The UK "Air Force One"

[Geoff Miller]

Tony Blair's arrival in Washington this morning brought a
question to mind: What type of aircraft does the British
Prime Minister travel on? A RAF VC10?



Geoff

--
"The nation's colleges and universities have become a Safe Streets
program for traitors and lunatics. At least Tailgunner Joe got them
out of government work." -- Ann Coulter

[Spehro Pefhany]

On 17 Jul 2003 12:01:07 -0700, the renowned
(Geoff Miller) wrote:

>
>
>Tony Blair's arrival in Washington this morning brought a
>question to mind: What type of aircraft does the British
>Prime Minister travel on? A RAF VC10?

It was marked "British Airways". I didn't catch the aircraft type, but
their fleet includes both Boeing and Airbus.

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
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[Gooneybird]

Richard Brooks wrote:
> "Geoff Miller" > wrote in message
> ...
>>
>>
>> Tony Blair's arrival in Washington this morning brought a
>> question to mind: What type of aircraft does the British
>> Prime Minister travel on? A RAF VC10?
>
> Good ole' XV108 was the VC10 (wow a VC10 with carpet) but they, including
> Her Madge mostly changed over to those little four engined jobs.
>
>
> Richard.

Looked like British Airways markings to me.

George Z.

[Sergio]

"Spehro Pefhany" > a écrit dans le message de
...

> It was marked "British Airways". I didn't catch the aircraft type, but
> their fleet includes both Boeing and Airbus.

I suppose it is a Boeing 777, as usual...

[John Halliwell]

In article >, Geoff Miller
> writes
>Thanks. So that raises the question: does the PM take a seat on
>a scheduled commercial BA flight for intercontinental trips like
>this, or is an aircraft temporarily pulled from the BA fleet and
>made available for the use of Blair and his entourage?

Usually a 'private' charter (paid for by taxpayers), if the journalists
are going to say/write nice things about the PM they get to go too. When
Blair flew to the US shortly after 9/11, Concorde was the choice for the
lucky few.

--
John

[David Bromage]

Geoff Miller wrote:
> Tony Blair's arrival in Washington this morning brought a
> question to mind: What type of aircraft does the British
> Prime Minister travel on? A RAF VC10?

Usually a chartered British Airways 777 for long distance. Sometimes a
757 if going somewhere in Europe. The Queen is also sometimes carried on
a chartered BA 777 (last trip to Australia was on a chartered Qantas
747), or on the upper deck of a 747 on a regular service. For domestic
and short distance work, the RAF Queen's Flight has BAe 146s and BAe 125s.

BTW, do the charter flights use any special callsigns or are they given
standard airline flight numbers? Or just the rego? IIRC the Queen's
Flight uses the callsigns KITTYHAWK, RAINBOW and ASCOT.

Cheers
David

[David Bromage]

Geoff Miller wrote:
> Tony Blair's arrival in Washington this morning brought a
> question to mind: What type of aircraft does the British
> Prime Minister travel on? A RAF VC10?

Usually a chartered British Airways 777 for long distance. Sometimes a
757 if going somewhere in Europe. The Queen is also sometimes carried on
a chartered BA 777 (last trip to Australia was on a chartered Qantas
747), or on the upper deck of a 747 on a regular service. For domestic
and short distance work, the RAF Queen's Flight has BAe 146s and BAe 125s.

BTW, do the charter flights use any special callsigns or are they given
standard airline flight numbers? Or just the rego? IIRC the Queen's
Flight uses the callsigns KITTYHAWK, RAINBOW and ASCOT followed by a
tasking number.

Cheers
David

[Nick Pedley]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Cub Driver" >
Newsgroups: rec.aviation.military
Sent: Friday, July 18, 2003 11:21 AM
Subject: Re: The UK "Air Force One"


>
> >Tony Blair's arrival in Washington this morning brought a
> >question to mind: What type of aircraft does the British
> >Prime Minister travel on? A RAF VC10?
>
> There was a program on PBS a few years ago showing the Queen taking
> off to visit one of her ex-dominions. She rode first class in a Boeing
> 747 of British Airways. It was a commercial flight, and all the other
> passengers had to board first and be settled (locked down?) before the
> Queen got on. I don't know what they did with the first-class pax;
> maybe they were moved back to business.
>
What first class pax? IIRC the entire first class was booked by HM and used
by her entourage inc secretaries, security, ladies in waiting et al.
It worked out significantly cheaper than a whole plane to herself, IIRC.

Nick