A Little VC10derness

I’m a bit late with today’s #VC10birthday wishes, but that’s because I was having too much fun at the aviation fair at @kemptonparkrace today (and spent too much money…. 😆).

#VC10birthday Today is the anniversary of XV107's first flight in 1968. It took part in the Farnborough Air Show that same year and would be used to carry several VIPs during its career. It was retired in 2011 and was broken up at Bruntingthorpe. vc10.net/Airframes/cn_8…

#VC10birthday Today is the anniversary of 5Y-ADA's first flight in 1967. The third airframe for EAA suffered a four-engine flame out in 1967. It became a K3 tanker for the RAF and retired to Newquay in 2013. Sadly, it was broken up in 2023. vc10.net/Airframes/cn_8…

@OnDisasters If I’m not mistaken, it was the Accountant that paved the way for the engine installation on the HS 748. Some of the thinking behind it was quite solid, even if it did not make for an appealing look or a sellable type.

One of those where the joke (unwillingly writes itself) "Aviation Traders" was a British firm specializing in surplus aircraft and parts seller, whose work included converting WW2 bombers into cargo planes. In 1953 they announced that they were building their own plane, the "Accountant" (for its good economics) and was intended to replace the DC-3. A prototype was built and displayed, first flying in 1957. (If the nose landing gear placement looks odd: the builder devised it this way so it could have a swing nose for cargo) Even if the company received large orders for a "DC-3 successor," they had no facilities to build them. Regardless, this was the least of their problems, as they didn´t get any orders and the Accountant ended up in the scrapyard in 1960. So, in the end, the Accountant project, aiming for sound economics, ended up as a money pit... (BTW this readers comment on Reddit sums the all bizarre aesthetics of the type 😆😆😆😆) So, what do you have lying around?" "Hmm, the nose and cockpit section from a DC-4, the wings and engines from an HS 748, half a Connie fuselage, a JetStar tail and the horizontal stabs from a Herald." "Perfect! Smash them all together and give it a sexy name."

@PoliticalPics @Number10cat I managed to spot him outside around 15:20 this afternoon, so he is still patrolling the grounds. Appeared to go back inside after 5 minutes though.

Dear Larry @Number10cat Ive only seen Larry once this week out & about, but plenty of sightings of him sleeping in the window of No10. Downing St is one of the coldest streets in London very little sun light and a wind tunnel, so here's a picture from 10 years ago, happy weekend

@justin_ng @jorussell1975 @LidlGB I managed to spot him outside around 15:20 today. It was difficult to see from Whitehall, but I think he was looking for you @justin_ng !

@jorussell1975 @LidlGB sadly smoked salmon is too high in salt for him and at his age I definitely don't want to take that risk. he was out on tues looking for me but I was on another job. hope to see him next week.

Bestest news today. Thanks @LidlGB 😊🤤

@ElizabethRadcl5 I managed to spot Larry outside his residence around 15:20 this afternoon. The photos are not as good as this though. Is this your photo or is it one from @justin_ng ?

Just for us this #caturday here is our Larry the Cat xxx what a handsome boy #number10cat #kittytwitter 😍😍😍🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

@clark_aviation “Do these things happen to this aircraft?” “Well….. hopefully not all at once.”

Probably quite useful for the crews of this morning's post! A wartime 'beginners guide' to aircraft engine smoke... and fires! 😱

@airmainengineer Stick a pigeon on there, you’ll have it nicely roasted after an engine test run. Local German modification 😉

Can you guess why there are pins inside of the thrust reversers?

@OnDisasters @richboy2307 It's two different occasions as one photo shows the flight deck of a BOAC VC10, the second one shows a RAF VC10 C1 flight deck.

@richboy2307 Even the light on the picture looks similar, thanks

Sent by a reader as "707 navigator". Anyone can confirm if it's the case? Reverse search didn´t yeld much results

@richboy2307 @OnDisasters Credit for the original photo is BOAC/British Airways PLC, the photo posted in reply is by R. Rodwell, from the Flight Magazine archives.

@OnDisasters That is almost certainly a VC10 cockpit back there. Celestial Navigation was one of the capabilities with that roof mounted periscopic sextant. Image credit: VC10.net more info here: vc10.net/Technical/oddi…

@OnDisasters Looks like the BOAC photo that is here on my site: #Periscopes" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">vc10.net/Technical/oddi… (scroll down) but with the credit line cut off. A BOAC Vickers VC10 flight deck, but the 707s had a similar capability back then.

@Rainmaker1973 Built by the brilliant Tony Sale. He reactivated George in 2010 and with just a new pair of batteries and a drop of oil he was completely functional! Now with the National Museum of Computing. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_(r…

In 1950, a 20 year old Royal Air Force officer built a radio controlled robot named George for just £15

@CalumDouglas1 Lance Cole did a good book about this several years ago: amzn.to/3PAklhG 'Secrets of the Spitfire', from Pen & Sword.

I have added some interesting comments by the Canadian aerodynamicist Beverley Shenstone, on my website. Shenstone is generally agreed to have been responsible for (at least) the wing layout of the Spitfire, the very thin section of which necessitated the spar design we discussed before. He had worked in Germany for several years before being employed by Supermarine in England. These concentrate on explaining the mystery as to why it took longer than expected for the Biplane to vanish... Link in comments....

@thenewarea51 The C-130 flight was most likely a single occasion with a training captain in the LH seat.

The King also used to fly the C-130s 😎🇳🇱

@OnDisasters Lockheed never directly built Tristars for the RAF. All the UK Military Tristars were conversions from various civil variants, including some PanAm ones.

RAF Tristars (along with a Pan Am jet) under construction at the Lockheed factory in Palmdale 📸Marshall Group

@clark_aviation #VC10 XR808 at Hong Kong. I have a similar B&W photo of this scene: vc10.net/Airframes/cn_8…

The RAF Transport Command 'shiny fleet' in its heyday, pure elegance and nostalgia.

@nealteamgibson @Hush_Kit Based on that list I have seen seven. Also I can tick off two in Germany if that helps. 😉

@Hush_Kit According to Wikipedia there are 10 Gannets on display in the UK. Has anyone seen them all? (I’ve deffo seen 5 and probably 2 more as a child many moons ago)

@hws5mp @OnDisasters Correct, it's a 1960s On Mark conversion, restored by Tina Fly GmbH in 2019-2021. See warbirdregistry.org/a26registry/a2… (not completely up to date). N500MR "Rum & Coke".

@OnDisasters Looking at the side windows, I wonder if that's one of the ones converted to a business aircraft after the war, and then fitted with the gun nose for the warbirds circuit?

A-26 Warbird, shiny as new, filmed on an airshow in Bern, Switzerland, in 2025, sounding as glorious as in its heyday 📹 Matt's Aviation Channel (link to full video on HD in the comments, don´t forget to like and subscribe to support their work)

@merabuki @OnDisasters This is OD-AFA, the re-registered G-ARTA while flying for MEA. No idea what that other image was about. vc10.net/History/Indivi…

@OnDisasters Looks like an "AI enhanced" version of this image. Note how you can read "Japan World Exposition" on the plane on the right whereas it's just "random AI-text elements" in your version.

And on today´s Ai Slob... Look closely at the engines on that Bristol Britannia in the background 😅😅