BBC1 - Real Lives Reunited - G-ASGN

Any VC10 related discussions.....
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Thumper
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BBC1 - Real Lives Reunited - G-ASGN

Post by Thumper »

Just watched this programme on BBC1 and it featured the hijacking of G-ASGN, it will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer soon (BBC1).

It follows some of the children who were on the flight and are now adults recounting their stories. Tomorrows episode also features a piece on Concorde so well worth a watch.
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Re: BBC1 - Real Lives Reunited - G-ASGN

Post by ACLVC10 »

Sounds good, I will keep an eye out for it on iplayer ;)
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Re: BBC1 - Real Lives Reunited - G-ASGN

Post by Jelle Hieminga »

Thanks for the heads up! I cannot access iPlayer here but will keep a lookout for it on Youtube. It might turn up there at some point.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03pr46y
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Thumper
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Re: BBC1 - Real Lives Reunited - G-ASGN

Post by Thumper »

Your wish has been granted Jelle!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeXq5M4VQOs
Gwyn
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Re: BBC1 - Real Lives Reunited - G-ASGN

Post by Gwyn »

For those who bought my book would have read that I was to be the Co-pilot on 'GN' but went down with the flu and got replaced by my friend Trevor. I ended up in Beirut as part of the flight crew bringing back the survivors and eventually the crew, who had been imprisoned after the aircraft had been blown up. I remember clearly all the school kids clambering aboard our aircraft and the mums and dads welcoming them home at LHR when we landed. We even met the high-jackers in the terminal at Beirut since they had turned up to say good-bye to their captives. All totally amazing for me as a young Co-pilot.

At the time BOAC was after a tailplane for the maintenance of the fleet and after the final event in went Cargolux with the Super-Guppy and low and behold BOAC got its tailplane which saved some 21 days downtime. The other fact was that the Power Control Units (PCUs) were nicked from the site and suddenly the Russians had PCUs all fitted on the military jets.

You could say that out of the carnage both BOAC and the Russians benefited.

Amazing footage on the video. Very sad to see the VC-10 being blown up.
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Re: BBC1 - Real Lives Reunited - G-ASGN

Post by Gsxr600 »

Gwyn wrote:The other fact was that the Power Control Units (PCUs) were nicked from the site and suddenly the Russians had PCUs all fitted on the military jets.
Seriously? Are you saying the Russians didn't have PCUs before 1970!? They must have had some pretty strong pilots without them. I cant really believe those big bombers and say the Tupelov 144 didn't have powered flight controls, but if that's true its quite something.
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Re: BBC1 - Real Lives Reunited - G-ASGN

Post by Bill1980 »

The IL62 "VC10ski" had purely manual flight controls, despite being a larger aircraft than the VC10. The DC8 was also manual, and the 707 only had a powered rudder (necessary to gain UK certification, if I remember correctly).

The VC10 had all the mod cons at the time, and I'm sure the PFLP would have gladly passed on anything interesting to their comrades behind the iron curtain!
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Re: BBC1 - Real Lives Reunited - G-ASGN

Post by Gwyn »

Quite right about the 707. D. Davis saw to that. Us Brits had advanced technology way beyond the rest of the world at that time. I believe that the Hawker Hunter of '50s vintage had powered flying controls. You just have to look at the TSR-2 to see what we had and threw away. Yes, the PCU's at Dawsons fell into Russian hands after a financial handshake I would imagine. Now, here is something way off track. Did you know that the MIG-15's of the Korean War era were powered by reverse-engineered jet engines of English origin. They were sold to the Russians by the Labour Government of the day much to the annoyance of the Americans. That same government wanted to sell the DH Comet 1 to them as well. The Americans were even more annoyed but unfortunately the aircraft fatigue failures stopped the sale. How ironic. Sorry for the thread creep but interesting I think.
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Re: BBC1 - Real Lives Reunited - G-ASGN

Post by Bill1980 »

Thanks Gwyn (I very much enjoyed your book, by the way).

To add insult to injury, the MIG-15 was a formidable fighter jet for its time, and shot down many American fighters. Uncle Sam was not pleased!
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Re: BBC1 - Real Lives Reunited - G-ASGN

Post by Gwyn »

To follow on with this subject creep it was only when the F-86D/E/F models came along that the odds changed in favour of the Americans.
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Re: BBC1 - Real Lives Reunited - G-ASGN

Post by Gsxr600 »

Sorry, to take this off topic. Interested to here about the PFCs. I'm sure the Russians had their own PFCs for certain ac types, but take the point that they were probably much more basic than ours fitted to the VC10. I think its easy to knock the Russians for just copying everything, and for sure they did a lot of that. But having just returned from the Monino museum in Moscow they have certainly built some impressive stuff over the years! There was an IL62 at Monino and it does look remarkably similar to the VC10 but definitely not as pretty lines - some people say it was a cleverer design though due to wing root placement moving the center of gravity compared to a VC10, which had various performance and weight advantages.
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Re: BBC1 - Real Lives Reunited - G-ASGN

Post by Gwyn »

Not too sure about the performance comparison between the two aircraft types but as for the C of G of the IL-62 they installed a rather cumbersome looking tail U/C to compensate for the rather narrow 'C 0f G' range. The VC-10 was pretty precarious in this department since, on one occasion at pre-flight when we arrived at the aircraft the F/E went up to the nose wheel and spun it freely and we realised that the loaders were putting in a load of IMF gold in the rear hold first and the a/c was just about to tip on it's tail. Organised chaos followed. It transpired that the nose wheel was about 1" off the ground. As a pilot, if I had been doing the walk-round I could well of missed it but these sort of things never escape the beady eye of a F/E. Happy days!
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Re: BBC1 - Real Lives Reunited - G-ASGN

Post by Bill1980 »

I flew on an IL62 a couple of times, and the design was somewhat agricultural!


ZD241/G-ASGM has some metal ballast in what was the first class galley to counter the risk of the aircraft settling by the tail. I think the ex-EAA K3s have something similar in the former crew toilet (now blocked off) to prevent a repeat of XR806's sad ending. I also believe the tailplane was supposed to be set in a nose up position if the aircraft was parked outdoors in wintry conditions. Apparently the weight of snow on the tailplane could cause problems, too!

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Re: BBC1 - Real Lives Reunited - G-ASGN

Post by bobisqueen »

No amount of ballast in the front of 806 would have prevented her going on her backside!

Your right about the ballast locations on the K3 and K4. If all the seats were removed from a C1K, it was possible to fit ballast to a plate which fitted into the seat rails at the front
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Re: BBC1 - Real Lives Reunited - G-ASGN

Post by petet16 »

As said above 806 didn't end up tipped on it's ar5e due to lack of ballast, I think the fin tank full of fuel might have had something to do with though :)
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