Abindon stored vc10,s water used as balast in the wing tanks

[vc10boy]

ive still got a lot of kodachrome slides of every vc10 at abingdon...if jelle wants to use them i will take the time to scan them all and send them,it was from the Abingdon airshow of 1985,they looked a bit sorry for themselves even then..i think for some reason GASG-P looked in far better nic then the others paint wise?..wen did they get ferried from prestwick to abingdon,had they spent long at prestwick?..yes a shame they went stored in the states.

[Jelle Hieminga]

Yes please! If you don't mind scanning them then I would very much like to use these. If you have a full set of photos then we might also be able to figure out which airframes were stored where (Abingdon or Prestwick).

[Gsxr600]

I don't want people thinking I was stirring trouble, I was just merely pointing the facts out that's all

Sorry didn't mean that at all.

As it's unlikely that there will ever be a flyer it's nice that a K4 will be preserved as a runner.

It's good to know that 241 is in great condition despite the corrosion built up in during storage in the 80s. If there are more photos of the storage years I'd be interested to see them. I remember an edition of a magazine called I think Jets or Classic Jets which ran a spread on the K4 conversion including various shots of the storage, ferry flights and conversion. I lost my copy in a house move at some point, if anyone remembers this and can scan their copy up, it was very interesting.

[vc10boy]

ok jelle,if you use them then i willl find them and scan and send.i remember i had that magazine aswell,prob still in the shed...ive also got a photo of a ferry flight of a BA vc10 in the air flying from abingdon to filton...i remember in the magazine there was a picture of an ex BA super having its faded BA paint removed and you can see the BOAC speedbird as the BA paint was stripped off the tail..

[Gsxr600]

ok jelle,if you use them then i willl find them and scan and send.i remember i had that magazine aswell,prob still in the shed...ive also got a photo of a ferry flight of a BA vc10 in the air flying from abingdon to filton...i remember in the magazine there was a picture of an ex BA super having its faded BA paint removed and you can see the BOAC speedbird as the BA paint was stripped off the tail..

Oh yes I remember that. The ferry flights were looked quiet dramatic as the airframes were still covered in dirt and wax over very faded 1970s era BA colours, so didn't look very airworthy!

[vc10boy]

when i went aboard one of the BA supers at Abingdon,i think it was GASG-P?..The RAF had already fitted there own seats in,but i think they were just in the aircraft that was open to the public?..does anyone know if the others still had there BA seats inside them during the decade of storage or had they been striped out?..I remember side walls,galleys,toilets where all still from the BOAC days in the aircraft that was open to the public,i remember walking around the outside GASG-R on my on own and looking up at the door thinking about when she was hijacked in 1974 and that poor German man that was brought to that door and shot in the head and fell down to the tarmac.,only a few month before that she was being used by the Queen to visit Canada i think.Last year i had the good fortune to speak with the air hostess who was right by the side of that German passenger who was shot at the doorway of GASG-R {incidetly the ex airhostess did say the Queen did get intouch after the hijack and was well aware she,d flown on GASG-R recently and wanted to know if the super vc10 was ok?...perhaps maam is a vc10 fan?...

I think the prototype super GASG-A was parked some distance away,but i did think of Brian Trubshaw when i saw GASG-A for the first time back in September 1985 at the Abingdon airshow,so much history tied up in these few airframes i thought to myself.

[ACLVC10]

Vc10boy - I don't the answers to yours questions but interesting reading nevertheless

[vc10boy]

Ive been digging around my shed for any info on the Abingdon storage years of the BA super vc10 fleet and at the time i wrote to RAF Abingdon,and some kind soul wrote back and even sent some black n white prints of the stored aircraft and he info below ,so in answer to Jelles question i have a list of the airframes stored there and more interestingly what hours each airframe had on them from there last flight in British Airways service..so upto 1981..

TOTAL HOURS FLOWN FOR BOAC/BRITISH AIRWAYS SUPER VC10 STORED FLEET AT RAF ABINGDON

GASG-A 53,046 Hours (ZD230)
GASG-B 55,890 Hours (ZD231)
GASG-G 46,899 Hours (ZD235)
GASG-H 52,682 Hours (ZD236)
GASG-I 52,452 Hours (ZD237)
GASG-J 47,925 Hours (ZD238)
GASG-K 45,584 Hours (ZD239)
GASG-L 46,879 Hours (ZD240)
GASG-M 45,682 Hours (ZD241)
GASG-P 43,212 Hours (ZD242)
GASG-R 40,841 Hours (ZD243)

so 11 aircraft,the youngest GASG-R had the lowest hours as her first flight was in 1969..i will scan the pictures i took there (september 1985) in the next few days.mark.

[ACLVC10]

Vc10boy - great work and more interesting info, thanks for sharing.

[vc10boy]

your most welcome fellow ten fan..

[ACLVC10]

Cant wait to see the pictures as I remember them being parked up a Abingdon

[vc10boy]

God yes,it was nearly 30 years ago,i was 20 years old but vc10 mad,the crowd where all watching the air show miles away,i did,nt see any of the airshow ,i was just there with my nikon and lenses to record each and every super vc10 as i knew a lot of them would be scraped soon..i loved every minute ,to have most of the BOAC super fleet all parked up together was heaven for me.Now that we have the hours flown in civil service we can work out how many hours each k4 flew in military service,wonder what hours the East African super fleet had on them before conversion to tankers and at the time of military retirement?,and what hours the ex Boac standard fleet had on them at conversion to tanker time and military retirement time.?

[Jelle Hieminga]

Great info on those hours there Mark, thanks! I don't think I've got any of the other pre-conversion hours anywhere. I someone does, it would be great to be able to compare them.

[vc10boy]

Thanks jelle,I was so happy when I found the info,I had not seen since 1985,yes it would be great to build up an hours flown history of each airframe,I've just found GASGC,s hours flown 54,623 hours,she had done 16,415 landings by the time of her last landing at Duxford on the 15th April 1980.

[Gsxr600]

Does anyone know how many hours 241 has now, I'm interested to know how many hours she clocked up as a K4 from starting at 45,682 after leaving BA? My guess would be still less than 50,000 now, although all those trip to the Falklands must have racked up a few.