AN AIRCRAFT which has been a familier sight in the skies above Oxfordshire is set to be phased out.

For 40 years, the VC10 military aircraft has been ferrying troops through county airspace.

The VC10 will be phased out by 2016 as 14 new aircraft replace the older models at RAF Brize Norton.

The first of the replacements, the A3 30-200 AirTanker, is scheduled to arrive at Brize Norton in 2011.

Former Brize station commander Air Vice Marshall Keith Filbey said: “The VC10s are corroding and becoming increasingly expensive to maintain.”

The arrival of new planes at Brize Norton is the result of the world’s largest defence Private Finance Initiative (PFI) — destined to run for the next 27 years at an estimated cost of £12bn. The new aircraft will be owned by AirTanker, which will also provide other services such as training and maintenance.

Air Vice Marshall Filbey, who is chairman of the consortium introducing the new plane, said it now had 40 Oxfordshire employees.

He added: “Eventually there will be 500 people working at Brize Norton, of whom 300 will be RAF personnel and the rest civilian.”