I'm old enough to remember when British Airways still flew the VC-10. Beautiful but very noisy (though kind of in a good way). We lived under the Heathrow flight path southwest of London and the VC-10 and Concorde were the only planes loud enough to make our dog bark! There was something slightly menacing about it.
Oh, I remember them also. Did you live in the New Malden area? Because back in the early 1980s I remember visiting my grandparents there where they lived and loving seeing those planes from their back garden. The Heathrow flight path did appear to fly over New Malden
Lived (and still do) in an area a few miles out under the final approach for touchdown on runway 28L (as it was then) from the early 1980's at LHR....think the BA Trident's did pretty well on the noise front as well.
That is without one of the best VC-10 take off films I have seen. Brings a tear to the eye. Thank you for the upload and now I will go and stick a pin in my voodoo politician.
10 ปีที่แล้ว +4
Thank you very much for the kind words! It's a shame we won't see these beautiful aircraft anymore.
I worked on the Mighty VC10 when it belonged to the 'proper' 10 Squadron Air Transport Command in her original colours of white over grey with blue cheek lines. Worked and flew on this old lady many times in many countries. The 'original' VC10's in the RAF had cabin cargo doors fitted, were standard airframes with the super Conways - hence the AWESOME short/ high altitude runway take off performance! Landing at the old Hong Kong Kai Tak airport was superb, a real white knuckle ride down past the skyscrapers! Gutted me when they painted them grey and ripped out the cabins. All the soundproofing gone they looked terrible inside after all the years of service they did as multi role aircraft. There was years of life left in them and they could at least have repsrayed XR808 BACK into proper colours when they gave her to Cosford :((( Give her back some dignity? great film
Aircrafts back then in the 1970s and early 80s had that distinctive jet fuel smell, before they switched to using different type of fuel that didn't smell the same or as strong
Love the sound of the Rolls-Royce Conways. Majestic aircraft. I flew in an RAF VC10 back from RAF Akrotiri to RAF Lyneham in the 1960's - Wonderful flight.
@@delten-eleven1910 Concorde failed as a people's passenger plane. Purely for the rich famous & powerful. It never looked as good as a VC10. I flew on RAF VC10s. 1000mph & held the fastest sub sonic Atlantic crossing not wind assisted as one 747 did.
Was lucky enough to see this piece of art coming in for a landing at ORD a few years ago. Was driving down the road and heard a sound that wasn't quite 'normal' when out of the trees above appeared the VC10, full flaps, powered on short final...ahhhhh what a site!
I was lucky enough to have flown to Changi a long time back in a VC-10 from RAF Brize Norton. We stopped off at RAF Akrotiri, Bahrain, Gan and finally Singapore. The flight out, the seats were facing backwards and I was in the very back row which was a plus - I had all the room in the world and the noise of the engines was pure music! My return flight nearly 3 years later to Brize was again in a VC-10 (with the same stopovers) this time I was portside window just ahead of the leading edge of the wing. Stunning plane then. Still is.
I remember those backward facing seats. Me and my friend (9 years old - 1969) thought it was brilliant when racing down the runway, our feet which didn't touch the floor were lift up to horizontal....great fun...(We went twice to Hong Kong and back, as you say, going out was Bahrain, Singapore and HK. On the way back was Gan, and Akrotiri, Brize Norton..............Our school was 1/2 a mile from the end of the runway in HK.....I knew all the airlines but especially liked the East african airways and BOAC super VC10s coming in and taking off.......(and the RAF regular ones of course....
The two best-looking aircraft of all time in _any_ category are, in my opinion (and in alphabetical order, to do them both justice, LOL), are the Concorde and the VC-10.
@Kenneth J Think it was a BA 747. Due to flying in a very fast jet stream the ground speed exceeded the VC-10's, more correct to say VC-10 second only to Concord by air speed.
Very nice. I assume these are Rolls Royce engines. Incredible sound. I think The Queen flew on the VC-10, or at least that's how it appears from episodes of "The Crown". This plane just exudes brute power. Love the old birds from the pre-noise reduction, emissions and fuel economy days.
Aerolineas Argentinas, me parece recordar, mas de 50 años, al dar de baja Comet 4, se intereso por este avion. Pero compraron los excelentes B.707. Estos V.V magnificos.Roberto. Argentina.
To me, Great Britain had some interesting, elegant and futuristic aircraft; especially post war through the jet age.
