A little VC10derness at the Bash
 

The VC10 has its own website, but it was discussed at the Bash. It was designed to a BOAC specification, but then the Boeing Only Aircraft Corporation bought 707's instead. There was a lot more discussion than that, and I'm sure there could be a lot more discussion online, here, without the distractions of trying to set up a Zoom meeting, and rain, and the hottest day of the year - so far. It may get even hotter over the next few days. So I may be exonerated for picking the hottest day of the year!

I have mentioned before one trip in VC10 and I really can’t remember it being that memorable. It was developed for a market that subsequently sailed ie Hot and High airports with shortish runways. Unfortunately these were lengthened to cope with 707/DC8 so the market disappeared.

I agree a pretty A/C but not sure it was that memorable at the time, but I was very young and had clocked up a lot of Boeing time by then.

Cheers
Mr Mac

That was the original Standard VC10. The Super VC10 traded some of that hot 'n high performance for a bit more load and a bit more range. There is also quite a significant difference between the BOAC Standard VC10s, which never got the benefit of the wing 'fix' and the Standards sold to Ghana and BUA. The main deck cargo door on (most of) those meant that a more varied mix of cargo and passengers could be carried, enabling (later Sir) Freddie Laker to make a profit on the South American routes that BOAC had to let go.

The VC10s were sufficiently attractive that a substantial proportion of BOAC passengers used to arrange their bookings especially to fly on a VC10. In the end, this and a very good publicity campaign more than made up for the aircraft's slightly higher operating costs.

Disappointed to have been at the other end of the table while this chat was going on. Down there, we were into 146s ... :)

I'm a bit deaf, so I lipread, and was following both conversations. Some of us thought the Bash was going to start earlier and finish early, so had booked trains and evening social appointments which meant we had to leave by 1630. There was certainly enough to talk about for another Bash, so scroll down the page and put in your tuppence worth in 'PPRuNe Bashes'. As far as I'm concerned, I'm up for another Bash whenever Saab Dastard is prepared to host one.

I flew on number of VC10s and 707 fanjet and straight jet versions
The VC10 was i think a little wider internally much much much quieter and with a more stable ride than the 707 , the DC in my opinion was better ride than the 70.

With stable fares and not much competition back then I am not surprised people chose the VC 10 , but t didnt have the legs of the 707C series and often had to offload baggage or pax on LHR -Caribbean routes or the other longer trans ats. Going east was very different as no non stop SIn in those days more like 3 stops. I did alot of VC 10 trips JFK-BGI , LHR-BGI (Barbados) LHR-Bahrein Nicosia-LHR, Rome LHR , LHR-HKG with three or four stops. HKG back to LHR. LHR-Seychelles via Nicosia Addis Khartoum (a real Empire Route) and a few more and I always found it extremely comfortable and relaxing to fly on . Having to walk out across the ramp at 2300 local time to board a VC10 possibly on its own in the garish sodium lighting and walking up the steps gave you a real sense of travelling. On the ground living near LHR noise was a different matter and probably contributed in part for my need for hearing aids today.

I wasn't aware that the VC10 had so much range. When I flew in it, it went LHR-BEY-KHI-DEL, I did know it could do transatlantic, but my parents were never posted to diplomatic missions on the other side of the Atlantic so I never got to try it.

My parents loved Beirut, in those days (very early 70s) it really was the Paris of the Orient, so we always used to stop off for a day or two there on our way back to England. I still have fond memories of the Club St Georges, of which my parents were members, where the fishermen on the rocks below the Club would bring their catch directly to the kitchens, I've never had fresher fish.

Are your hearing aids only for hearing loss or for tinnitus as well? I had hearing aids from my local Specsavers, these cost the NHS a lot of money and really weren't much use at all. I got an appointment with an audiologist in Lincoln Hospital (the waiting list was 99 weeks) who gave me hearing aids specifically for tinnitus sufferers, after a four-hour hearing and balance test, and these are vastly better. It's worthwhile putting yourself on the waiting list for an NHS audiologist, they do much better hearing aids, at a price that makes the taxpayer weep.

