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cody599
End of an era Zaphod
The two aircraft launched shortly after 10am getting airborne in spectacular fashion, trailing black smoke in a spectacular snake-climb departure associated with the VC10 during its Cold War days. As “Tartan 52” flight, the aircraft headed north in tight formation before reaching the North Sea and a rendezvous with Eurofighter Typhoons from RAF Leuchars and Panavia Tornados from RAF Lossiemouth where the two types took fuel from the VC10’s wingtip hose drogue units.
With refueling complete the two aircraft split and the six-strong flight crew of ZA150, led by Sqn Ldr Tim Kemp descended the aircraft low over the Moray Firth to run in for the flypast over Lossiemouth, with a 500 ft pass over the airfield before an impressively steep climb away, fine for those in the cockpit, but less for those in the small passenger cabin where the seats, like on all RAF VC10s, face aft rather than forward. The same the procedure was repeated at Leuchars, Prestwick airport, near Glasgow and the BAE Systems plant at Warton before another rendezvous with the other VC10, which had done flypasts down the Eastern U.K. at Newcastle, RAF Coningsby, RAF Marham and Birmingham. The two together then formatted close for a dramatic pairs arrival in the circuit of Brize Norton, where hundreds of cameras on the ground were trained on the aircraft for their streamed arrival at 2.14pm. The aircraft were greeted by families and personnel from 101 Sqn who cheered when the crews emerged.