PHOTOGRAPHER Susan Chapman has fond memories of the VC10 aircraft, which has made its final flight from RAF Brize Norton after 47 years’ service.

She says: “I won’t miss the noise of my pin-up plane, but I will sorely miss its iconic shape flying over my village of Eynsham.”

Formerly Susan Macfarlane, she made her first flight in a VC10 with BOAC (the British Overseas Airways Corporation) to Nigeria.

She recalls: “On the golf course in Kano, the ball boys would shout ‘VC10, VC10’ as a superlative for a fine shot.”

On the flight home, however, she was lucky not to have been arrested.

“I arrived late and found the gates closed and the gangway removed. I clambered over a boundary fence and ran on to the runway brandishing a spear I was bringing home for my father. It did the trick and the steps were brought back so I could board.

“Over the Sahara, the pilot invited me to the flight deck. ‘I had to let you on, I thought you were going to puncture the fuselage,’ he said.”

As a freelance photographer, Mrs Chapman received many invitations to join short flights out of RAF Brize Norton as station officials tried to counter villagers’ complaints about noise.

She tells me: “I was also lucky enough to be included in a Press party to Singapore to look at the serviceman’s life in the Far East – my favourite day was spent with a jungle survival group of airmen from RAF Abingdon.

“My flight home, however, was very sad. The VC10 interior had been reconfigured to accommodate the wounded and sedated bereaved families of a nasty helicopter accident the week before.

“My next big thrill was flying round America with my future husband, Oxford Mail journalist Don Chapman, on a routine exercise with the Royal Flight pilots who were going to take the Queen to South America “We landed in New York, Boston, Chicago and Washington to give the crew a taste of the operating conditions at some of the busiest airports in the world.

“Then, suddenly, we were told that our schedule had been changed – the VIP Comet that was taking Air Chief Marshal Sir John Davis on a 10-day tour of American Air Force bases was being recalled to England at short notice – we later discovered to fly Prime Minister Harold Wilson to Gibraltar for his talks with Ian Smith, of Rhodesia, aboard HMS Tiger.

“And so, our VC10 trainer became a VC10 VIP plane. Seats were reshuffled to provide a lounge for the Air Chief Marshal and his party, VIP cutlery and crockery were loaded aboard.

“The crew could practise the split second timing they would have to adhere to on the Queen’s tour.

For us, it was a chance in a million to see glimpses of Texas, California, Colorado and Canada and for Sir John Davis and his party to bask in the flow of admiration the VC10 attracted wherever it landed.

“My last thrill was being harnessed to the back of an Argosy from RAF Benson so I could look down on this most beautiful plane silhouetted against the Scilly Isles. That picture went up in RAF messes around the country.”

Any more memories of the VC10 to share with readers? Write and let me know.