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C/n 819 - G-ASIW - 7Q-YKH
Timeline
Date |
|
29 May 1963 |
G-ASIW registration taken up |
30 July 1964 |
First flight |
7-13 September 1964 |
On display at Farnborough airshow, left on last day with Rolls-Royce on board for demonstration tour through Africa, but had to clear customs at Gatwick first. |
13 September - 21 September 1964 |
G-ASIW flew a number of flights through Africa (captained by Dennis Hayley-Bell) to promote the VC10, BUA and all things British, including a borrowed Rolls Royce. This combined a demonstration tour with route proving. See here and here. |
30 September 1964 |
Delivery to British United Airways as G-ASIW |
November 1964 |
Temporarily carried Sierra Leone titles when replacing a leased Britannia on Sierra Leone Airways flights. |
September 1966 |
Change to blue and sandstone scheme |
October 1966 |
An incident during maintenance requires
removal of the tailplane. |
29 October 1968 |
Operated to Singapore and onwards to Sydney, carrying Greek immigrants heading to Australia. |
1970 |
To British Caledonian as G-ASIW 'Loch Lomond' |
4 July 1972 |
Operated first BCal flight to Seychelles, one year after G-ASGM became first jet to land there. |
12 November 1974 |
Registered to Air Malawi as 7Q-YKH |
3 December 1974 |
First flight in Air Malawi colours to Chileka airport, Blantyre,
Malawi. |
2 April 1978 |
Operated from Gatwick to Blantyre, Malawi. |
7 April 1978 |
Operated Blantyre to Gatwick service. |
18 May 1979 |
Operated from Gatwick to Malta and Blantyre. |
31 May 1979 |
Operated from Blantyre via Nairobi to Gatwick. |
September 1979 |
Decision to withdraw the VC10 from service at the end of October. Rising costs are the culprit. |
29 October 1979 |
Last revenue service from Amsterdam to Gatwick. |
29 October 1979 |
(Later that afternoon) Ferried to Hurn for possible sale to the RAF. Crew: Captain Tony Britchford, FO 'Jock' Cruikshank, FE Bob Jones. Several Air Malawi employees joined the flight: Bob Cooper, Brian McKay, Dick Stephens, Sherrie Armstrong and Pamela Henderson. |
April 1981 |
Crew arrives at Hurn for ferry, aircraft needs three weeks of
work to get it airworthy again. |
2 May 1981 |
Final flights: Hurn-Athens, Athens-Chileka. Stored at Chileka
awaiting sale. |
July 1995 |
Scrapped. |
Photos

Photo copyright BAE SYSTEMS |

Photo copyright BAE SYSTEMS |

Photo copyright BAE SYSTEMS |

Photo copyright BAE SYSTEMS |
1. BUA's first VC10, G-ASIW, being assembled at Weybridge alongside three
BOAC Supers. At this point the wing still has the original wing
fence configuration. This airframe had the modified wing with a 4% wing chord
extension but the wing fences took some testing before they were finalised. The
BUA aircraft also had downturned wingtips which were not present on BOAC
machines.
2. G-ASIW on the ground at Weybridge before its first flight.
3. G-ASIW taking off on its first flight from the Brooklands runway. BUA's Freddie Laker was on board during the short flight to Wisley.
4. G-ASIW landing at Wisley on 31 July 1964, a day after its first flight.
 |

Photo copyright BAE SYSTEMS |

Photo copyright BAE SYSTEMS |
 |
1. The ultimate publicity photo: G-ASIW taxiing at the 1964 Farnborough airshow
with a Rolls Royce visible through the open cargo door and a BUA 1-11 overhead.
2-3. G-ASIW seen in flight in publicity photos taken in September 1964. At
this point the outboard wing fences have not been changed yet.
4. In service and awaiting passengers. This image shows that the registration
was placed below the engine pylon, mostly hidden by the engines, which makes
it difficult to identify individual BUA VC10s in this scheme!
 |

Photo BUA via P. Moreu |

Photo A.Pollard |

Photo A. Pollard |
1. Another photo at London Gatwick shows that the wing fence configuration
hasn't been finalised. The outboard fence is cut back but there are two
underwing fences which were tested on G-ASIW and the first Ghana Airways
machine.
2. This BUA publicity photo shows the full Sierra Leone livery on G-ASIW (most likely, based on the underwing fences) at Freetown in late 1964.
3-4. G-ASIW in BUA's blue and sandstone livery taking off from Entebbe
airport.
 |

Photo J. Abington |

Photo by Caz Caswell |

Image via J. Fitzherbert |
1. Photographed at Johannesburg in 1976.
2. The single Air Malawi VC10 seen at Chileka, Blantyre in 1977.
3. Undergoing maintenance with British Caledonian.
4. In 1978 the government published a book about the country called 'Smiling Malawi'. The VC10 was used to illustrate the progress the country had made in expanding its transport networks.

Photo R. Doherty |

Photo J. Elder |

Photo J. Elder |

Photo J. Elder |
1. 7Q-YKH seen at Manchester after a diversion, this
was not a normal stop for this airline.
2-3. After being placed in storage at Chileka the state of the airframe went
downhill fast. Removal of fuel from the tanks caused the centre of gravity to shift,
add some high winds and the VC10 adopted this undignified pose.
4. When the president was due to use the airport the VC10 had to be put
back on its gear. The solution was to remove two of the engines, this tipped
the aircraft back on its nosewheel.
Colourschemes
BUA |
Dark blue and red over white with large Union Jack
on fin. |
SLA |
Same as above with large Sierra Leone titles in green. |
BUA |
Blue and sandstone scheme, white over grey fuselage with large
blue/sandstone cheatline sweeping up over the fin. Text on engine
nacelles was later removed to match the 1-11 scheme. |
BCal |
Initially titled as 'Caledonian//BUA', white over
grey fuselage with dark blue and gold cheatline, dark blue fin with
lion rampant. Known as 'Golden Lion' scheme. Titles later changed to
'British Caledonian'. All aircraft were named after Scottish lochs. |
AM |
White topped fuselage to below window belt line. Black, red and
green cheatline. Red titles on forward fuselage, red tailfin with
logo. |
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