RAF Museum Cosford takes delivery of VC10 serial number XR808
This article originally appeared on Culture24.
RAF Museum Cosford has taken delivery of a VC10 Transport plane after a long, final journey by flat bed trailer to the Shropshire attraction
The VC10 arrives at Cosford© Iain DuncanVC10 serial number XR808 has been undergoing a meticulous eight month dismantling process carried out by GJD Services, a specialist maintenance and aircraft salvage company based at Bruntingthorpe, Leicestershire.
The 93ft long fuselage departed from Bruntingthorpe early on Sunday morning and arrived at Cosford shortly after 1.00pm.
Transported on a low loader lorry, the route saw the aircraft pass along the M69, M6 and the M54 to Cosford, via the nearby village of Shifnal.
Too large to pass under the railway bridge at Cosford, the fuselage made its way to Junction 4 on the M54 and through Shifnal, with some tricky manoeuvring en route, before heading onto the airfield at RAF Cosford.
With the wings due to follow on June 28 work will commence in July on the rebuild of a plane which saw service with the RAF for a remarkable period stretching to almost 50 years as a transport aircraft, medical evacuation plane and in-air refueller.
Originally built by Vickers-Armstrong and then later by the British Aircraft Corporation, the VC10 originally entered service in 1966. It soon became a useful plane in the rapid deployment of troops and weaponry to many theatres of operations around the world.
With the ability to carry up to 124 troops at a time with nine crew members or a freight load of up to 20,400kgs the VC10’s allowed true global mobility and offered a combination of speed and range never previously attained by an RAF Transport Command aircraft type.
© Iain Duncan“However, when this is added to the variety of roles and worldwide scope of operations, it is clear this is a unique aircraft and it would not be possible to accurately portray the history of the RAF without an example of the type – therefore it is essential that such a pivotal and long serving aircraft is preserved by the RAF Museum.”
After almost thirty years flying out of RAF Brize Norton to Akratiri in Cyprus, as well as Hong Kong and the Middle East VC10 C1K XR808, latterly known as Bob, was converted in 1996 to mix passenger tanker role.
In October 2010 it was till being used to bring troops home from Afghanistan before eventually ending its career with a 40 minute flight from Brize Norton to Bruntingthorpe airfield in Leicestershire after 47 years 3 weeks service and a total flying time 43,866.50 hours.
Throughout July 2015 a team of engineers from GJD Services will be on sight at Cosford to unload the aircraft, position and trestle the inner wings before attaching them to the fuselage. During early August the aircraft will transfer from the RAF Cosford airfield to the Museum site for the final reassembly, which will take place directly outside the Museum’s Hangar 1.
Once on the Museum’s site, the wings will be rebuilt and the rear fuselage section attached. By late September the team anticipates to be fitting the fin and tail plane ready to install the engines, nacelles and outer wings.
The final finishing touches of refitting the access panels and a little paint work touch up will be carried out late October before the fully reassembled VC10 is moved into its final position next to the Lockheed Hercules C130K Mk3, where the aircraft will go on public display.
© Iain Duncan
© Iain Duncan
© Iain DuncanMore from Culture24's Military History section:
£4.89million grant helps the Royal Air Force Museum's centenary plans take off
RAF Museum hits all the right notes with new First World War in the Air gallery
The last RAF VC10 touches down at Dunsfold Park
