capabilities.
Shame they will be no more in a few months

Agreed a walk in or viewable Cockpit display at one of the RAF museums would have been superb, having been in the RAF Tristar cockpit it was fascinating, if Cosford they could have done it from the second floor viewing platform without taking up much if any floorspace.
Otherwise another important RAF type will disappear into history, and it was important in the RAF history from the Falklands through the Gulf Wars to the tanking capability.
But early days, there may be plans to display one, the sectioned frame of the 747 in a museum is superb exhibit, see.

.https://collection.sciencemuseumgrou...ners-fuselages



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First Tristar is being scrapped, photos from yesterday are here: https://forums.airshows.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=87074

ZD951 and ZD948 are gone, ZD950 is being scrapped right now. See the updates page on T&L.

Looks like the last Tristar is now also gone. Based on the photos I've seen on Twitter, at least one if not more of the flight decks have been saved.

Did the RAF / Marshalls ever do a CPCP on them? Dinatrol or AV08/15? Never heard of it did they? Rot boxes inside if they were not. Certainly over the last few years. Gary do a proper storage procedure with them IAW Lockheed manuals?

Doubtful, they were more or less abandoned, and with no manufacurers support they were pretty much doomed.

The VC-10 got chopped up a few days ago as well.

Yes, ZD241 was scrapped yesterday, 20 April 2022. I suspect a few parts will be spared but don't have any details yet. I've got some links on the news page on my site that show photos (click on my name, there's a link to my site there).

Was that the runner? :(

It was indeed Nutty, absolute ****ing sacrilege :oh:

Bugger :(

There would be an absolute uproar if a U.K. company went into the USA and started destroying their heritage.

There are various sides to this story:
- The Walton family own the airfield and some of the aircraft but not the VC10. They didn't want to run the business anymore and leased this (the airfield and facilities) to Cox, a US company.
- Cox want the airfield for their automotive business, nothing else. Because of this they have asked other users to vacate the site.
- The VC10 was/is owned by GJD but they were not based there anymore and the VC10 was only allowed to be there and run while the Waltons were running the facility and as long as it did not get in the way of business. The company scrapping the airframe is GJD itself, so they are cutting up their own property.
- Moving the VC10 would have meant a six-figure sum would have to be found. This was tried for ZA147 and this fundraiser never came near anything realistic.
In the end it boils down to money, but there is not one single villain in this story. I suspect some of the parts may find their way to the project that aims to fly ZA150 again, some parts will end up at https://www.doors2manual.org/ and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the cockpit section may be saved. Time will tell.

Do you know what the status is of Comet XS235 ? Can't recall who owns her, but it would be sad to see the last flying Comet broken up

Parked on a dispersal somewhere in a corner, alongside the Nimrod and Victor. Those three airframes are owned by the Walton family or one of the Waltons AFAIK. Based on the work they've put into storing them and providing a display area for the other, smaller, airframes I expect them to be around for a little while longer.

I believe the Waltons retained some land near the QRA sheds for their aircraft, Shame they hadn’t had room for the Ten.