C/n 852 - G-ASGB

Date
29 September 1964	First flight.
8 January 1965	Left from Heathrow at 9pm for tropical trials and an attempt at a record direct flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. Due to unforeseen headwinds, 'GB had to refuel at Salisbury, Rhodesia. Arriving on 9th January, the total time, including the 20min stop, was 10h 15min.
31 Januari 1965	Day trip to Durban from Johannesburg for high ambient temperature engine runs.
early February 1965	Return to UK from Johannesburg, via Nairobi, Kenya. Oil problems caused an engine shutdown just before Nairobi, and the return flight was flown on three engines after a normal four-engined take-off.
30 April 1965	Delivery to BOAC as G-ASGB.
20-21 July 1971	Operated inaugural flight between London and St. Lucia (BA699), returning the next day as BA688 via Barbados and Antigua, carrying special philatelic covers.
5 December 1972	Operated from Auckland, NZ to London Heathrow via Melbourne, Perth, Singapore, Calcutta, Bahrain, Zurich.
1973	An experimental carbon/nomex floor panel was fitted to this VC10 to get in-service experience with this new material. It had accumulated 3286 hours by 1 January 1974 but failed after some 7500 hours.
1 April 1974	Ownership changed to British Airways.
31 July 1974	Operated BA509 flight from London to New York.
26-27 November 1974	Operated BA941 flight from Dubai to London.
30 Januari 1975	Operated BA118 flight from London to Bermuda.
4-5 March 1975	Operated BA891 flight from Delhi to Beirut and on to Rome.
18-19 June 1975	Operated BA591 flight from London Heathrow to New York, crewed by Tony Frish and Charles Slade.
5 January 1981	Ferried to Prestwick for storage, retired from airline service.
3 April 1981	Sold to the RAF, ZD231 allocated.
8 April 1981	Ferried to RAF Abingdon for storage. Hours flown at time of retirement: 55890hrs.
27 April 1981	Registration G-ASGB canceled, 'To RAF'.
Mid/late 80s.	Scrapped at Abingdon.

1. G-ASGB seen at Wisley in October 1964, it would still be in these colours in early 1965 during the tropical trials. The Valiant in the background is most likely the single example that was flown back to Weybridge for spar strengthening modifications, only to be scrapped when the Labour government decided to cancel the program in January 1965.
2. Captain Bill Cairns and co-pilot John Cochrane in G-ASGB somewhere over mid-Africa, enroute to Johannesburg for the second attempt at the Super VC10 tropical trials.
3. Onboard G-ASGB en-route to Johannesburg, South Africa on 9th January 1965. First VC10 in-flight entertainment, with ground crew in relax mode.
4. G-ASGB at Salisbury, South Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe) for a quick 'splash and dash' fuel stop, which was completed in 20 minutes.

1. On the runway at Johannesburg, Captain Bill Cairns performing the Velocity for Minimum Unstick runway trial.
2. G-ASGB at Durban Airport during its day trip for engine running trials, turning on the apron in front of the terminal building.
3. G-ASGB at Johannesburg during the tropical trials, although it carries the full BOAC golden speedbird scheme, the letters BOAC have been omitted from the front of the cheatline. The scheme was changed just before the Super VC10 entered service with BOAC.
4. The tail of G-ASGB in front of the Johannesburg terminal building.

1. Still in the incomplete Golden Speedbird livery, G-ASGB was photographed for this atmospheric night scene.
2. The missing BOAC titles have been added by a retouching artist in this variant of the previous photo. These resemble the ones carried during development on the prototype and early Standards, instead of the correct larger BOAC letters.
3. Now in the updated BOAC livery, G-ASGB visited Brooklands again at some point, and is seen here landing on the short runway at the Vickers factory site.
4. A photo of what is most likely a relatively new Engineer's panel in G-ASGB.

1. G-ASGB on the apron at Manchester airport on a rainy day in 1971.
2. G-ASGB next to G-ASGP at London Heathrow.
3. G-ASGB in front of the TBA building at the London Heathrow maintenance area in full British Airways colours.
4. Looking over Captain Tony Frish's shoulder during a take off in G-ASGB from London Heathrow.

1-2. Cruising at 30,700 feet during the London-New York leg of BA591 on 18-19 June 1975.
3. The artificial horizon reflects Captain Tony Frish's serious expression as he peruses the paperwork on board G-ASGB, operating over the North Atlantic at 38,950 feet on its way to New York. The return flight to Prestwick would be his penultimate flight before retirement.
4. G-ASGB would continue to fly for British Airways up to January 1981 when it was ferried to Prestwick.

1. But from April 1981 on G-ASGB was stored at RAF Abingdon. Of interest is the fact that the forward fuselage sports the serial ZD230, which belongs to G-ASGA.
2. The other side of G-ASGB showed the same discrepancy, with 'ZD230 B' stenciled on the forward fuselage. All but the last letter of its civil registration has been removed from the tailcone bullet.
3. Another photo of G-ASGB/ZD231 in storage. The position of the stored airframes changed a few times judging by the photos.
4. Another view of the mis-labeled front end of G-ASGB, showing 'ZD230 B' instead of its correct ZD231 serial.

1. This weathered print reflects the state of G-ASGB during the final part of its storage at RAF Abingdon. The airframe would be stripped for parts and scrapped here.

BOAC	First version of BOAC 'Golden Speedbird' scheme with stepped, gold-edged dark-blue cheatline. Grey lower fuselage and white upper fuselage. Dark-blue fin with gold speedbird logo. Probably never carried 'BOAC' letters on front part of cheatline.
BOAC	Second version of BOAC 'Golden Speedbird' scheme, golden edge on cheatline removed and cheatline now arcs smoothly down towards the nose without the step of the previous scheme.
BOAC/BA	As above but with British Airways titles on the forward fuselage.
BA	First British Airways ('Negus') scheme, white over dark blue fuselage with grey wings. Top of fin and stabilizer in red with Union Jack section. British Airways titles and small Speedbird on front fuselage.