Military Aviation A forum for the professionals who fly military hardware. Also for the backroom boys and girls who support the flying and maintain the equipment, and without whom nothing would ever leave the ground. All armies, navies and air forces of the world equally welcome here.

VC10 quickie

Old 31st Mar 2020, 09:11
  #1 (permalink)  
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Just behind the back of beyond....
Posts: 4,175
Received 3 Likes on 2 Posts
VC10 quickie

Could a VC10 (C1) use a 6,594 ft runway at all?

What limitations would be imposed?
Jackonicko is offline  
Old 31st Mar 2020, 09:18
  #2 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: UK
Posts: 1,673
Likes: 0
Received 94 Likes on 62 Posts
Wisley Airfield Direction Length ft m 10/28 6,200 1,900 - (Source Wikipedia)
Cornish Jack is online now  
Old 31st Mar 2020, 09:37
  #3 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Starring at an Airfield Near you
Posts: 370
Received 11 Likes on 6 Posts
Belize 1981: 6000ft exactly from memory, +35C, high humidity - no issues I was aware of, except turning around with no turning circles.
Downwind.Maddl-Land is offline  
Old 31st Mar 2020, 09:48
  #4 (permalink)  
xtp
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: UK
Posts: 43
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
VC10 landing at Brooklands might qualify as the shortest..
See near the end of The 1st and last VC10 flight
xtp is offline  
Old 31st Mar 2020, 09:57
  #5 (permalink)  
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Just behind the back of beyond....
Posts: 4,175
Received 3 Likes on 2 Posts
Thanks chaps, that answers my question admirably, and with some entertainment value, too.

Though Belize is 9,678 ft long!
Jackonicko is offline  
Old 31st Mar 2020, 10:00
  #6 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: near an airplane
Posts: 2,764
Received 46 Likes on 37 Posts
Originally Posted by Cornish Jack
Wisley Airfield Direction Length ft m 10/28 6,200 1,900 - (Source Wikipedia)
VC10s were restricted to 266,000 lbs MTOM at Wisley, according to someone who worked there in 1962.
Jhieminga is online now  
Old 31st Mar 2020, 10:03
  #7 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Starring at an Airfield Near you
Posts: 370
Received 11 Likes on 6 Posts
Originally Posted by Jackonicko
Thanks chaps, that answers my question admirably, and with some entertainment value, too.

Though Belize is 9,678 ft long!
It is now - it wasn't then! (I was OC Butcher Radar at the time)

(Check Google Earth - poor quality image from 1970 shows the basic runway outline; measure facility shows roughly 6000ft)

Last edited by Downwind.Maddl-Land; 31st Mar 2020 at 10:15.
Downwind.Maddl-Land is offline  
Old 31st Mar 2020, 10:34
  #8 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: UK
Age: 59
Posts: 2,709
Received 5 Likes on 5 Posts
Could a VC10 (C1) use a 6,594 ft runway at all?
Granted this was probably operating very light, but here's some VC10 porn from Biggin Hill, UK
- runway length just under 6000ft

I've also heard it said that there was definitely one (and maybe a few more) trips to Jersey in around '87/88, which is a bit shorter still at 5,600ft.
Wycombe is offline  
Old 31st Mar 2020, 10:54
  #9 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Here 'n' there!
Posts: 582
Received 9 Likes on 5 Posts
Originally Posted by xtp
VC10 landing at Brooklands might qualify as the shortest..
See near the end of The 1st and last VC10 flight


Wow!!!!

But, would a VC10 even fit between the white lines let alone land between them as suggested above????

Just askin'! H 'n' H
Hot 'n' High is offline  
Old 31st Mar 2020, 10:56
  #10 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Feb 2000
Posts: 151
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
We flew in and out of Brooklands at 1,200 yds.
Saint-Ex is offline  
Old 31st Mar 2020, 10:57
  #11 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: East Anglia
Age: 77
Posts: 202
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes on 2 Posts
In the 90's they were serviced at St Athan whose runway was 5988'. They would of course have been empty apart ffrom minimum fuel.
nipva is offline  
Old 31st Mar 2020, 10:59
  #12 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Feb 2000
Posts: 151
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
We flew in and out of Brooklands at 1,200 yds. Always landed towards the railway and had the occasional smokey brakes.
Saint-Ex is offline  
Old 31st Mar 2020, 11:29
  #13 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: near an airplane
Posts: 2,764
Received 46 Likes on 37 Posts
Originally Posted by Hot 'n' High

Wow!!!!

