What struck me is the apparent ´messiness´ of the wings upper surface: Lots of wrinkles, and the non-flush spoilers. Actually, the inner spoiler looks somewhat flush but appears all bent up, while the mid and outer ones seem to portrude enough to create their own shadows.
The wing literally looks like its under a lot of strain, and very draggy-looking. Does´nt look sleek as it should for an aerodynamic surface.
Compare it to this 727 wing:
Jetlagged From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2005, 2462 posts, RR: 17 Reply 1, posted (5 years 2 months 3 weeks 14 hours ago) and read 1928 times:
The shallow angle of the sun doesn't help the look of the VC-10 wing. I suspect the two spoiler panels are deflected by the wheel (note the aileron is also slightly up). The inboard spoiler may not be a roll spoiler, so not deflected.
The VC-10 wing had a very solid structure, milled from solid. An old VC-10 hand might be able to explain the ripples.
The 727 doesn't look much better, but that would be old age.
Modern aircraft are certainly finished extremely well, but I wonder what they will look like in thirty years time without proper TLC.
The glass isn't half empty, or half full, it's twice as big as it needs to be.
Vc10 From United Kingdom, joined Nov 2001, 1386 posts, RR: 17 Reply 2, posted (5 years 2 months 3 weeks 11 hours ago) and read 1868 times:
The date of the super VC-10 in the picture was September 1965, so that would make GF an almost new aircraft as it was delivered to BOAC in 1965.
The part of the wing which as milled from a solid billet was forward of the hinge point of the spoilers and that behind this line was secondary manufactured structure, and the ripples shows where the skin strengtheners are positioned. Under this secondary structure would be fuel pipes, hydraulic pipes & jacks and flying control cables, plus stowed flaps. The ripples had nothing to do with the aircraft getting old.
The fuel tanks were contained within the milled section of the wing, and it was a wet wing.
The 3 spoilers acted in conjunction with their aileron and would rise with their side's up going aileron. Their movement was proportional to aileron movement, and as you can see in the picture their associated aileron has just started to move up.
The inner spoiler could just be lagging behind due to small demand, or it could have been isolated as part of a drill, as the spoilers could be isolated in pairs { Inners--middle-- outers} by 3 switches on the F/E panel
Each spoiler panel was 12 sq ft in area and all six could be deployed as speed brakes , with the amount of deployment being controlled by the pilot. At high speeds, ie above 345 kts, the aircraft could suffer from aileron reversal affect so the amount of speed brake deployment at high speed was restricted so as there was still some movement left for roll demands
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