Wednesday 25 September 2013, Bruntingthorpe Airfield, Leicestershire
The airfield at Bruntingthorpe is owned by C. Walton Limited and its managing director David Walton has been an avid collector of significant "working" aircraft designed and built in Britain.
On this day, David had opened the gates to the airfield, free of charge, to anyone wishing to witness the arrival of the final RAF VC10 . A public area had been set out with excellent views over the runway and the approach as well as the pan where the aircraft, a K3 variant registered ZA147, was to be parked upon arrival.
Delegates of the Rugby Aviation Group
from left to right Barry Jones, Jack Bliss and David George
ZA147 finally arrived through the murk just after 15:45, it had been a long wait for most, but then there is plenty to see and plenty of people to speak with at Bruntingthorpe. There were plenty of enthusiasts, photographers and other VC10 aficionados, one even having registered his new car in an appropriate way.
The first attempt to get to the airfield resulted in an approach to "something" some three miles north of Bruntingthorpe and the aircraft could be observed descending and almost disappearing behind the tree line, when the pilot must have realised he was not approaching a runway. He opened the throttles on all four Conways and ZA147 roared off towards Lutterworth and around the airfield.
The second attempt was not good either and some serious corrections were needed to line up with the runway for the first overshoot as exemplified by the photographs below.
The final approach was near perfect and the tyre screech and smoke brought a tear to many an eye or at least a seriously big lump in the throat.
This variant of the VC10 were specifically designed for hot and high conditions and their landing performance on shorter runways was remarkable, as exemplified in her final landing. Stopped well before the mid-point of the long runway.
The final taxi to the pan where VC10 XR808 was awaiting the arrival of ZA147 took the aircraft passed its "fallen" comrades, which were in the process of being dismantled and scrapped.
The picture above shows ZA147 turning off the taxiway and on to the pan to meet the welcoming committee, thus concluding another era in the history of the RAF and the British Aviation industry.
That now leaves Avro 698 Vulcan B2 XH558 as the sole flying four-engined British jet aircraft and the news last week that the funding to keep her flying for another two years has been put up by its supporters, both private and industrial, comes as no surprise.
And finally......on Sunday 17 November 2013, Bruntingthorpe Cold War Jets is reported to be hosting a photoshoot when most of its aircraft will be lined up on the runway. The entry fee for this event is the normal museum admission (£5). A great bonus at the end of a wonderful display season. http://www.bruntingthorpeaviation.com/
Theo Claassen
6 November 2013
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