Modern civil aircraft *yawn*

[Eric Mc]

I think the picture was taken at Speke.

[mattviatura]

dr_gn said:

The Beluga flies over our place quite a lot - that's different in an ugly way.

That's true, presumably on its way out of Broughton but it's a bit too high to get excited about.

[NormalWisdom]

Ultuous said:

The VC-10 is my favourite plane, and (it was before my time)

Ditto (though not before my time!)

Ultuous said:

AFAIK was marketed as being one of the fastest airliners in the sky at the time

It was indeed the fastest subsonic airliner, only ever out-done by Concorde

[silverfoxcc]

Wasn't The Convair CV-990 Coronado faster? (but not by much IIRC)

[Eric Mc]

silverfoxcc said:

Wasn't The Convair CV-990 Coronado faster? (but not by much IIRC)

I've always understood that the Convair 990 was the fastest of the non-supersonic airliners. The Trident was also quick.

Not sure about the VC10, but the VC10 could achieve over 50,000 feet when lightly loaded.

[hidetheelephants]

In the spirit of the thread, here's some on-topic ones I posted on the period classics thread:

Silver City; given the paternal grandparents lived in Derbyshire it's presumably Southend.



This sequence was taken on a trip to the States in '66 or '67, but not sure whether this is the UK or the US; BOAC 707



BOAC VC10

[Eric Mc]

Like the shot of the 707s. It shows the transition colour scheme used by BOAC as they switched from the white Speedbird and stripes on the fin to the gold Speedbird livery.

[NormalWisdom]

Eric Mc said:

silverfoxcc said:

Wasn't The Convair CV-990 Coronado faster? (but not by much IIRC)

I've always understood that the Convair 990 was the fastest of the non-supersonic airliners. The Trident was also quick.

Not sure about the VC10, but the VC10 could achieve over 50,000 feet when lightly loaded.

All above is correct - I got that wrong - VC10 holds record for fastest Atlantic crossing after Concord.....

[Eric Mc]

Probably had a good tailwind

On Sunday I was chatting to the chap who looks after the Lightning at Tangmere Aviation Museum and he said that the best aircraft he ever worked on was the VC-10. He said it is engineered to the highest standard and was a dream to work on.

[HoHoHo]

Eric Mc said:

Like the shot of the 707s. It shows the transition colour scheme used by BOAC as they switched from the white Speedbird and stripes on the fin to the gold Speedbird livery.

Lovely looking aircraft - shame they're pop cans now

[Eric Mc]

HoHoHo said:

Eric Mc said:

Like the shot of the 707s. It shows the transition colour scheme used by BOAC as they switched from the white Speedbird and stripes on the fin to the gold Speedbird livery.

Lovely looking aircraft - shame they're pop cans now

Maybe they got to fly again as Cessnas or Pipers - or even something more exotic.

I'd like to think so.

[silverfoxcc]

I think the two 707 are at Heathrow, i have a very similar shot of Air Canada DC-8
Wil try and find it,and upload some of the hobgoblins from the mid 60's

[perdu]

Great shots of the 707s (and the others)

I knew Eric would like the two BOAC liveried machines

So do I, I'm saving them for my album

Just realised why the 707 looks so familiar

They've taken the dear old 737 and streetched it and stuck a couple of spare engines on it

Nice

[NormalWisdom]

perdu said:

Just realised why the 707 looks so familiar

They've taken the dear old 737 and streetched it and stuck a couple of spare engines on it

I think actually they shrunk the 707 and took 2 engines off it given the 737 came about 10 years later..... ;-)

[NormalWisdom]

Eric Mc said:

Probably had a good tailwind

On Sunday I was chatting to the chap who looks after the Lightning at Tangmere Aviation Museum and he said that the best aircraft he ever worked on was the VC-10. He said it is engineered to the highest standard and was a dream to work on.

I have to say I always admired the VC10 even as a young lad - It was extremely graceful - Then along the IL62, some kind of ugly sister leaving clouds of smoke in its wake............

Back on topic, The fact is, with computers designing everytthing and the margins for error being reduced massively, the optimum design for streamlining & efficiency is not going to be too different.... Sad but true - Computers will not think laterally (yet) whereas the human creative mind knows no boundaries....

[Eric Mc]

NormalWisdom said:

perdu said:

Just realised why the 707 looks so familiar

They've taken the dear old 737 and streetched it and stuck a couple of spare engines on it

I think actually they shrunk the 707 and took 2 engines off it given the 737 came about 10 years later..... ;-)

I would guess perdu does know this.

[perdu]

Eric Mc said:

NormalWisdom said:

perdu said:

Just realised why the 707 looks so familiar

They've taken the dear old 737 and streetched it and stuck a couple of spare engines on it

I think actually they shrunk the 707 and took 2 engines off it given the 737 came about 10 years later..... ;-)

I would guess perdu does know this.

[silverfoxcc]

Found the slides (please excuse quality.Hope you like them.... i have a few more if you do!!!!
All taken at Heathrow Between 1963 and 1978

JAT DC-9, SAS Caravelle and DC-8 BEA Argosy middle distance, Britannias far distance
Swissair Coronado
Air Canada DC8-63 (i think) Similar position to the two 707 earlier
KLM Electra VC-10 &07s, DC-8 nice mix Pan-Am 747SP

[silverfoxcc]

Soory about the caption errors in postioning, promise i will try and do better next time!

[Eric Mc]

The Air Canada DC-8 is probably a series 61. The engine pylons on the Series 63 did not protrude over the top surface of the wing.