But, would a VC10 even fit between the white lines let alone land between them as suggested above????

Just askin'! H 'n' H
Allright, I should have said 'the aim was to touch down between the white lines'.... but most visitors to my site won't be able to tell the difference
Jhieminga is online now  
Old 31st Mar 2020, 12:08
  #14 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: se england
Posts: 1,570
Likes: 0
Received 44 Likes on 20 Posts
Were all VC10s and SV10s built at Weybridge/Brooklands or just some? Presumably they were then flown with ultra minimum fuel to Wisley just five miles away as crow but not a VC10 flies , (probaly at least 30 miles by airliner) for the flight test programmes aside of course from heavy weight T/O hot and high etc. Of course as we all know and indeed love the fact that the VC10 was probably the loudest airliner ever made on the outside and with the short runways at both fields they created a huge amount of noise in very very Nimbyish areas -St Georges Hill for example is in between the two locations.

I was lucky enough to see the first VC10 landing at LHR and a very fine sight it was too especially with that weird low whine it made when taxying
pax britanica is offline  
Old 31st Mar 2020, 12:32
  #15 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Here 'n' there!
Posts: 582
Received 9 Likes on 5 Posts
Originally Posted by Jhieminga
Allright, I should have said 'the aim was to touch down between the white lines'.... but most visitors to my site won't be able to tell the difference
Aw, then you'd have deprived me of being able to spend a bit of time not being bored during "social distancing" and "internment" to send that Post!!!!!

Seriously, I volunteered a bit at Brooklands some years ago and was most impressed with the VC10 and the whole concept of flying stuff in and out of there. Didn't the Vanguard come in after the runway had been bisected by a road? Love the bit in the link that mentions that with brake failure they'd have hit the railway at 43 kts. I'd not heard the story as it was told on VC10.net - quite a story of how an airframe keeps on cropping up in someones life. That's what's nice about this aviation stuff, the affinity we can have with some Dural. Will composites have the same affinity? Time will tell!

Cheers, H 'n' H
Hot 'n' High is offline  
Old 31st Mar 2020, 12:34
  #16 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: near an airplane
Posts: 2,764
Received 46 Likes on 37 Posts
Correct, all built at Brooklands and all flown from Brooklands to Wisley on its first flight. The prototype's first flight was actually planned to go to Boscombe Down, but Jock Bryce decided on Wisley during the flight (see here).
Jhieminga is online now  
Old 31st Mar 2020, 12:40
  #17 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Hanging off the end of a thread
Posts: 32,465
Received 2,594 Likes on 1,098 Posts
Originally Posted by Jhieminga
Allright, I should have said 'the aim was to touch down between the white lines'.... but most visitors to my site won't be able to tell the difference
I bet sparks flew when he took that photo.
NutLoose is online now  
Old 31st Mar 2020, 13:12
  #18 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Sep 2000
Posts: 562
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I’m surprised BEagle hasn’t given some figures yet. Lightweight it was a rocket ship (think lightweight 757),less so at max weight.
qwertyuiop is offline  
Old 31st Mar 2020, 13:26
  #19 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: near an airplane
Posts: 2,764
Received 46 Likes on 37 Posts
Originally Posted by Hot 'n' High
Didn't the Vanguard come in after the runway had been bisected by a road?
Have a look at Andy Lambert's video for that story:
They got lucky....

I've gone and changed the caption now, sorry about that VC10s were flown back to Brooklands with some regularity during the years when they were built there, but by the time of A4O-AB's return, it hadn't been done for years. Also, the test pilots with that experience were not current on the type anymore. I've got another good story about one of those earlier return flights here.
Jhieminga is online now  
Old 31st Mar 2020, 13:27
  #20 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: SWAPS Inner
Posts: 567
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
From a recent visit to Brooklands.. the aircraft were assembled on the west side, then taxied across and round the loop on the north east end of the runway, actually taking a running start to the take-off roll on the taxiway, slightly out of line with the runway. This gave a little extra for the take-off roll of the unfinished (internally) aircraft which was then completed at Wisley.

thunderbird7 is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.