A Little VC10derness

My copy of Keith Wilsons new book dropped past the letterbox this morning. I've got a couple of his other books, but these are mainly photograph books so I was pleasantly surprised with this work. It really is a great account of the VC10. I'm a big fan of the VC10 but never really knew that much of the history behind it. From my perspective it is a perfect blend of personal accounts as well as factual history and a broad range of photos and diagrams, which just finish it off nicely.

I'm sure many of you on here will have already been and got a copy.

Pretty good isn't it. Keith's done a superb job.

To anyone who's already got it, a review on Amazon (preferably a good one!) could be useful.

Mine is still on the way, but I will certainly put a review on my site as well as on Amazon. Looking forward to it!

Can you put a review on Amazon if you brought it elsewhere? I will happily put a few lines on Amazon if you can?

Good question, I think that that's possible. The main difference is that Amazon puts a 'verified purchase' mention next to the review if you bought it through them. They do that to weed out the types that enter phoney reviews on the site just to earn money or push a statistic in some way.

I was given this for Christmas and have found it very informative, well laid out with plenty of illustrations. It’s a bit heavy on the aircraft’s military service, but it was after all longest serving in this role. The book is a terrific addition to the history of this fantastic aircraft.

As an ex-Weybridge chap I did however find a few errors in the annotation of the photographs relating to the early years at Weybridge and Wisley. For completeness I have listed them below:-

Page 7. Photo (Ref WCN178) typo error, annotation mentions “Callum Detuner” it should read “Cullum Detuner” , minor I know but as an acoustic engineer I couldn’t let it pass.

Page 10. Photo (Ref MP15929) states location as Weybridge, but it is the apron at Wisley.

Page 11. Photo (Ref WCN1802) Not the first flight as the aircraft is taking off from Wisley not Weybridge. Note the background similarity with the upper photo on page 13.

Page 32. Photo (Ref Bae Systems) taken in the “W1 assembly Hangar” not in the “Cathedral” or “Abbey” final assembly hangars.

Page 42. RH photo ref (Keith Wilson). The photo depicts a “chine tyre” and the purpose of the “lip” is incorrectly described. The actual purpose of the chine tyre was to deflect and disperse the nose wheel water plume otherwise it would pass over the wing and enter the engine intakes causing erratic engine running. In 1966 when working in Flight Test I was shown a film of the problem, a Super VC10 with standard nose wheel tyres was run through a water trough and it clearly showed how neatly the water plume cleared the upper wing surface and passed into the engines. The engine igniters working overtime to keep the engine running. The Super VC10 was more prone to the problem because of the fuselage stretch as on the Standard VC10 the plume was more likely to hit the wing.

Page 56. Photo (Ref WCN2543) MEA photo taken at Weybridge not Wisley.

Page 68. Photo (Ref MP24169) The location is outside the large Wisley hangar on the west side of the apron not Weybridge.

Some very good points there Richard! I have found a few of these myself and have forwarded them to the author a while ago. There is a chance that a second printing will not have these mistakes in it. I will point him towards this thread as well.

It should be added the unkown location showing 'GD, a BOAC 707 and Britannia is in fact the IAB at JFK, the TWA building can be clearly seen behind them. The Brit could well be departing on BOAC's final prop driven flight to Barbados as that was in April 1965

You mean the image on page 13 I guess? I'm not that familiar with US airfields but I'll take your word for it!

The combination with the Britannia is an interesting one. With the first commercial Super VC10 flight to New York on 1st April 1965 I guess that this month was the only opportunity to see these two types at JFK together. It wouldn't surprise me if these photos were taken around 1st April, there are a few showing that first Super VC10 in NY and the first commercial flight would attract photographers of course.