12 ปีที่แล้ว +3
Thank you and you're welcome :) Would be nice to see you guys once more. Such a shame this beautiful aircraft is getting retired at the end of the year.
Awesome video! What a beautiful jet .Love the long antenna on the nose, and the large T tail. But really, it's the power in those engines, that beautiful noise these made. One of the loudest commercial jets as well, alongside the 707 and DC-10.
I spent 7 years flying on VC10s of the RAF 10Sqn as cabin crew (85-89&93-96) in fact my last flight on 808 was January 1996. I was able to look around her last year at RAF Cosford Museum where she is now preserved.
the times of the good airplanes are finishing, the time which produced the beautifull ones which brought many of us to love aviation , now the new airplanes are so boring and similar one to others
Love this video!! The VC 10 was an awesome aircraft, love those RR Conway engines, a wonderful sound! This looks like Budapest Ferihegy Airport. I recognized the unique control tower.
Great film...flew many times on them on BA591 to JFK...fantastic to fly on...you could balance a coin on the table it was so smooth!...cabin noise was quiet...
12 ปีที่แล้ว +1
It is! Its sound was like a fighter jet's! Incredible!
Sorely missed this finest transport a/c in the RAF inventory. As a privileged passenger from brize norton to raf tengah in singapore, i had a fantastic time with it. Im sorry such thing should happen to this wonderful plane. My highest regards.
11 ปีที่แล้ว +1
Very sad to hear that! They are/were incredible aircraft! She'll be sorely missed :(
Fun Fact: between March 1999 and June 2000, several RAF VC-10 were in Budapest, for re-painting. The Ferihegy-based Hungarian ACE with the co-owner Lockheed Martin won the contract from RAF to re-paint 14 VC-10 tankers. Unfortunately, les than 14 plane were involved, but there was a lot of other occasions as well, when these planes were in Budapest.
A far better Aircraft than the 707 in many ways. I had the PRIVILEGE of flying in one and also in a 707 before the 747 became dominant and can confirm the VICKERS Aircraft was a beautiful Airliner, smooth and quiet❤️
Very short takeoff roll! You can tell she’s built for hot and high conditions. Massively long wingspan and monster flaps and slats says it all. Wish it was more popular. Like the L-1011 TriStar, an advanced aircraft that never realised its potential
No, the Strategic Reconnaissance (SR)-71 was a photo recon aircraft. The high altitude, mach 3+ bomber was the XB-71 Valkyrie and that program was cancelled in the 60's. The only mach-capable large bomber that ever entered USAF service is the B-1B Lancer.
1) The video wasn't shot at an airshow. This was a working aircraft at the time. 2) Cargo/transport aircraft are rarely near the front lines. When they are that's what escorts are for.
So it was a VC-10! I saw this noisy and sooty plane once fly overhead in Nairobi with those pods under the tail. I exhausted my word combination and never got it on Google...
VC-10 Conways never had water injection, I should know spent 6 years servicing these fine British aircraft. Harriers had water injection, as you correctly state it increases the air density therefore gives increase in thrust for the same fuel input.
4 ปีที่แล้ว
@@bfg45us You're right, I don't know where I got that information from 6 years ago lol. Thanks for correcting me.
To further my point: Speed and agility isn't everything. The Air Force still uses the B-52 because it's the best at what it does. This is despite the aircraft's age, dirty, gas guzzling engines and radar cross section the size of a barn. Multiple high-tech designs meant to "replace" the B-52 have already themselves been retired. The B-52 is not planned to be retired until at least 2040, 90 years of active service.
Had loads of 1970s trips courtesy of the RAF. It was & is the best designed looking passenger plane. Just short of 1000mph. Passengers no longer see their plane & climb the steps anymore. I did & smelt the fumes.
I'm still baffled by how many flight control surfaces are on the wings. I can't find anything about it online. Why did they go for this design instead of the standard flaps, slats and ailerons?
The VC-10 may have been the fastest sub-sonic aircraft across the Atlantic (frankly I don't know) but the Convair 990 was faster overall. It was designed to regularly cruise at Mach .92. The fact that the Convair lacked the range to cross oceans is just splitting hairs.
No separate aircraft. The tail numbers from 10 sqn were 101 to 109 and 807 to 810 if memory serves correctly. I was groundcrew servicing these machines in early 80s
2:28 what is that white smoke under the port engine?
