RAF VC10, XV107, Taxy and Take-off, RAF Akrotiri, from Flight Deck

Footage of an RAF VC10, XV107, taxying and taking-off from RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus. Filmed from the 5th seat on the Flight Deck. Jan 2009

[@rolf69ful]

The lads at Duxford let me on the VC10 even though it was officially closed. They even opened up the flight deck for me. True gentlemen. Thank you.

[@peterthorpe903]

My all time favourite aeroplane. Beautifully designed and engineered. Best of British !!

[@petepipkin8471]

Great aircraft, much better ride than the Herky Bird

[@rjs1138]

Beautiful beast of an aircraft...sorely missed 🇬🇧

[@thomasm1964]

Flew in and out of Akrotiri many times as a Service brat in the seventies. It used to be a long day's drive along poor roads and dusty tracks to reach SBA Dhekelia back then. Or an equally long drive to Akrotiri when returning to the UK for school. Favourite memories? The VC-10 itself; being allowed on the flight deck as the sun was rising; floating down the runway past line after line of gleaming white Vulcan bombers .... Happy days.

[@WingNuts2010]

I can just about hear the unique sounds of the four Conways accelerating from taxi power to take-off thrust. Wonderful, far better than the 'food-mixer grind' of more modern engines.

[@scopex2749]

I worked on the mighty VC10 for many years, the last of the 'Blue and Whites' before they became tankers and gto painted that awful grey. Unbeatable aircraft flew thousands of hours and miles in them - greatly missed THANK YOU VC-10 for your lengthy service. Why they dont build rear engine airliners today is beyone me? Quiet powerful and superb short field take off capacity UNEQUALLED by anything today. Thanks for this I do miss the HOWL of those Conways on take off and the thrill every flight gave me.

[@evaluateanalysis7974]

I thnk the VC10 looks great and there are several advantages to having the engines on the tail, but rear engines come with disadvantages: - The fuselage has to be much stronger to transfer the weight of the engines to the wings. Then the wings have to distribute the weight from the wingroots over the whole wing. It makes more sense to put the engine weight where the lift is - on the wings. - Engine weight on the wing reduces flutter (a bit technical, I think it reduces the natural frequency.) With them the wing has to be stiffer and therefore heavier. - The engines are very close together, so a broken blade from one can destroy another. - The fuselage behind the wing needs to be short for Centre of Gravity location, so the tailplane has less leverage, which means it needs to be bigger and so will weigh more. - If you need four engines, the inner ones are harder to get to. I expect you can list several advantages. That's engineering design, nothing is perfect, it's a question of choosing the best compromise for you requirement.

[@mrsulzer66]

Brilliant video Phil, brought the flight deck memories flooding back 😉

[@solidlift]

This boys & girls, is how aircraft are meant to be!

[@graycloud057]

That’s one absolutely fine aircraft. Spot on gents!

[@rolf69ful]

I flew out to Cyprus in 1979 on a Christmas special. I was the only adult among 130 boarding school kids. I asked the steward which way to the closest toilet. A the back he says. I walked back, opened the door and nearly pissed into the flight deck! I forgot the seats faced backward. The flight crew were really friendly and invited me back later to see the sunrise as we flew east. A great flight.

[@seltaeb9691]

Glad I wasn't on that one, it must have been bedlam for the crew.

[@thomascannon9604]

Was privileged to be part of the Lagan group and help in installing the new runway

[@bac1111967]

Ive been on this aircraft a lot in the mid 70's and 80's Its nice to see it from this angle. Great vid

[@Japan-in-N]

at about 2:50 passing my old office.Was fortunate to spend many hours on these machines

[@adrianpeters2413]

Yes ....that what it looked and sounded like on take off doing many flights from brize .....

[@karlhoward2737]

Many times in the 1960’s…. I took off or landed here, just close to Ladies Mile beach….what a plane, loved every flight as a then 5 year old…but goodness the heat and brightness when that door opened up……as if it was yesterday in my memory….and the fast almost vertical take offs…real Biggles stuff…..oh those were the days.

[@freddielaker2]

I did that route a few times in the 70's! and on 107 more than once. She was ASCOT's white scheme back then, so much better than the grey one.

