3303 G-CBGL Broussard Bruntingthorpe 15-01-11 RB	85 8-MV Mystere IV Bruntingthorpe 15-01-11 RB	D-FLOH Ce 208 Langar 15-01-11 RB	G-AHBL DH 87 Hornet Moth Bruntingthorpe 15-01-11 RB	F-BTGV Guppy Bruntingthorpe 15-01-11 RB	N858WL 734 ex KLM Bruntingthorpe 15-01-11 RB
SX-OAD a 742 Bruntingthorpe 15-01-11 RB	XM715 Victor Bruntingthorpe 15-01-11 RB	XS235 Comet Bruntingthorpe 15-01-11 RB	XV101 VC-10 Bruntingthorpe 15-01-11 RB	XV102 VC-10 Bruntingthorpe 15-01-11 RB	XV105 VC-10 a Bruntingthorpe 15-01-11 RB
XV105 VC-10 a Bruntingthorpe 15-01-11 RB	XV107 VC-10 a Bruntingthorpe 15-01-11 RB	XV221 C130 Bruntingthorpe 15-01-11 RB	XV226 Nimrod Bruntingthorpe 15-01-11 RB	XV301 C130 Bruntingthorpe 15-01-11 RB

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Ian Ellington invited me on a trip to see the VC-10 graveyard at Bruntingthorpe to catch a last glimpse of four VC-10s that are awaiting the scrapman's axe!

We set off in a thick freezing fog with promise of clear sky and bright sunshine. At East Midlands there wasn’t much to be seen the hangar area only contained a few light aircraft and the cargo ramp contained an AN-124 and a pair of DHL 757Fs. The terminal had a number of Bmi Baby 737s and five Ryanair 738s parked up not doing much.

The clouds started to break up so we decided to head to Bruntingthorpe, the airfield is open on a Sunday for anyone to visit the aircraft museum and if you want to wander down to the scrapping area.

Once inside we reported to the museum guide who said where we could go and then of course first stop was the VC-10s! As you can see from the photographs the first one of this second batch has been robbed of a number of major parts whilst the last one to arrive is sat as if it’s still at Brize Norton awaiting its crew!

The scrapping area also contained a pair of ex KLM 734s which had recently been painted white. I don’t think they will be around much longer as they have been robbed of most of the major parts. A pair of RAF C-130C3s were also parked up XV221 looked in a sorry state with no propellers and a flat tyre which had upset the centre of gravity causing the nose wheel to lift off of the ground!

The museum aircraft were next; they have recently acquired a Nimrod XV226 which is painted up with decals depicting forty years of service this was sat up on a pan near the VC-10s. A bit further along the museums Comet XS235 sits near to the decaying 742 SX-OAD.

The rest of the museum exhibits are kept near to the entrance with the largest exhibit being the Guppy
F-BTGV. It is starting to suffer from being kept outside with fading paintwork and corrosion.

Victor bomber “Teasin Tina” looks well in its Gulf War paint scheme along with a large number of fast jets and training aircraft. The museum guide told us how many aircraft are capable of being fast taxied on the long runway and about the special events when they spend the day running up the aircraft.

We decided to break up the journey home with a visit to a couple of light airfields, first was Langar which only had a very active Cessna 208 and then Gamston which was black dark when we arrived.

Thanks to Ian for the trip Richard.


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