Era ends as last VC10 aircraft leaves MoD St Athan
 

The last RAF aircraft to be repaired by the Ministry of Defence MoD at St Athan has flown out, ending 75 years of maintenance at the site.

Aircraft: 101 Sqn VC-10 K.3 ZA147/F

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RAF, nail and coffin springs to mind.

Concorde was great, 757s are great, but you can't beat the shear beauty of a VC10.

Agreed - whenever I watch this it makes me think of my days working on them>

GREAT! Thanks for posting. No shot of the wonderful Whale Tail.

It's amusing to see that, during the flight, the aircraft appeared to get younger. They realised the two outer reversers were too heavy and had them removed (as per later units) but lovely to see.

And I always thought that the VC10 had 4 Thrust Reversers....the VC15 had 2 t/rs and the RAF had 2 t/rs throughout the fleet...
Could be wrong though

As I understand it, the two outers were removed to save weight. It might be mentioned in here A Little VC10derness.

Well soon the weight saving will include nothing at all :{ It's only metal and plastic and so on, but some aircraft were just so elegant and capable that it seems a travesty when they fly no more and are destined to be broken up. Who will shed a tear for any of the airbus/boeings etc of today when they run out of life ?



SHJ

VC-10 was my first love. Aged eight LHR~NBO~JNB. No more to say. Even in drab RAF with the unicorn nose, she looks good.

When will the RAF retire the VC.10 fleet? That will be a sad day in aviation.