BAE Systems

into the 1990s. As Brough was fully

occupied with Harrier and Hawk work, the

aircraft were flown into BAe Woodford

and were converted there by workers

from Brough.

Gulf War and finale

Following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990

the when the RAF Tornados were needed

to attack infrastructure in Iraq there was a

problem as the TIALD ( Thermal Imaging

Airborne Laser Designator) targeting pod

which illuminated the target was still

under development. At short notice,

twelve Buccaneers of Nos 12 and 208 Sqn

were deployed to support the Tornados

with their Paveway system and Laser

guided bombs. Additionally they carried

ECM (Electronic Counter-Measures) pods

and as a first received defensive weaponry

in the form of one Sidewinder missile. 212

sorties were flown and the aircraft

returned to the UK in desert pink

camouflage and with their ‘gung ho’

markings. Over the remaining years of

their service their popularity grew but on

31 March 1994 they were withdrawn from

service.

Not only Buccaneers

but also Phantoms

As the BAe Brough factory was the Sister

Design Company for the UK’s US-built

‡ VC10 K4 ZD

and two Tornado

F3s over the

Falkland Islands.

This Super VC10 was

formerly G-ASGP

with British Airways,

it spent nine years

parked at Abingdon

before it was flown

to Filton for tanker

conversion work to

begin. (Paul Morris)

18 The Aircraft of British Aerospace and BAE SYSTEMS 1977 - 2017

Phantoms, it carried out major structural

repair on them. During their UK service

with the RN and the RAF from 1968 to

1991, many Phantoms returned to Brough

for repairs to the airframe owing to

fatigue problems and four machines had

their centre wings replaced. The

Phantoms typically had repairs to their

wing fold ribs, main spars and four of the

aircraft even received replacement wings.

Vickers VC10 – BAe’s

tanker rebuilds

Even though production of the long-

range VC10 airliner had ended in 1970

with the completion of the 54th aircraft,

the manufacturer’s involvement was far

from over and BAe was to carry out

substantial work on them.

The RAF had originally ordered 14

VC10 C1s for use in a trooping/cargo role.

One of these became the RB211 test bed

with Rolls-Royce and was wastefully

scrapped on completion of these trials.

These RAF aircraft had provision for

refuelling in flight but were not flight

refuelling tankers, although later modified

to take on this role.

In April 1978, British Aerospace began

work at Filton on the conversion of nine

VC10s into tankers. These came in two

distinct groups; four formerly East African

Airways Super VC10s repossessed by BAe

in 1977 and five former British Airways

Standard VC10s which had flown with

Gulf Air for almost four years and been

retired at the end of 1977.

From airliners to aerial tankers

The conversion was an extensive process.

The aircraft were stripped down to the

bare airframe. To have commonality with

the VC10 C1s all the Tanker VC10s

received Rolls-Royce Conway R.Co 43s

and were fitted with an Artouste APU in

the tail cone. Five fuselage fuel tanks were

installed in each aircraft providing 13 tons

of fuel. The Standard VC10 then had a

total of 166,000lbs fuel with wing and

cabin tanks while the Supers with their

additional fin fuel tanks carried a total

capacity of 181,000lbs fuel. Each aircraft

had three refuelling points, two

underwing pods and Hose Drum Unit

fitted into the rear freight bay of the

aircraft. The RAF designated the Standard

VC10 tankers as VC10 K2 and the Supers

as K3s.

The Tanker VC10 flight test

programme and its difficulties

The first VC10 K2 tanker to fly was ZA

which completed a 3½ hour first flight on

22 June 1982 captained by Roy Radford.

This first K2 was painted in dark green and

dark grey camouflage like the Victors it