32

RAF Odiham

Hampshire, UK

Lat = 51 degrees, 14.1 minutes North

Long = 0 degrees, 57.3 minutes West

Saturday 16th September 1989 (Same day)

Zero Nine zero six hours BST

Fifty minutes later Max and the teams were at RAF Odiham, where a VC-10 of Number 10 squadron, from RAF Brize Norton was already waiting on the tarmac.

The original RAF VC-10’s were named after Victoria Cross (VC) medal holders, displaying the VC holder’s name above the forward passenger door.

A man approached Max and said, “Colonel Storm, I am Sergeant John Cray, I am your explosive expert.”

As neither man was in uniform the usual regulation, regarding saluting was not necessary.

“Good to meet you Sergeant, you can load your equipment onto the plane once we have the order and I will brief you once we are airborne.”

Twenty minutes later the men were on board with their equipment.

The Captain of the VC-10 call sign Zulu Delta 235 spoke into his Comm’s, “Zulu Delta 235 to control tower we are ready to depart, over.”

“Copy that Zulu Delta 235, you are clear to continue to runway 09, once there hold for take-off, over.”

“Roger that tower, Zulu Delta 235, out.”

The VC-10 taxied over to runway 09 and held facing east for clearance.

“Tower to Zulu Delta 235, you are clear for take-off, you have a westerly tail wind of 18mph, over.”

“Roger that tower 18mph tail wind, Zulu Delta 235 clear for take off, out.”

The captain powered up the four Rolls-Royce Conway 310 turbofans that generated 84,000 pounds of thrust before releasing the brakes.

The aircraft lurched forward and immediately began to pick up speed consuming away at the asphalt below it as the captain pushed the throttle controls further forward.

The nose wheel lifted followed a few moments later by the main wheels as the aircraft became airborne, the undercarriage quickly retracted as the aircraft began to gain altitude.

The captain banked the aircraft around on a starboard pitch to pick up their initial heading of 291.3° West-northwest.

At a cruising speed of five hundred miles per hour with a flying range of 5,800 miles the 3158 miles non-stop trip would take six hours and thirty-one minutes.