7 ปีที่แล้ว
They inject water into the engines to increase thrust. The white stuff you can see is water vapor. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_injection_(engine)#Use_in_aircraft
What you are seeing is discharge from the Combined units drain which allows excess fluids from 7 seals, spindles and bearings on each Conway.Water injection was fitted to the Spey engine that powered the One Eleven to restore thrust in high ambient temperatures ,but not the Conway as fitted to the VC10.
Yeah.. That brings me back to my original question: Why bring this up at all? Nobody except you ever mentioned dogfighting. It makes obvious sense that a (cancelled) multi-billion dollar Air Force bomber designed to nuke the Soviets then retreat at Mach 3 would be faster than a civilian airliner. What's your point?
For me the "howl" sounds more prevalent from in front of the aircraft - because this is the noise that the fan at the front of the engine makes ingesting and all that air. As the aircraft passes you, you hear the hot exhaust gases which exit at the rear and make that roaring "crackling" sound.
The daily 08:00 VC-10 from LHR to MAN used to be my alarm clock. We lived on finals to MAN, and as she passed overhead, and sank down over the horizon, that distinct wailing was what woke me up. Fond memories indeed!
Fighting an enemy with limited or no anti-aircraft ability does help, sure. However this still does not change the fact that nothing in current USAF inventory can haul 70,000 pounds of explosives as efficiently or as reliably as a 63 year old aircraft.
I'm old enough to remember when British Airways still flew the VC-10. Beautiful but very noisy (though kind of in a good way). We lived under the Heathrow flight path southwest of London and the VC-10 and Concorde were the only planes loud enough to make our dog bark! There was something slightly menacing about it.
Oh, I remember them also. Did you live in the New Malden area? Because back in the early 1980s I remember visiting my grandparents there where they lived and loving seeing those planes from their back garden. The Heathrow flight path did appear to fly over New Malden
Giles second name? I live in Bookham and remember Concorde stacking for Heathrow every day around Ockham vor.
Lived (and still do) in an area a few miles out under the final approach for touchdown on runway 28L (as it was then) from the early 1980's at LHR....think the BA Trident's did pretty well on the noise front as well.
Such a beautiful aircraft, with a very distinctive shape / design. Even today, nothing compares to the sheer aesthetic beauty of the VC10 series.
That is without one of the best VC-10 take off films I have seen. Brings a tear to the eye. Thank you for the upload and now I will go and stick a pin in my voodoo politician.
Thank you very much for the kind words! It's a shame we won't see these beautiful aircraft anymore.
+Marcell Bernát They're really gorgeous!
Five years forward David.
The Tornado GR4??
I worked on the Mighty VC10 when it belonged to the 'proper' 10 Squadron Air Transport Command in her original colours of white over grey with blue cheek lines. Worked and flew on this old lady many times in many countries. The 'original' VC10's in the RAF had cabin cargo doors fitted, were standard airframes with the super Conways - hence the AWESOME short/ high altitude runway take off performance! Landing at the old Hong Kong Kai Tak airport was superb, a real white knuckle ride down past the skyscrapers!
Gutted me when they painted them grey and ripped out the cabins. All the soundproofing gone they looked terrible inside after all the years of service they did as multi role aircraft. There was years of life left in them and they could at least have repsrayed XR808 BACK into proper colours when they gave her to Cosford :((( Give her back some dignity? great film
My God, what a REAL airplane! I can smell & feel it. What a beautiful machine she was!
Aircrafts back then in the 1970s and early 80s had that distinctive jet fuel smell, before they switched to using different type of fuel that didn't smell the same or as strong
Love the sound of the Rolls-Royce Conways.
Majestic aircraft. I flew in an RAF VC10 back from RAF Akrotiri to RAF Lyneham in the 1960's - Wonderful flight.
One of the great planes of all time. Seems like Britain had several futuristic-looking, unique designs of aircraft in the 50's & 60's.
Californian: I agree, Victor bomber, TSR-2 and Concorde are a few examples of what was a Great British Aeronautics industry.
@@delten-eleven1910 The Concorde was only partly British. A lot of it was a French design also.
@@j.o.1516 I know, it was a joint effort.👍
@@delten-eleven1910 Concorde failed as a people's passenger plane. Purely for the rich famous & powerful. It never looked as good as a VC10. I flew on RAF VC10s. 1000mph & held the fastest sub sonic Atlantic crossing not wind assisted as one 747 did.