[@paulboulter7823]

Exchange Officer in the left hand seat I was CC at BZZ on 10 Sqn VC10s in the mid 80s.We had 2 majors then 1 was RCAF and the other USAF.Great guys to fly with 👍!

[@davidbutler8595]

I thought I saw US Capt bars on the LH seater

[@Sarge084]

Ah, Akrotiri pan, spent many an hour sweating my tabs off there, and the Movements hangers that were like a bloody sauna in the midday sun! At least the terminal had aircon!

[@bignormy]

saddest day... getting on one of them to come home after 3yrs

[@mikewillis44]

flew in it to South Africa 1971 before there was a 747 service there.A real kick in the pants.So much power and acceleration at sea level. ha ha noisy electronics /electromechanical noise.

[@markpirie1986]

04:12, is Ground ops HQ Force Protection, RAF Regiment and RAFP, and some Aircrew inc. ATC tower next to the right of the building.😊

[@llywnogmawr5853]

Thanks for the memories,

[@wellwhatthen10101]

Great video you must be joking no stabilization no dialog. give me the promotion video from the sixties anyday. what a great british design and made by britain in britain

[@khobar95]

Beautiful aircraft, but what's with the noise? I thought up front would be real quiet given the placement of the engines.

[@user-eb8pn5nh4k]

Most of the noise is coming from the Feel Simulator unit which is attached to the nose landing gear bay roof, ie under the cockpit floor. The unit is powered by two electrically driven hydraulic pumps which cycle on and off to maintain pressure, that’s what can be heard.

[@seltaeb9691]

Been on that plane as a soldier in the 1970s. Greatest looking airliner ever & got ripped off by other manufacturers, but this, the original, is the best one. Sadly it was a failure in sales which makes no sense. The 747 was still some years off.

[@melvyncox3361]

Lovely aircraft.All retired now,unfortunately. At least quite a few are in preservation😎👍

[@mikecawood]

Awesome stuff!

[@227beau]

Interesting video, thanks for posting it, shame you didn't get the landing at Brize. I see the VC10 ZD241 performing at Bruntingthorpe Cold War jets day, and it is well worth the visit, very impressive, next one next month August.

[@seltaeb9691]

I was stationed at Brize mid 70s, we had Hercs, VC10s & also Concorde practicing take offs & landings, what a racket it made, you couldn't hear your tv & ornaments would go walkabout. They would also test it's engines full blast whilst it was tied down all night long, you got no sleep & the base was not happy. We got placated by a weekend of it open to the camp to look it over. It was really cramped, give me a Vicky any day.

[@c8136132]

My first ever flight was in XV107 1977

[@jeremyrichards8327]

I live on the flight path into Brize Norton in East Northamptonshire and remember hearing the distinctive whine as one flew over me on my allotment years ago. Now it is an Atlas or C 17's but not as elegant.

[@Radio478]

Fantastic aircraft ❤

[@billglass4597]

Can still smell the kokkinelli after the corks have popped!😂😂

[@user-cd7ce1fy5i]

Off to Buttons Bay 😉! Hi to all scaly brats 😜 !!?

[@andyanderson9824]

Who was taking the video? Sorry to say this, it was a positively ghastly bit of film. Extraordinary!

[@Rob1972Gem]

Definitely showing its age what a noisy cockpit just at low power taxing the cockpit is disgustingly noisy. I bet when the pilots moved into newer planes, they appreciated somewhat quieter cockpit straightaway

[@helioshaul3924]

VC10 The Best

[@michaelmacdonell4834]

Lovely aeroplane, and really unique footage! Not sure I've seen its like, to date. One oddity, though, in your title... Taxy - a bit like a tax.

[@ELcinegatto87]

0:15 ... how? I'm guessing the F/E has a set of throttles as well? Cause the F/O is merely guarding the throttles and they move forward independently, lol. The VC10 is an absolute classic. Thanks for the share!

[@MR2LW]

At 10:09 you can see the throttles the F/E has access to. :)

[@mikeburkitt1187]

Good grief. What was V2?

