Corgi AA37003 Vickers VC-10 K.Mk.2 – No.101 Squadron, RAF Brize Norton, Oxon.,1991

The bulk of the RAF’s air-to-air refuelling fleet comprises VC10 K3 and K4 aircraft flown by No 101 Squadron based at RAF Brize Norton.ZA140/A was the first VC-10 tanker to enter RAF service on 25th July 1983 as a K.Mk.2. Together with the Victor tanker, it was invaluable during the 1991 Gulf War and the number of refuelling sorties it carried out are recorded on the starboard side of the nose. In 2001 the VC10 K2 made it’s last flight as a tanker. The five K2s were the oldest airframes in the fleet, and in recent years some of these airframes had already been temporarily stored when not in need. Since then all the K2s have been ferried to RAF St. Athan where they have been ‘reduced to spares’, a colloquial term for the scrapping process that will reduce a once lovely airliner to a pile of scrap metal.