VC10 preservation (ex-Keep one VC10 flying) thread

[vc10boy]

hi Dave,if there,s anything i can do to help..i hope there,s some good news..would be fantastic to save an east african super..maybe try and get a working mechanism for the freight door from Brunty off a ck mk1 just incase the freight door was ever reinstated in the future to remove the tanks or whatever?..,I know im thinking way ahead but once all thoes vc10,s are scrapped the spares will all be gone for ever..i know Brooklands have been very pro active at getting what they can from Brunty..i so hope Duxford have been getting spares aswell for GC as im very sure they will need them as she,s been stood outside for 32 years now?..i dont want to see her being scrapped because of lack of planning, as there is a huge availibility of spares a brunty at the mo,but it will be gone soon.this is the only window anyone will ever get for vc10 spares that are in great condition..once there gone,there gone forever....

[Manofmendip]

Thanks for your offer and I will let you know if and when helps is required.

Gary & I talked about spares availability and possible sharing with his project when we met in March but everything comes down to us obtaining the necessary funding; around £1M for starters. If we can obtain that, and as you know I am writing letters to prospective organisations, then Gary has assured me that he will give us every assistance he can.

My understanding is that the freight doors were always a bit of an issue in terms operational reliability. Am I correct or is that a myth?

Best regards.

Dave

[petet16]

I would recommend steering clear of an operational freight door, for a couple of reasons, they are awkward to rig correctly, and can be an issue to get closed and locked correctly, if you ever needed to remove the cabin tanks, assuming you end up with a K3, the freight door can be unsealed and opened with a crane and locked with a strut, then closed and resealed afterwards.

[Laurieg]

Apart from the near impossible task of keeping the door rigged to close and lock when you want there is the added problem, if you want the fuse tanks removed, of getting the transfer pipes blanked off. The fuse tanks are a gravity feed into the centre tank via 2 transfer valves which are at the rear of the last cell. You also have the HDU feed pipe and vent pipe to worry about.
All of these need to be adequately blanked off/removed before you put power back on the aircraft. Remember also that the feed pipe comes off the main galley with the refuel valve upstairs so all that section of pipe will be wet and open to the main galley.

[Manofmendip]

Thanks chaps.

I didn't intend having a working freight door. lol

We don't have an airframe yet either, as so far we have had no interest from the companies that i have written too. I will be writing more letters, tomorrow.

Thanks for your help.

Dave

[ACLVC10]

Hi Dave

Is there a donations page, as i would like to start putting some donations into this well deserved project......

Andy

[Tonkenna]

I am not sure the project is anywhere close to being in a position to accept donations... I just don't think it will ever be a viable propersition sadly...

Tonks

[ACLVC10]

That's is a shame but yes it is a mammoth task to get under way.

Andy

[petet16]

I notice on FB that ZD241 is being suggested as a live airframe, if the live airframe is being viewed as a potential flyer in the future, 241 would have been the last a/c I would have picked, if you ever get up close and personal with her take a good look at the lower wing skins, you'll get what I mean

[Tonkenna]

I think it is only "live" in the sense that nothing has been removed and she has not been chopped up... that is probably as far as it goes. She won't fly again... I was surprised she lasted as long as she did!

Tonks

[Laurieg]

I was up there last week and she does not look too healthy!!!!!

[Jelle Hieminga]

I think that XV108 was originally going to be the runner, but now it seems that ZD241 has been given this spot. The aim with this airframe is to keep her very much ground-bound but 'alive' in that it can do fast taxi runs at Brunty. That's all.

This may of course mean that another, better, airframe is now available for the 'keep one flying' project, but that is pure speculation on my part!

[Charlie]

I think that XV108 was originally going to be the runner, but now it seems that ZD241 has been given this spot. The aim with this airframe is to keep her very much ground-bound but 'alive' in that it can do fast taxi runs at Brunty. That's all.

From a long term preservation point of view, and assuming '808 does eventually end up at Cosford, I think either '241 or a K3 would be best, just for varieties sake. I suspect the K4 offers a few more options without a fuselage full of fuel tanks too.

[Manofmendip]

Dear All

As Tonks says, we are not in a position to receive donations but thanks Andy for your offer.

I will be sending out another newsletter, shortly, but we need much more active support from group members. Wolfgang and I have limited time to spend on group work; we both run our own businesses and work for the group as and when we can. We urgently need a steering committee, from within the group's members, to meet and discuss how to proceed; I will be discussing this in the newsletter. There are 33 members in the group, and that number is still slowly growing, and we need a core of our members, preferably from a wide spread of expertise both technical and non-technical, to form a committee or board.

I am hoping to write to three companies, over the weekend, but, although buying one of the two K3s identified in our last newsletter is not a huge expenditure and the sum required may be possible for group members to raise, it is the costs from then on plus finding or building a hangar, which is the big stumbling block as well as dealing with the CAA and BAe Systems etc. Gary has always said that if we have the funding in place he will help us all he can and I'm sure he would and he certainly has the right contacts with the necessary companies and the CAA.

If we had a hangar, for say an initial period of two years, from a benevolent source and some indications from companies that they would be interested in sponsoring the project, in the way that Wolfgang has been fortunate to find in his two projects in Germany, then it would be worth proceeding with the purchase of a K3 and with incorporating the group, as a company or charity, and then making an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Wolfgang's HansaJet Project is supported by Hannover City, EADS (provision of a hangar and technical input) and 100 other companies. His Lockheed L1649A project is totally funded by Lufthansa and they have 100 personnel working on the project in the USA and the aircraft will fly back to Germany in about two years time. It will be fully certificated for commercial flying and will be used for charter flights and possibly even for some scheduled flights too. We need an organisation like Lufthansa, in this country, to support our project; BA, Virgin Atlantic.....? We need a board or committee of our group to do some hard work to approach these kind of companies.

Time is running out too.

Best regards.

Dave

[Manofmendip]

In terms of XV108 v ZD241 as the 'runner', it might just be - and this is speculation on my part - which frame actually has engines installed at the moment. When I saw XV108 with Gary in March it didn't have engines.

Just a thought.

Dave