Vc-10 Formation Flying

[willedoo]

Footage of a VC-10, taken from another VC-10 during a formation approach to RAF Brize Norton.

 

 

 

[Guest David C]

Lovely aeroplane the VC10 .. One of my all time favourites . As a kid we used to see VC10's and Supers of BOAC , Ghana Airways , East African Airlines ,BUA and a few other airlines too . I was lucky to see one a few month ago as it was recovering to Brize Norton , a great sight and sadly possibly the last time I may see one in flight, as they are being progressively replaced by the RAF version of the MRTT ..

 

Thanks Willie , another great video .

 

Dave C

 

 

[siznaudin]

Wasn't there something with the VC10 that it was one of the rare occasions where the cruise speed of the aircraft (relative to its compeitors, perhaps?) went up, yet the landing speed did not rise?

 

Nice BIG cutaway here http://charlyecho.com/cutaways/?page=11 ... along with LOTS of other aviation cutaway stuff.

 

Be warned - you could well spend a lot of time here...!

 

 

[Guest David C]

Another bit of trivia is that I am told , although not sure of the source , is that the horizontal tail surface span is exactly the same dimension as the wing span of the Spitfire .. I remember being told to me as a kid many many years ago during a school trip to Heathrow ..

 

Dave C

 

 

[siznaudin]

And a trivial question might be ... which mark Spitfire?

 

Maybe the ones buried in Burma, perhaps:rolleyes:

 

 

[willedoo]

Had a look around for some footage of the three VC-10's that did the formation flights on the farewell tour of the UK last August, but found nothing so far.

 

It would be good to see three of them in close formation.

 

Read a quote from one of the pilots describing the challenges of flying them in formation; he said there was a lot of power and trim changes due to the T-tail being affected by the engines of the other VC-10.

 

I'm just trying to remember another recent large-aircraft formation; C-17's ring a bell.

 

Cheers, Willie.

 

 

[siznaudin]

It's hardly recent, but during my time spent on Nauru - 1973 to 1975, there was a 3 aircraft formation fly past/around the island to celebrate the arrival of their newly acquired Boeing 727, flanked by the "junior partners", a pair of Fokker F100's, C2 RN-1 & C2 RN-2. I have no idea of the legality of the formation flight, but it was a very memorable sight indeed.

 

And sorry .. I have no photo to post. BUGGER!