Yes, Handley Victor looked like a hybrid jet and war of the worlds alien tech. Loved it!
Was lucky enough to see this piece of art coming in for a landing at ORD a few years ago. Was driving down the road and heard a sound that wasn't quite 'normal' when out of the trees above appeared the VC10, full flaps, powered on short final...ahhhhh what a site!
I was lucky enough to have flown to Changi a long time back in a VC-10 from RAF Brize Norton. We stopped off at RAF Akrotiri, Bahrain, Gan and finally Singapore. The flight out, the seats were facing backwards and I was in the very back row which was a plus - I had all the room in the world and the noise of the engines was pure music! My return flight nearly 3 years later to Brize was again in a VC-10 (with the same stopovers) this time I was portside window just ahead of the leading edge of the wing. Stunning plane then. Still is.
I remember those backward facing seats. Me and my friend (9 years old - 1969) thought it was brilliant when racing down the runway, our feet which didn't touch the floor were lift up to horizontal....great fun...(We went twice to Hong Kong and back, as you say, going out was Bahrain, Singapore and HK. On the way back was Gan, and Akrotiri, Brize Norton..............Our school was 1/2 a mile from the end of the runway in HK.....I knew all the airlines but especially liked the East african airways and BOAC super VC10s coming in and taking off.......(and the RAF regular ones of course....
I'm old enough to have flown on these beauties to and from Africa in the 60s and 70s. Love the noise!
The VC-10 is a beautiful aircraft and it sounds like a fighter jet taking off!
Stunning aircraft - somehow looks ultra modern yet beautifully vintage all at once
Best looking airliner of all time,, perfect
Thats Concorde
The two best-looking aircraft of all time in _any_ category are, in my opinion (and in alphabetical order, to do them both justice, LOL), are the Concorde and the VC-10.
The 707 was an incredibly elegant and balanced looking aeroplane too.
@@APCSW19 nonsense...it wasn't a patch on a vc10..looks, performance and quietness
@@geoffreyking1634The VC10 is definitely my second favourite.
Love the sound right before take off , reminds me of the spacecraft
the scream of the mighty Conway!
I saw and heard a DC-8 powered with four of these back in the 1980s. That was "THE" loudest aircraft I ever heard, except the Concorde maybe.
Still the fastest transatlantic passenger plane apart from Concord, The days when Britain ruled the skys...
Very nice design but not a money maker that's for sure
@Kenneth J Think it was a BA 747. Due to flying in a very fast jet stream the ground speed exceeded the VC-10's, more correct to say VC-10 second only to Concord by air speed.
@@bfg45us the last I heard it was a Norwegian 787-9 flying inbound from the US.
The VC10 held the transatlantic subsonic record until only a few years ago, when a BA 747 surpassed it in a hurricane! Says it all!
Very nice. I assume these are Rolls Royce engines. Incredible sound. I think The Queen flew on the VC-10, or at least that's how it appears from episodes of "The Crown". This plane just exudes brute power. Love the old birds from the pre-noise reduction, emissions and fuel economy days.
Beautiful! Bought a tear to my eye
Aerolineas Argentinas, me parece recordar, mas de 50 años, al dar de baja Comet 4, se intereso por este avion. Pero compraron los excelentes B.707. Estos V.V magnificos.Roberto. Argentina.
To me, Great Britain had some interesting, elegant and futuristic aircraft; especially post war through the jet age.
Thank you and you're welcome :) Would be nice to see you guys once more. Such a shame this beautiful aircraft is getting retired at the end of the year.
Beautiful Aircraft- Awesome sound! Like the paint job.
Awesome video! What a beautiful jet .Love the long antenna on the nose, and the large T tail. But really, it's the power in those engines, that beautiful noise these made. One of the loudest commercial jets as well, alongside the 707 and DC-10.
Phil Anderson antenna? Refuelling rod (air to air)
@@georgerobertson9791 Thanks George!
what a stunning VC10 , there's a couple of videos going around & this of the best !
Fabulous aircraft. I loved flying on them as RAF aeromed.
I Like the sound of this aircraft and your video! Thank you for uploading
I spent 7 years flying on VC10s of the RAF 10Sqn as cabin crew (85-89&93-96) in fact my last flight on 808 was January 1996. I was able to look around her last year at RAF Cosford Museum where she is now preserved.
С дымком пошёл, прям как Ил-62.
