C/n 811 - G-ARVI

Date
16 January 1963	Registered as G-ARVI to BOAC.
20 December 1963	First flight.
22 April 1964	Delivery to BOAC as G-ARVI, first VC10 to be delivered.
15 April 1964	Operated London to Doha service
1964-1966	'VI was regularly wet-leased to Nigeria Airways during this period. It remained in BOAC colours with Nigeria Airways stickers.
19 March 1972	Port wingtip hit passenger steps while taxiing at Baghdad airport. Crewed by Captain Moore (?) and F/O Tom Weller. The steps were positioned too close and the local lookout did not warn the crew.
5-8 January 1973	Operated first scheduled service to Addis Ababa (BA059), returning on 7th January as the first BA060 flight, carrying special philatelic covers.
4 March 1974	Ownership transferred to Gulf Aviation Company Limited.
1 April 1974	Operates first 'Golden Falcon' service to London from Arabian Gulf. First Gulf Air VC10 scheduled service.
7 October 1975	Re-registered as A4O-VI in Oman.
16 December 1977	End of service with Gulf Air, ferried Heathrow to Stansted for storage. Initially sold to Dismore Aviation.
28 March 1978	Sold to RAF for conversion to type 1112 K2 tanker. Ferried Stansted to Filton.
26 March 1984	First flight after conversion at Filton.
18 April 1984	Delivery to 101 Squadron as ZA142 'C'. Last K2 to be delivered.
1991	Acquired 'The Empire Strikes Back' nose art during its Gulf War service.
February 2001	Returned to the UK from final K2 detachment to the Falkland Islands, it had been unservicable for four weeks of its tour there. Thereafter confined to UK operations only as the RAF could no longer provide spares support overseas for the single example of this variant.
February/March 2001	No.2 engine quit around FL100 after take off from Brize. The aircraft returned, canceling the AAR trip on the Friday afternoon.
22 March 2001	Final operational flight for the K2, piloted by Flt Lt Anton Hamilton and Flt Lt 'Jez' Lewry it refuelled Tornados and Jaguars.
27 March 2001	Withdrawn from service. Final flight of K2 variant, captained by Lucy Rendall, grand-daughter of BOAC's 'Flaps' Rendall.
May 2004	Scrapped at St. Athan.

1. This photo at Shannon, taken from a 707 on 1st November 1964, shows that G-ARVI initially carried just the letters 'VI' on the tailplane bullet.
2-3. G-ARVI in the first Golden Speedbird colours in September 1966 at Nairobi. On board was Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, who was traveling to Botswana to represent the Queen at independence day.
4. In July 1969 G-ARVI has been repainted into the second version of the BOAC scheme and is seen here coming in to land at London Heathrow.

1. On 1st April 1974, G-ARVI carried out the first 'Golden Falcon' service between the Arabian Gulf and London, and is seen here landing at London Heathrow after this first Gulf Air VC10 flight.
2. Along with the other four Standards 'VI acquired Gulf Air colours but would initially keep its British registration.
3. Seen here taking off, 'VI has now moved to an Omani registration.
4. A4O-VI later became one of two Gulf Air VC10s to receive the newer Golden Falcon scheme.

1. Seen here in 1978, 'VI and 'VC were stored at Stansted.
2. Seen at a later date stored at Filton, 'VI is awaiting its turn for conversion.
3. The airframes were coated with a preservative and this left them looking very grubby after a while. ZA142 spent six years at Filton before flying again as a tanker.
4. A4O-VI, marked as ZA142 above the forward doors, with the tail of 5H-MMT on the left.

1. Having gone through the conversion, ZA142 was the last K2 to join 101 Squadron in the hemp colourscheme.
2. ZA142 with its Gulf War noseart at an airshow in July 1992.
3. As the last K2 flying it also acquired the final grey VC10 scheme.
4. In these grey colours it looked the part but the airframe was not new anymore, in the end it flew more than 50.000 hours in total.

1. ZA142 served in the Gulf War and the Kosovo conflict and visited many different airfields during its RAF days.
2. In March 1998 ZA142 spent some time at RAF Mount Pleasant, with 1312 Flight.
3. On the day of the last operational VC10 K2 flight, the opportunity was used to line up the four different VC10 types in use, the last time this would be possible. From left to right: K2, K3, K4, C1K.
4. This would be the last flight of a BOAC Standard, even though it didn't look like one anymore.

1. Lining up on the runway at Brize on 22 March 2001 for the final operational flight of a K2 tanker.
2. During this last sortie the aircraft refueled Tornados and Jaguars before returning to Brize. Five days later its final flight to St. Athan was carried out.

Vickers /BOAC	BOAC scheme of white over grey fuselage, dark-blue cheatline and fin with two white bands over fin.
BOAC	First version of BOAC 'Golden Speedbird' scheme with stepped, gold-edged dark-blue cheatline. Grey lower fuselage and white upper fuselage. Dark-blue fin with gold speedbird logo.
BOAC	Second version of BOAC 'Golden Speedbird' scheme, golden edge on cheatline removed and cheatline now arcs smoothly down towards the nose without the step of the previous scheme.
BOAC/BA	As above but with British Airways titles on the forward fuselage.
GA	Gulf Air VC10 scheme, overall white with a large red, purple and green cheatline flowing from nose to fin. Gulf Air titles on forward fuselage.
GA	Gulf Air 'Golden Falcon' scheme. Overall white with scalloped purple, green and red lines flowing from nose to halfway down the fuselage. Same colours on top of fin with large golden falcon image below it. 'Gulf Air' in gold western and arabic script on fuselage top.
RAF	First RAF 101 Sqn 'Hemp' scheme. Grey undersides with hemp colours on top and fuselage sides. Toned down markings and large letter on fin. In 1991 a BP logo and the text 'The Empire Strikes Back' was added to the nose in front of the crew entry door.
RAF	All over grey scheme with large lightning flash down the side of the fuselage. Toned down roundels and fin flashes, code letter on fin. There were four penguin decals next to the entry door after its last detachment, signifying the four weeks it had been unservicable there.