Thursday 20 March 2014

last sorties of the RAF's Tristars 24 March 2014






posted by 'canberraman' on BM

" Monday March 24th will see the last operational sorties flown by the Lockheed Tristar in RAF service. Two of the remaining four in service will be flown on a final mission that will include some AAR work and then fly pasts at several airfields with which the type has been associated including Marshalls of Cambridge. The duo are due to take off at around 1030 local and should return in the early afternoon. The 4 that are left are then expected to be flown out of Brize on March 25th, presumably to Bruntingthorpe for scrapping.
Can't say I took that much notice of the type during most of its illustrious 30 year service bring an avowed VC10 fan, but its surprising how much more appealing certain aircraft become when you know they wont be around much longer! "



Screen captures from the video footage below of the final flights from Brize norton on 24 March 2014 of ZD 948 and ZD 950




I once photographed one - a gloomy Fairford during the post-Gulf War 1991 RIAT



Tristar KC 1 refuelling Typhoon FGR 4 over the North Sea on 24 March 2014, last operational sortie of the type..posted on the RAF's FB page