Great Video and a AWESOME Sound, mate!
the times of the good airplanes are finishing, the time which produced the beautifull ones which brought many of us to love aviation , now the new airplanes are so boring and similar one to others
lovely hd filming thanks marcell awesome video
A very beautiful airplane!
Love this video!! The VC 10 was an awesome aircraft, love those RR Conway engines, a wonderful sound! This looks like Budapest Ferihegy Airport. I recognized the unique control tower.
Beautiful and graceful at 50.
Some aeroplanes,are simply magnificent. This,was one of them.
many a time have i been on them from canada to the uk and from belize to lovely plane great vid
Great film...flew many times on them on BA591 to JFK...fantastic to fly on...you could balance a coin on the table it was so smooth!...cabin noise was quiet...
It is! Its sound was like a fighter jet's! Incredible!
Great, thanks Marcell!
Fantastic aircraft thanks ❤
What a beautiful aircraft!
Sorely missed this finest transport a/c in the RAF inventory. As a privileged passenger from brize norton to raf tengah in singapore, i had a fantastic time with it. Im sorry such thing should happen to this wonderful plane. My highest regards.
Very sad to hear that! They are/were incredible aircraft! She'll be sorely missed :(
Fun Fact: between March 1999 and June 2000, several RAF VC-10 were in Budapest, for re-painting. The Ferihegy-based Hungarian ACE with the co-owner Lockheed Martin won the contract from RAF to re-paint 14 VC-10 tankers. Unfortunately, les than 14 plane were involved, but there was a lot of other occasions as well, when these planes were in Budapest.
A far better Aircraft than the 707 in many ways. I had the PRIVILEGE of flying in one and also in a 707 before the 747 became dominant and can confirm the VICKERS Aircraft was a beautiful Airliner, smooth and quiet❤️
Remember these flying over our town back in the 70/80s , just as loud as Concorde.
Old BoB(808) now residing at RAF Cosford museum, beautiful sight n sound.
Ah. Bob. Always nice to see footage of the old "Funbus".......
Elegance personified
Damn, that is one bad motor scooter. Love the sound of those Olympus engines at full blast.
Err rolls Royce Conway's accually but still sound awesome
@@daveco4645 Oops, my bad. Love that awesome noise!
Awesome plane!
Very short takeoff roll! You can tell she’s built for hot and high conditions. Massively long wingspan and monster flaps and slats says it all.
Wish it was more popular.
Like the L-1011 TriStar, an advanced aircraft that never realised its potential
Love this airplane
Beautiful aircraft
I was 10 sqn cabin crew 1984-1089..lovely plane to fly on!
Is that standard or super VC 10
Was it quiet in the cabin?
Probably not the aft cabin.
Great video and thanks for sharing. It was great to visit :-)
Nice video! Unfortunately, no more sunshine when it landed in Brussels that afternoon (after a glorious sunny morning) :-(
You are a lucky man! How loud was it on the inside?
No, the Strategic Reconnaissance (SR)-71 was a photo recon aircraft.
The high altitude, mach 3+ bomber was the XB-71 Valkyrie and that program was cancelled in the 60's.
The only mach-capable large bomber that ever entered USAF service is the B-1B Lancer.
That VC-10 Would look helluva much moore elegant with Winglets.
1) The video wasn't shot at an airshow. This was a working aircraft at the time.
2) Cargo/transport aircraft are rarely near the front lines. When they are that's what escorts are for.
Splendid 😊
So it was a VC-10! I saw this noisy and sooty plane once fly overhead in Nairobi with those pods under the tail. I exhausted my word combination and never got it on Google...
This particular aircraft flew into Bruntingthorpe and was retired from service today 29th July 2013
Smashing sound
From what I have heard, the VC10 could go transonic in a very shallow dive. Maybe quite a few years ago, but now at such an age, maybe not.
That's actually steam. They inject water into the engines to increase the power output. Look up 'Water injection (engines)' on Wikipedia.
VC-10 Conways never had water injection, I should know spent 6 years servicing these fine British aircraft. Harriers had water injection, as you correctly state it increases the air density therefore gives increase in thrust for the same fuel input.
@@bfg45us You're right, I don't know where I got that information from 6 years ago lol. Thanks for correcting me.
What a beautiful airplane. It’s a doggone shame it didn’t catch on like the 737 and the A-320. Guess 4 engines was too many for a narrow-body
Nice to see it visited Budapest. Shame it could never land in Gibraltar though.
