1-11 First Flight 50th Anniversary Today

[VC10]

I'm surprised nobody has posted this today.

At 19:42 today in 1963 G-ASHG took to the air for the first time for a 27 min flight.

I went to the 50th anniversary bash at Brooklands today and found it a bit of a mixed bag. We had a presentation by 1)a BAC flight test engineer, 2) a British Eagle engineer, 3) a Boscombe Down 1-11 pilot, lunch and a quick resume' of what Northrop Grumman are doing with their 1-11's, which incidentally they have no intention of retiring in the foreseeable future. Finally a LHR ATC officer told a story of the day he forgot to handover G-AVMR to LHR Director.

He cleared to it leave Bovingdon and descend to 3000 ft for a 09L approach. He then got on with handling other a/c and then passed the MR's strip to the Director who asked where MR was. He replied 'you've got it'. There followed a brief discussion before he realised he hadn't passed MR on and quickly looked at the radar and found MR was well south of the approach and 'that Lynham was getting interested'. He quickly asked MR to turn right on to heading to pick up the localiser which MR did at 40 miles and 3000 feet. Apparently all this time the pilot had said nothing. (I am just reporting what he said, I m' not vouching for its accuracy, but it was very funny anecdote - you had to be there as they say)

He then went on to say thereafter MR always got priority attention. When he retired he was presented - at Brooklands - with the registration of G-AVMR cut out of the LH fuse' at the breakers.

Paul

[thomasburnside]

WHAT if I knew about that happening at Brooklands I would have tryed to get down there.