C/n 836 - XV106

Date
17 November 1967	First flight.
1 December 1967	Handover to RAF 10 Squadron as XV106.
11 November 1968	Named 'Thomas Mottershead VC' in a ceremony at RAF Brize Norton.
12 August 1971	Operated from RAF Brize Norton to RAF Muharraq, Bahrain, captained by Sqn.Ldr. Baker. First VC10 flight for Robert Whittingham.
September 1973	Flew to Dallas to celebrate the opening of the new Dallas-Fort Worth International airport.
October 1973	Operated from RAF Akrotiri to RAF Brize Norton carrying commemorative covers.
26 May 1977	Took part in a Royal flypast rehearsal.
27th July 1979	Flew HM The Queen, with Prince Philip and Prince Andrew, to Lusaka so that she could attend the Commonwealth heads of government meeting.
3 April 1982	Flew from Brize Norton to Montevideo in Uruguay (via a technical stop at Ascension Island) to collect the Governor of the Falkland Islands, Rex Hunt, and the captured Royal Marines from NP8901. Initial involvement of 10 Squadron in Falklands War.
16-19 July 1987	Present at International Air Tattoo 1987 at RAF Fairford
4 May 1994	First flight after conversion to C1K tanker/transport.
9 May 1994	Delivery to 10 Squadron as C1K.
14 October 2005	Transferred to 101 Squadron upon disbandment of 10 Squadron, allocated letter 'W'.
December 2007	XV106 spotted at Maastricht Airport, The Netherlands, for a repaint.
14 June 2008	Took part in HM The Queen's Birthday Flypast over Buckingham Palace. Flew in formation with E-3D Sentry ZH103 and Tornado F3s ZA764 and ZA887.
26-27 June 2010	Performed flypasts at Biggin Hill Air Fair, stayed overnight.
19 May 2012	Took part in Diamond Jubilee flypast over Windsor, in formation with two Tornado GR4s.
7 November 2012	Aircraft withdrawn from service, flown to Bruntingthorpe on its final flight (together with XV108), landing at 10:56LT. Total time: 42193.25 hours.
August 2013	Airframe scrapped at Bruntingthorpe, cockpit and fuselage section retained in storage.

8 September 2016	The nose section of XV106 was moved to Woodford and installed at the Avro Museum Woodford.
22 September 2016	Refuelling probe reinstalled on the nose section.
14 June 2019	Fuselage section moved to SWAM St. Athan

1. XV106 seen early in its career with the 'Air Support Command' titles.
2-3. Sometime after 1972 XV106 visited Liverpool, where these two photos were taken.
4. XV106 taxiing at an unknown airport.

1. As in the previous photos the titles have changed to the shortest version but the radome is no longer black.
2. Now in grey colours and with 101 Squadron tail codes, XV106 visits Hannover airport in Germany.
3. The markings on the tarmac still included lines for VC10s and Tristars in 2011, showing that RAF aircraft often visited this German airport.
4. A great photo of XV106 taking off from Hannover.

1. In service with 101 Squadron, parked on the RAF Brize Norton apron.
2. XV106's final landing at Bruntingthorpe airfield in November 2012.
3. By September 2013 the airframe had been cut up, just the tail and some bits of wing (not the 737 ones at the front) were recognisable.
4. The letter W on the fin clearly identified these remains as from XV106.

1. The cockpit section was in better shape, having been set aside for preservation.
2. By the end of September 2016 the nose section has been installed at Woodford at the Avro Heritage Museum.