(Crown Copyright)
A VC10 tanker refuels a pair of Tornado jets: the so-called 'Queen of the Skies' has operated around the world after starting life as a commercial aircraft
It is a grey Thursday morning in March at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. A four-jet VC10 flown by a crew from 101 Squadron speeds deafeningly down the runway and climbs into the clouds en route to its rendezvous at 20,000ft over the North Sea, somewhere between Scotland and the Norwegian coast. There, amid a maze of contrails, it trails its refuelling hoses and circles as pairs of jets, Typhoons and Tornados, approach cautiously from astern and plug into the baskets to receive fuel.
An air-to-air refuelling (AAR) mission is a skilful and risky business for the 101 Squadron crews and the jet pilots. Both can be travelling at 450mph while refuelling. Recently one jet had to make an emergency landing at Newcastle airport after shattering its canopy during an attempt to refuel from a VC10 over the North Sea. The hose was damaged, and the VC10 had to continue refuelling with just one hose.
The tankers do not have limitless fuel and need to keep enough on board for their own return journey. The crews try to make sure that the jets finish receiving their fuel at the right time in the right place in the sky so as not to use fuel unnecessarily.
Over the skies of Iraq AAR becomes even more dangerous. “There is no air-to-air threat but there is a threat from the ground,” says Squadron Leader David Currie, who has flown VC10s for five years.
For its work the VC10 has earned the regal nickname of Queen of the Skies. In Iraq US jet pilots declared the VC10 tankers of 101 Squadron a godsend. While US tankers are restricted to prearranged areas of operations, the VC10 crews are more flexible. They cover large distances, carrying more than 70 tonnes of fuel, to refuel jets that are directly supporting troops on the ground.
“We go where we are needed,” says Currie. “And we constantly listen to the radio to find out who else we can assist.” In a typical day over Iraq, they might refuel British jets or US Navy aircraft. The crews will spend eight or nine hours in the sky, and new recruits quickly build up their flying hours.
The VC10s are also often used to fly wounded servicemen and women out of conflict areas. When the seats are stripped out there is space for 68 stretchers and medical equipment. In Basra the crews lifted the wounded out of the field often under heavy mortar. In one week they carried out three medical evacuations. But the work was deemed too risky for the VC10s and they now pick up patients from other Middle East nations before flying them back to the UK and Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham.
But all things come to an end. In 2014, after nearly 50 years in military service, 19 of them in the Gulf, the fleet of 15 VC10s will go into retirement. The Ministry of Defence will replace the tanker fleet with its new future strategic tanker aircraft, the Airbus A330.
The VC10s are in many ways a piece of history. It shows from their well-worn interiors and equipment, which is in constant need of servicing — and is increasingly expensive and hard to replace. It is one of few aircraft that still flies with a flight engineer on board. They started life as commercial airliners with BOAC in the 1960s and were capable of flying from hot and high airfields such as Nairobi. Today’s VC10, ZA149, is a pure “tanker” aircraft that once flew for East African Airways.
The VC10s have operated from the Falkland Islands to Afghanistan. The passenger aircraft are used to carry the military and their families. Until 2003 they also flew countless VIPs. They were favoured by Margaret Thatcher — it was in the cabin of a VC10 that she declared that she would go “on and on and on”. Tony Blair flew on the VC10s so often that he had his own sofa-beds installed.
As Britain pulls out of Iraq this year the VC10s will lose one of their key theatres of work.
“Is there another job for the VC10 to do? Possibly. If not in the Middle East, it is ready to go wherever it might be needed next,” says Group Captain Jon Ager, the station commander of RAF Brize Norton. As yet no one is sure what the immediate fate of the fleet will be over the next couple of years.
It is still grey and overcast when ZA149 lands back in Brize Norton at lunchtime. The aircraft is checked over by engineers while the crew go for a debriefing. Group Captain Ager concludes: “Across the globe, the VC10 has delivered time and again, where and when it was needed. It has been and remains a versatile and potent beast.”
With such a long career, stretching far beyond the simple passenger flights it was intended for, the VC10s’ retirement will be a well-deserved one.
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