Excellent photos, thanks for sharing. I particularly love the Double Mamba shot, did you get any other angles of it?

Thanks for bringing to our attention this important date, first missions etc tend to get overshadowed by first flights.

My work was in avionics and telecoms, but I’d never work for love, at least not before I had the money! It seems to me that the millionaires who own these aeroplanes are exploiting the engineers who work on them.

Blimey, that seems a sad way of looking at things, I work in aviation for not an awful lot, but I love my job and would hate the day when I would have to consider something else.
So I can imagine people going for this job on similar grounds.

Also regarding rich pilots, undoubtedly many are, but I’ve encountered some real surprises in that regard lately.

Excellent summary there Ken.

Apart from the example for the RAF museum are there any other VC-10’s going to be preserved?

I understand that one other RAF VC-10 will be saved at Bruntingthorpe, which I would assume to be drawn from the last ones retired.
Unsure if the different Marks are being withdrawn in a certain order or not.

Personally speaking I really hope that a ‘Super’ K.3/4 tanker (as Cosford are having a C.1K) will be preserved, just because of the incredible service that they have given to the RAF in the tanker role in many war zones, and their previous history as airliners.
K.4 ZD241 would be on my list due to its history and having the most hours flown.

Just to keep the thread updated, the very last VC-10 service at St Athan, ZA147 F, departed on the 23rd of February.

Thats a pity. I was going to take the mother-in-law. 😀

:D:D:D

Cosford and Yeovilton have been very good about using tripods, in fact at Cosford I had a similar experience to what Brian mentions about Hendon, and I was enthusiastically allowed to take pics on the ‘wrong’ side of barriers etc.

What is the official reasoning behind not using tripods? Surely any aircraft museum struggles to get to saturation point with visitors, apart from special occasions?

Some of the pre-production batch were initially in these colours, but the Gnat T.1 entered service in the silver and Dayglo scheme.

Thanks DD, that must be what I was thinking of, I was probably confused by the preserved Gnat flying in those markings! Worth noting that you need to modify and shorten the nose if you want to model those.

then grey/ dayglo,

Did they have that scheme operationaly? I thought it was just the FAA that used LAG and dayglo?
I have seen pics of retired Gnats used as instructional a/fs in that scheme though it seems.

As soon as dayglo gets involved it’s never straight forward!