VC-10 ZA150 to return to flight

[cg_341]

ZA150 has been sold to a US company, via GJD Services, and it'll be returned to flight for refuelling duties in the US.

[boff180]

Have you got a source for this please Chris?

[cg_341]

A screenshot was shared on Facebook, purportedly from a Brooklands Museum newsletter.

The post has since been deleted from the group it was in, strangely.

[purple_95]

Screenshot was very quickly removed, a post then came up on several other groups saying the matter was private and then those posts also got removed, strange goings on.

[Mike]

This story has been doing the rounds for a couple of days now, supposedly involving the 2 Bruntingthorpe VC-10s too.

Just coincidence that the funding page for the move of one of the Bruntingthorpe aircraft was pulled this weekend?

Time will tell.

[GeeRam]

Hmmmmm.....I'd very surprised.

Is there a VC-10 sim in working order anywhere, as I believe the contract documents for the AAR contract for the USN requires access to a sim, which there is for the Tristar still somewhere in the USA, which is why they want the ex-RAF Tristars, plus support for the L-1011 is still available.
Can't see BAE doing that for the VickyTen, and as for RR Conway support

More likely the US company via GJD has bought all the AAR kit still fitted to ZA, which will be removed?

[Mike]

The two sims in storage with the Brooklands museum are supposedly part of the deal.

I agree it does all sound very unlikely, but stranger things have happened and something is obviously afoot.

[GeeRam]

The two sims in storage with the Brooklands museum are supposedly part of the deal.

That starts to make sense then.

Engine support and DA would still be interesting though.

But, I'd rather see all 3 fly in the USA than end up scrapped here. The final decision on the AAR contract was due last week or the week before IIRC.

[ZD241_VC10]

Brooklands shared some information regarding the future of ZA150 in a private email to their membership.

Some of the details we believe may be (well actually they are) commercial in confidence and meant for their members only.

It’d be appreciated if this thread could get deleted; leaking this kind of stuff generally doesn’t help anybody and just leads to unhelpful speculation.

[ZD241_VC10]

Just coincidence that the funding page for the move of one of the Bruntingthorpe aircraft was pulled this weekend?

A complete coincidence; that was because the project had reached only 1% funding in a month.

[ZD241_VC10]

A screenshot was shared on Facebook, purportedly from a Brooklands Museum newsletter.

The post has since been deleted from the group it was in, strangely.

Because the information contained wasn’t for sharing publicly.

[Tommy]

Well, the news is out now in any event:

[ZD241_VC10]

Well, the news is out now in any event:

Indeed it is. Despite politely approaching them for cooperation (as the mods very kindly did here last night - thank you UKAR) they haven’t, so it’s there to stay.

Expect an announcement, with full and accurate detail, at some point soon.

[GeeRam]

Kepler.....?

OK that's another new name in the frame then.......or another US AAR contract......or another sub company of a holding company of etc.etc

I'll wait until there's a photo of it flying.

[Mike]

It sounds like Brooklands screwed the pooch on their comms.

I guess that's what happens when you get rid of a lot of your staff, including the media guy.

[GertrudetheMerciless]

Kepler.....?

OK that's another new name in the frame then.......or another US AAR contract......or another sub company of a holding company of etc.etc

I'll wait until there's a photo of it flying.

I tried googling then. Space really seems to be their thing.

And yes, quite!

[TEXANTOMCAT]

I guess that's what happens when you get rid of a lot of your staff, including the media guy.

Hear hear, was sad to learn that a very knowledgeable and nice chap who put his heart and soul into the place was given his marching orders.

[toom317]

I tried googling then. Space really seems to be their thing.

Well we used to call it the moon rocket.

It wasn't the most fuel efficient of aircraft, but it would be nice to see them flying again.

[hunterxf382]

Funnily enough, KEPLER AEROSPACE (UK) LTD is registered with companies house, with a tangible link to GJD if you check the details within.
An interesting one given the transfer of ownership according to the above mentioned news link by UK Aviation News.

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/12243822

[Cole]

It’d be appreciated if this thread could get deleted

Once the cats out of the bag, you can't shove it back in.

[ZD241_VC10]

It’d be appreciated if this thread could get deleted

Once the cats out of the bag, you can't shove it back in.

When that post was written we hoped we’d caught it, hence at the time we asked for it to be deleted (which they kindly did).

One outlet did then run the story and despite a polite request refused to take it down. I know they weren’t compelled too, but if you bite the hand that feeds you...

[sam6778]

The two sims in storage with the Brooklands museum are supposedly part of the deal.

That starts to make sense then.

Engine support and DA would still be interesting though.

But, I'd rather see all 3 fly in the USA than end up scrapped here. The final decision on the AAR contract was due last week or the week before IIRC.

Regarding the Tristars, on another forum there have been indications posted that the company that brought them has shut down.

[Archer]

August 14, 2017: https://tempusls.com/tempus-applied-sol ... -aircraft/
March 12, 2018: https://tempusls.com/tempus-applied-sol ... -aircraft/
April 18, 2019: https://tempusls.com/tristar-air-will-p ... -the-navy/
August 22, 2019, notification was given by the Navy to Tristar Air LLC (subsidiary of Tempus Applied Solutions), terminating the April 2019 contract. Strangely, this news is not on the Tempus Applied Solutions website...(see here: https://www.streetinsider.com/SEC+Filin ... 45452.html)
A protest against the awarded contract was filed on May 2, 2019 (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data ... 502_8k.htm).

[Archer]

I'll kick this topic back up to where we were a few weeks ago:
Four VC10 airframes have been added to the US registry with the following N-numbers:
N147ZA for ZA147, ex 5H-MMT
N148ZA for ZA148, ex 5Y-ADA
N150ZA for ZA150, ex 5H-MOG
N241ZD for ZD241, ex G-ASGM

Having the three additional airframes on a US registration will make it easier for GJD to swap parts between the airframes. All four VC10s are currently owned by GJD Services. ZA148 is at the Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre at Newquay and will most likely remain there. Back in November 2017 four RR Conways were re-installed in this airframe, these having been removed after her last flight. ZA147 and ZD241 are stored at Bruntingthorpe.

This is a compilation of several posts in this thread (now lost) by various forum members. Apologies: I can't remember who posted what.

[Tommy]

FWIW, I saw a post on FB a few days ago (I’ll try and dig it out) that said ZA147 was now scrapped (or being scrapped).