Here you go... VC10 at BZN 20th Aug 2013, and a couple of 146s at NOR.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....8a9de08bf7.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....fad1ae0335.jpg

Justapax1, I also have wonderful memories of Club St. Georges. My parents had access through reciprocal rights with The Tehran Club.

Club St. Georges. This would be about 1967:

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....88648de7ec.jpg

Fisherman behind the club:
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....7e6f816ad5.jpg

The bar:
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....56a035ac2f.jpg

and the Manager, with ships' plaques on the walls:
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....0c89666928.jpg

and you'll doubtless remember the Hotel St. Georges just along the promenade:
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....469bc264ce.jpg

It was a wonderful city (and country). Sorry for the thread drift.

I think the mods might forgive us for a bit of nostalgic thread drift. Your pix really bring back memories for me - thanks!:D

I was as a pre-teen and remain now a largely aquatic creature as do my kids (we have a pool). I love to swim, and for a livre or so you could get a taxi out to South Beirut (hah! try that these days!) and beaches all to yourselves, with ice creams and cold drinks for a few piastres.

Pax have been known to drift around the globe ... Afterall, it is what we do :ok:

I've sent pix to my sister, she is much older than me, and probably stayed at the Club St Georges more often. We're not that close a family, so she may not respond, but thanks anyway for the pix.

Although the Club St Georges is sadly long gone, there are still Clubs with reciprocal rights around the globe, I'm a member of the www.rosl.org.uk, and am looking forward to reciprocal rights when I visit Sydney at the Royal Australian Automobile Club when I do my bucket-list trip across your beautiful country on the Indian-Pacific. Might I see you there? We could have a two-man bash!

A surprising VC10 recollection is from around 1983, driving up the main A34 road between Newbury and Oxford (unusually for me). Passing the somewhat obscure RAF Abingdon base there, a whole group of maybe 10 VC10s were stored in a line there. Withdrawn by BA, they were presumably bought up as a job lot by the RAF, some were reactivated and lived for many years longer, others were scrapped. But it was an unexpected suprrise.

WHBM - I used to live in a thatched roof cottage right next door to those VC10's :)
It was great for tacevals etc - I could hear the alarms from my bedroom but just relaxed with a coffee until they got round to calling me from the call out list (Alphabetically I was quite near the end :) )

That sounds like an excellent idea. Look forward to meeting up. On a slightly related note, Hotel St. Georges reopened earlier this year (May), after a fairly traumatic hiatus.

https://www.beirut.com/en/754210/29-...ens-its-doors/

As we have moved on from Richmond to Beirut (!), former colleague at the office was brought up there as a kid; father was an FE on Kuwait Airways Comets in the early 1960s, and curiously the airline did not have their ops centre in Kuwait, where presumably there was no support structure at the time for a Comet fleet, but in Beirut. Aircraft commonly through-routed between Europe and India, and return, one crew would do say London-Rome-Beirut, slip crew would do Beirut-Kuwait (change flight number) - Bombay. All the (stereotypically expat Brits) flight crews and engineering staff were based at Beirut. Colleague inevitably on the Comet at start and end of each school term at English boarding school.

It's notable how the aviation and commercial centre in the Middle East has moved progressively eastwards. 1930s Flying Boat days and Alexandria was the Imperial Airways centre, junction of Asian and African routes. Beirut then became a landplane centre, key destination then moved on east to Bahrain, onetime centre for services in the Gulf, and nowadays on again to Dubai being the key point, with the others being slowly left behind.

I have several photos of the stored VC10s, some of which are on this page: VC10s in storage. Five VC10s flew out of there and were converted into K4 tankers. Eleven VC10s were stored at Abingdon, several of them spent some time at Prestwick before ending up in Oxfordshire.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WHBM

a whole group of maybe 10 VC10s were stored in a line there.

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I'm surprised at my mental acuity in recalling, to within 10%, how many VC10s I saw in that momentary glance for a few seconds, more than 40 years ago :) .

I think I recall seeing several VC-10s (and maybe a Nimrod or two?) at Abingdon while passing overhead in a C150 circa 1989/90 en route Kidlington...