Conways have that 'crackle' about 'em....a great sounding bypass engine that is barely a bypass engine at all LOL
Routing was Prague - Budapest - Brussels
RR always sounded the best (Concorde, VC10, etc)
To further my point:
Speed and agility isn't everything. The Air Force still uses the B-52 because it's the best at what it does. This is despite the aircraft's age, dirty, gas guzzling engines and radar cross section the size of a barn.
Multiple high-tech designs meant to "replace" the B-52 have already themselves been retired. The B-52 is not planned to be retired until at least 2040, 90 years of active service.
I wish VC 10s were around till 2040.
Very reliable and durable airplane!
Had loads of 1970s trips courtesy of the RAF. It was & is the best designed looking passenger plane. Just short of 1000mph. Passengers no longer see their plane & climb the steps anymore. I did & smelt the fumes.
I'm still baffled by how many flight control surfaces are on the wings. I can't find anything about it online. Why did they go for this design instead of the standard flaps, slats and ailerons?
Beauty🌞❤👍!
nice job - what airport was this ?
Cheers! Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport (BUD/LHBP)
The Vickers Commercial ten there
They wouldn't have the chance. The B-52 can be equipped for standoff fire.
It can drop large numbers of guided munitions miles beyond SAM coverage.
i reckon that would overtake a tornado on takeoff
Come on feel the noise!
Jetsons golden
I enjoyed an 8 hr air2air in this aircraft in 1988.🤓
Badass
Yeah, apart from Concorde, fastest passenger jet. Only got beaten by a 747 a few years ago but that was because it had a hurricane up it's a...e!
A350 has a very similar maingear
I don't think eeven Concorde could pick up speed that quick
Funny how i heard about the Il 62 first
Skip the first 2.30 minutes, just go to the take off.
Where was this ? Many thanks
Budapest, Hungary
suprisingly quite bit weird flying the wrong way round though lol and tight to
The VC-10 may have been the fastest sub-sonic aircraft across the Atlantic (frankly I don't know) but the Convair 990 was faster overall. It was designed to regularly cruise at Mach .92.
The fact that the Convair lacked the range to cross oceans is just splitting hairs.
XR808 wouldn't happen to have been formerly XV108 was it?
No separate aircraft. The tail numbers from 10 sqn were 101 to 109 and 807 to 810 if memory serves correctly. I was groundcrew servicing these machines in early 80s
What airport is this please? I see a KLM in the background so assume it's a commercial airport.
Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport, Hungary. Yes, it's a commercial airport.
@ Thank you Marcell. Great video 👍👍
@@mark1968 Thank you!
2:28 what is that white smoke under the port engine?
They inject water into the engines to increase thrust. The white stuff you can see is water vapor. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_injection_(engine)#Use_in_aircraft
What you are seeing is discharge from the Combined units drain which allows excess fluids from 7 seals, spindles and bearings on each Conway.Water injection was fitted to the Spey engine that powered the One Eleven to restore thrust in high ambient temperatures ,but not the Conway as fitted to the VC10.
Thanks must go to Marcell for capturing the departure.Fabulous footage and sound.
Thank you for the kind words and the informative comment above!
EXISTE UM AVIÃO DE CARREIRA IGUALZINHO AO VICKERS VC-10: O ILYUSHIN IL-62!!!!!!!
1984-89
Yeah.. That brings me back to my original question:
Why bring this up at all? Nobody except you ever mentioned dogfighting.
It makes obvious sense that a (cancelled) multi-billion dollar Air Force bomber designed to nuke the Soviets then retreat at Mach 3 would be faster than a civilian airliner. What's your point?
Why does the howl sound more prevalent from behind?
For me the "howl" sounds more prevalent from in front of the aircraft - because this is the noise that the fan at the front of the engine makes ingesting and all that air. As the aircraft passes you, you hear the hot exhaust gases which exit at the rear and make that roaring "crackling" sound.
The daily 08:00 VC-10 from LHR to MAN used to be my alarm clock. We lived on finals to MAN, and as she passed overhead, and sank down over the horizon, that distinct wailing was what woke me up. Fond memories indeed!
Fighting an enemy with limited or no anti-aircraft ability does help, sure.
However this still does not change the fact that nothing in current USAF inventory can haul 70,000 pounds of explosives as efficiently or as reliably as a 63 year old aircraft.
jetsons