VC10 over coventry

[micky metro]

VC10 flew low over coventry today, anyone know why? nothing in the local paper.

[Ginetta G15 Girl]

XR808 final flight into Bruntingthorpe.

[Occam's Razor]

It wasn't quite as loud as I was expecting, but still a privilege to see it on its final flight.

[fatboy69]

We had a VC10 do a fly-past at RIAT a couple of weeks, generally accepted to be its last ever appearance at RIAT, & i was staggered at how quiet she was as she flew along the runway.

Also thought just how graceful the VC10 is. Simple. Elegant. Purposeful. The true meaning of the phrase 'if it looks right then it probably is'.

A lovely looking aircraft & one i shall miss having flown on them a few times.

[Eric Mc]

fatboy69 said:

We had a VC10 do a fly-past at RIAT a couple of weeks, generally accepted to be its last ever appearance at RIAT, & i was staggered at how quiet she was as she flew along the runway.

Also thought just how graceful the VC10 is. Simple. Elegant. Purposeful. The true meaning of the phrase 'if it looks right then it probably is'.

A lovely looking aircraft & one i shall miss having flown on them a few times.

An old airshow trick - spool up and accelerate a few miles from the airfield. Build up the speed on the approach but as you hit the display line - chop the throttles. The aircraft then whistles past on fairly low power and with a low noise level.

[Lurking Lawyer]

Eric Mc said:

An old airshow trick - spool up and accelerate a few miles from the airfield. Build up the speed on the approach but as you hit the display line - chop the throttles. The aircraft then whistles past on fairly low power and with a low noise level.

You live and learn!

I went to a lot of airshows with my dad when I was a kid and so have seen my fair share of displays, but that's one trick I had never picked up on.

Lovely-looking old bird, the VC10.

[Eric Mc]

Neil Williams describes it in his book "Airborne" (highly recommended).

[SavanP]

Here is the RAF article on the retirement flight to Bruntingthorpe of XR808.

http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafbrizenorton/newsweather/i...

[steve j]

I was fortunate enough to be a part of the Major servicing team here at St Athan. I well remember seeing a notice board in front of a VC10, it was full of info, including 48,000 flying hours That is a lot of time in the air, that figure was quite a few years ago. The aircraft structure is very strong and compared to modern aircraft, very thick. The 3 fin spars were milled from a solid billet of aluminium, the engine beams are massive as is the surrounding structure, well it has to be, with 4 Conway engines and 5 tons of fuel and tailplane to support. I`m sure many people will be sorry to see the VC10 retire from service.