[@davinagurl6032]

went from England to Australia (march 1 to march 3 1972) in the back 4 rows, i was 12 at the time. 0

[@normalwisdom4048]

I've flown in/out of Akrotiri in a Andover, VC10, C130, Phantom & Blackhawk.🤓

[@hilldp9kz]

Late 60's early 70's then.

[@henrygingold6549]

I am astonished by the noise in the flight deck, in the passenger cabin these aircraft were almost silent, hence their nickname, "the whispering giant".

[@user-cd7ce1fy5i]

Going/returning to Hong Kong.

[@gerardmoran9560]

Fantastic airplane. I flew it several times as a passenger. Got to visit the cockpit in flight westbound across the Atlantic (age 13). I would have loved to fly it! BTW- why was someone operating a weed-whacker in the cockpit on taxi-out?

[@globalbloodstock]

Ditto. I was a baby in the early 70s flying to and from Akrotiri in a VC10. Thinking about those unique seats compared to a commercial airline

[@michaelmacdonell4834]

The weed-whacker was required as a preventative measure, for end-of-runway vegetation ingress incidents. When the MoD realised that the pilots could raise the landing gear just after take-off the measure was retired.

[@awxx2006]

What is the 3 way gauge unit above the flight engineer's throttles starting at 10:46?

[@aarondengate8085]

Saw vc10s occasionally at manston

[@ElevatorsClips]

What is this sound?

[@payt01]

That's one noisy cockpit.. wow.. I hope they had noise cancelling headphones, but i doubt it back in the day :)

[@FernandoPartridge]

7:50 you can see this aircraft is XV109.

[@philmontejano5971]

What's the constant buzzing sound??

[@godfreypoon5148]

As a wild guess, it kinda sounds like a motor-generator set with a heavy load that comes on sometimes.

[@cheriot100]

XV109 if I'm not mistaken

[@bobbypaluga4346]

Another Production of the Advanced Class at Mr Jiggles School of Videography

[@mipamat5804]

It was the short slabs concrete taxiway causing all the camera shake rather than the KEO?

[@tomlowe8563]

What's making that cycling noise?

[@bennythespaceshipman9324]

Does this aircraft still exist?, i really want to ride one it looks cool! And its one of my favourite Planes!

[@bennythespaceshipman9324]

@@timothycutts4742 oh.. that’s too bad

[@aljack1979]

To Brize? A few dodgy flights on these old birds, still love them though

[@vickersvc]

this a/c is xv109 not xv107.

[@rolf69ful]

The guy on the left just can’t stop pressing things. Sit on yer hands mate

[@LordMattyA87]

The pilot has a look of Randy Orton

[@royfearn4345]

Worralorra switches!

[@TexasZ71]

Really????

[@VickersV]

What are they doing. Jesus.

[@schanche1965]

Taxi not taxy...

[@steveh5005]

American pilot 2 bars on flying suit,

[@acsimpson2633]

I noticed that; a ‘mere’ Captain USAF, equivalent RAF Flight Lieutenant - odd, as in the 70s, 80s and 90smost (if not all) RAF VC10 Captains were of the rank of Sqn Ldr. But I imagine this exchange pilot was ‘creamed-off’ and waiting for his promotion to Major USAF, typically after one year in post. No. 36 Sqn (C-130 Hercules) disbanded 1975/6 due to a misappropriate surrender to the Japanese in WWII had a USAF exchange, as did 47 Sqn (SF). Boscombe Down Heavy Aircraft Test Sqn had the superb (then) Major Rick Husband, later as Colonel and Shuttle Captain, to perish horribly in the Columbia disaster on re-entry 2001. (Quite unnecessarily, as Mission Control learned of the tile damaged during initial launch phase, but were apparently frozen like rabbits caught in the headlights of a vehicle, unable (or unwilling to admit to that knowledge in the public domain) to arrange a rescue. RIP Colombia Crew.

[@aljack1979]

More likely to be Canadian.

[@JimWalsh-rl5dj]

Bloody hell, what is that noise on the flight deck? Flew Boeing Heavy metal and that noise would have had me snag the aircraft. It is obvious that the bloody thing was well past its sell by! a navigator and a bloody flight engineer?? Buggeration.