A Little VC10derness

I will for one be very sad to see the demise of the 10. Over my years in the Royal Air Force I worked on many of them in a Cat 2 or Cat 3 status. The first one I worked on was XR810 and it was to try to rectify the severe fuel leakage problem from the integral tanks. The team were happy for after seven month hard work we had managed to cure most of the leaks. My best remembered job was in 1998 on XV 101 a simple cat 2 assist that grew into a cat 3. We went to help with some corrosion that had been found during a minor inspection, on top of the wing centre box and in the forward freight bay. We had regular meetings about the corrosion issues with the BAE engineer responsible for the rectification work. Most of these meetings actually took place in the forward freight so he could explain in detail what he wanted us to do. There were several senior officers at BZN that were of the opinion that the VC10's would not see out the millennium. The engineer said at one meeting it was not the airframe that would let the old lady down but the engines as there were a fixed number and they were difficult to repair. At Abingdon we even refurbished some tailplanes salvaged from the British Airways jets that were classed as not being viable to modify for RAF use. I wait with bated breath to see what the replacement will be I have noticed the memorandum of agreement with Airbus but will the special relationship with the America mean it will be Boeing that win the day. Next time I return to my roots I must pop to "Sunny Saints" to take a look at the graveyard there. when I left the Air Force in 1997 there were two 10's in outside storage awaiting the decision on their future. Both had severe corrosion and bad leaks from the integral tanks, one was a Mk1 the other a tanker, I wonder what happened to them?

Well hoping the 10 will go on

Chris

Both have now long gone to the scrapy. We have already scrapped 1 a little while ago and have another 2 frames to come for scrapping in the next couple of months. Its a crying shame to see it happen.

As digital cameras are now 10 a penny can members PLEASE get PHOTOS of ANY VC10 events for posterity. It is heart breaking to see a VC go but they can be preserved in memories

I remember vividly of spending WEEKS inside the wings of the 10 with breathing equipment on and plastering 'yak sh*t'' on the leaks! I truly donated blood sweat and tears to every airframe I worked on.

On majors in Base hangar with tail staging in, we used to remove the tailplane leading edges. On the first section on the port side (left) we used to sign our names in paint before replacing the leading edge fairing. There were MANY names in there from over the years, it became a tradition - does this still go on? I now hear that many of the aircraft I loved have gone, I bet no one has cut out any of those sections and kept them?

I cant believe what some muppet did to 806, the best airframe at the time! leaving the fin fuelled with an empty centre? So easy to sit at the engineers transfer panel and WATCH the fuel balance and control the crossfeeds. Who let that person even get ON a VC10 let alone defuel it? I hope they got court martialled and thrown inside for 10 years!

Am slowly sorting through my collection (And others) to try and keep an archive of all VC10 photos. Unfortunately I do not own the copyright to them all so for now I am just burning them to CD.

LSS, you can use mine if you want. Look on the news section.

Sorry, forgot to log in.

Laurieg
Many thanks have quite a few and just got given a CD full at work today
that I need to sort out. Once I have them sorted will let people know.

One photo I wish I had taken and might still get the chance is a ten on sticks just prior to drop sans nose jack Always looks odd but never get tired of seeing that. You might have a chance down there to get a shot like that as well.

BTW flew and worked with you a few times in the past (Stuck behind a desk nowdays)

I was at Brize 77-84 did an internal 'tour' of the station BSS LSS Role Everything! I even did a huge wall mural in the spoltlight club of a white mustang and a wall mural in station workshops. I made it into GATEWAY a few times - so thats my 15 mins of fame. Flew with a load of good guys and always used to wangle stuff back through customs via the GE and a few bribes!

I used to LOVE the movements gorillas ALWAYS putting forks thru the side of freight bays or wrecking the cabin freight door - loved those guys! Had to go and fix many problems caused by them over the years, cheers guys kept me busy! I saw one GE deck a movements guy for doing that! He just walked over and WHAMMO the guy was out cold on the floor and he called the snowdrops on his *ss! They had to get all the self loading cargo OFF and get another frame ready - enter me for the BF! [self loading cargo - pax or passengers]

I miss the 10's badly and when I was offered my 22 years I turned it down along with pilot training DUUUUHHHHHH. Muppet.

LSS

I will see what I can do. We have just dropped one off the other day but it is going back up on Monday so with any luck.

I know what you mean, it is at times like that you hope the designers have got their numbers right. We follow it down with one of the jacks. Habit I think.

The most interesting job is being 'voluteered' to stick your head up in the nose hatch to watch the plumb bob as it is jacked! Keeping that in the X is vital and very scary. The first time I saw a de jack I'm like WHAT THE ****????? But she will never tip as you have 20 tons of engines at the back to more than compensate the nose overhang.

Also on undercarriage functionals with all the legs up, 200 tons of aircraft hanging on 3 sticks looked kind of scary WOH! On the emergency blow down drops it always rocks like a good un!

One of our old GE's was there one time and he walked under the nose on a drop. He got caught right in the skull by the sharks fin aerial just forward of the escape hatch! Claret everywhere! It bounced at the wrong time and popped his nut! poor guy went down like he'd been pole axed. Jim something his name - he had been on the 10 for donkeys years but sometimes we all just get a brainstorm and do something stoopid!

Seen some close shaves over the years usually involving a quick shift jack / de-jack for undercarriage functional to meet the morning program.
Even us leckies got roped into main jack pumping.

The sharks fin isn't really an aerial. Vickers engineers carefully worked out how the GE will get first to the front hold , to get the oil can, and then to the refuel panel. They deduced the most logical route from the front steps and then plonked a razor blade there.

As I have mentioned before "There are those who have done it and those that will do it, no one else"

The sharks fin now I have the scars from that little thing, what a stupid place to put it.

How about the engine drains. I have had 2 loads of 6 stitches from them b****y things. (You would have thought I would have learnt from the first time, wouldn't you)

When ever I am under them now I almost crawl by.

Ohh and not forgetting the SKYDROL shower which burns you in places you never knew you had and leaves you walking like John Wayne for a week!

Took off a hydraulic rig in the shed after undercarriage functionals and the self sealing valve - DIDNT! Presto gallons of hot purple pain all over me! Talk about purple rain! I reckon the artist formally known as someone else - is an ex 10 sqn groundy! Ohhhh and those wonderful avtur baths doing the water drains - running down your arms LUVERLY