I worked on the mighty VC10 for many years, the last of the 'Blue and Whites' before they became tankers and gto painted that awful grey. Unbeatable aircraft flew thousands of hours and miles in them - greatly missed THANK YOU VC-10 for your lengthy service. Why they dont build rear engine airliners today is beyone me? Quiet powerful and superb short field take off capacity UNEQUALLED by anything today. Thanks for this I do miss the HOWL of those Conways on take off and the thrill every flight gave me.
I can just about hear the unique sounds of the four Conways accelerating from taxi power to take-off thrust. Wonderful, far better than the 'food-mixer grind' of more modern engines.
Flew in and out of Akrotiri many times as a Service brat in the seventies. It used to be a long day's drive along poor roads and dusty tracks to reach SBA Dhekelia back then. Or an equally long drive to Akrotiri when returning to the UK for school. Favourite memories? The VC-10 itself; being allowed on the flight deck as the sun was rising; floating down the runway past line after line of gleaming white Vulcan bombers .... Happy days.
I flew out to Cyprus in 1979 on a Christmas special. I was the only adult among 130 boarding school kids. I asked the steward which way to the closest toilet. A the back he says. I walked back, opened the door and nearly pissed into the flight deck! I forgot the seats faced backward. The flight crew were really friendly and invited me back later to see the sunrise as we flew east. A great flight.
Ah, Akrotiri pan, spent many an hour sweating my tabs off there, and the Movements hangers that were like a bloody sauna in the midday sun! At least the terminal had aircon!
Exchange Officer in the left hand seat I was CC at BZZ on 10 Sqn VC10s in the mid 80s.We had 2 majors then 1 was RCAF and the other USAF.Great guys to fly with 👍!
Many times in the 1960’s…. I took off or landed here, just close to Ladies Mile beach….what a plane, loved every flight as a then 5 year old…but goodness the heat and brightness when that door opened up……as if it was yesterday in my memory….and the fast almost vertical take offs…real Biggles stuff…..oh those were the days.
Great video you must be joking no stabilization no dialog. give me the promotion video from the sixties anyday. what a great british design and made by britain in britain
Interesting video, thanks for posting it, shame you didn't get the landing at Brize. I see the VC10 ZD241 performing at Bruntingthorpe Cold War jets day, and it is well worth the visit, very impressive, next one next month August.
I was stationed at Brize mid 70s, we had Hercs, VC10s & also Concorde practicing take offs & landings, what a racket it made, you couldn't hear your tv & ornaments would go walkabout. They would also test it's engines full blast whilst it was tied down all night long, you got no sleep & the base was not happy. We got placated by a weekend of it open to the camp to look it over. It was really cramped, give me a Vicky any day.
Been on that plane as a soldier in the 1970s. Greatest looking airliner ever & got ripped off by other manufacturers, but this, the original, is the best one. Sadly it was a failure in sales which makes no sense. The 747 was still some years off.
Most of the noise is coming from the Feel Simulator unit which is attached to the nose landing gear bay roof, ie under the cockpit floor. The unit is powered by two electrically driven hydraulic pumps which cycle on and off to maintain pressure, that’s what can be heard.
I live on the flight path into Brize Norton in East Northamptonshire and remember hearing the distinctive whine as one flew over me on my allotment years ago. Now it is an Atlas or C 17's but not as elegant.
0:15 ... how? I'm guessing the F/E has a set of throttles as well? Cause the F/O is merely guarding the throttles and they move forward independently, lol. The VC10 is an absolute classic. Thanks for the share!
Fantastic airplane. I flew it several times as a passenger. Got to visit the cockpit in flight westbound across the Atlantic (age 13). I would have loved to fly it! BTW- why was someone operating a weed-whacker in the cockpit on taxi-out?
The weed-whacker was required as a preventative measure, for end-of-runway vegetation ingress incidents. When the MoD realised that the pilots could raise the landing gear just after take-off the measure was retired.
I am astonished by the noise in the flight deck, in the passenger cabin these aircraft were almost silent, hence their nickname, "the whispering giant".
I noticed that; a ‘mere’ Captain USAF, equivalent RAF Flight Lieutenant - odd, as in the 70s, 80s and 90smost (if not all) RAF VC10 Captains were of the rank of Sqn Ldr. But I imagine this exchange pilot was ‘creamed-off’ and waiting for his promotion to Major USAF, typically after one year in post. No. 36 Sqn (C-130 Hercules) disbanded 1975/6 due to a misappropriate surrender to the Japanese in WWII had a USAF exchange, as did 47 Sqn (SF). Boscombe Down Heavy Aircraft Test Sqn had the superb (then) Major Rick Husband, later as Colonel and Shuttle Captain, to perish horribly in the Columbia disaster on re-entry 2001. (Quite unnecessarily, as Mission Control learned of the tile damaged during initial launch phase, but were apparently frozen like rabbits caught in the headlights of a vehicle, unable (or unwilling to admit to that knowledge in the public domain) to arrange a rescue. RIP Colombia Crew.
Bloody hell, what is that noise on the flight deck? Flew Boeing Heavy metal and that noise would have had me snag the aircraft. It is obvious that the bloody thing was well past its sell by! a navigator and a bloody flight engineer?? Buggeration.
