Quiet Retirement In Surrey For The Last Vickers VC10

As aviation history goes, this was quite an emotional moment. For this is when the last Vickers VC10 built in the UK flew into Surrey, to retire in the county of its birth.

Well earned rest for the last VC10

Carrying the  RAF serial number ZA150, it touched down at Dunsfold Park  after flying from Brize Norton, Oxfordshire. It was one of two VC10s used as air-to-air refuelling tankers, which both flew their final missions on Friday. ZA150 was the last VC10 of a total of 54 built at the Vickers factory at Brooklands in Weybridge in the 1960s.

There were about 200 people present to watch the final landing of the VC10, which was flown to its new permanent home by a six-strong crew. The aircraft will be on display at the airfield, whose staff have worked tirelessly with Brooklands Museum to return it to its home county.

"It is hugely important for us to have saved this aircraft as the last heavy airliner ever to be completely built at Brooklands - and indeed in the UK," said director of Brooklands Museum, Allan Winn. "It is also significant as its retirement marks the end of an unbroken century of front-line service by Brooklands-built aircraft with the British armed forces.”

Having started life as 5H-MOG for East African Airways, it was stored at Filton in Bristol for several years at the end of its airline service, before beginning its “second life” as an RAF tanker in 1984.

Before finally closing in 1986, Brooklands was a centre for aircraft design, construction and testing having first done so in 1907.  A motoring and aviation museum is now to be found at the site, which was also the home of the world's first purpose-built motor racing circuit.

The RAF operated 28 VC10s, which gave 47 years of service. Its replacement, the Voyager, is the RAF's largest aircraft, with a 60m (197ft) wingspan, and is also nearly 60m long.

                                                    http://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/