UK Defence Forum

Boris Johnson's jet gets 'Austin Powers' makeover

A military aircraft is receiving a secret makeover to give Boris Johnson and senior cabinet ministers a Union Jack-coloured jet for official travel, defence sources said.

One source said the paint job sounded like something "from Austin Powers".

The source said the RAF Voyager transport plane would be transformed from plain grey - a colour Mr Johnson has in the past complained about - to sporting the UK's red, white and blue on the rear of its fuselage and up the fin.

"Boris doesn't like it being grey. He is getting it painted up," the source said.

The Voyager is receiving its makeover at an airport in Cambridge, according to the source. It is expected to be finished by the back end of this month.

Read More: https://news.sky.com/story/boris-johnso ... r-12007923

Who is footing the bill?

bobp wrote:Who is footing the bill?

Who foots the bill for any paint scheme?

(Trailspotter) 9th June 2020

Royal Air Force Airbus KC2 Voyager (A330-243MRTT) ZZ336 arriving at Cambridge for respray on June 9, 2020 at 14:55 UTC.
The VIP-configured Voyager for the use of senior government officials and members of the Royal Family is the Britain's equivalent of Air Force One. The aircraft retains the Royal Air Force livery and continues its primary military duties when not in use by the government.

I think the VVIP A330 should be transferred to 32 Squadron. And repainted in these colours, which I prepared earlier (in 2015!).

Well it isn't going to be.

SKB wrote:
(Trailspotter) 9th June 2020

Royal Air Force Airbus KC2 Voyager (A330-243MRTT) ZZ336 arriving at Cambridge for respray on June 9, 2020 at 14:55 UTC.
The VIP-configured Voyager for the use of senior government officials and members of the Royal Family is the Britain's equivalent of Air Force One. The aircraft retains the Royal Air Force livery and continues its primary military duties when not in use by the government.

I think the VVIP A330 should be transferred to 32 Squadron. And repainted in these colours, which I prepared earlier (in 2015!).

A330 Ideas.PNG

Not brash enough, more Union Jack. Britannia needed on top. And a glamour model painted on the side. And teeth. And a skull.

BA had the good foresight, in their quest to paint something else onto the tails
- or was it the Qataris who told them to (not quite sure of the time order between our flag carrier taking 'the flag off' and the Qataris amassing their stake

RunningStrong wrote:

SKB wrote:
(Trailspotter) 9th June 2020

Royal Air Force Airbus KC2 Voyager (A330-243MRTT) ZZ336 arriving at Cambridge for respray on June 9, 2020 at 14:55 UTC.
The VIP-configured Voyager for the use of senior government officials and members of the Royal Family is the Britain's equivalent of Air Force One. The aircraft retains the Royal Air Force livery and continues its primary military duties when not in use by the government.

I think the VVIP A330 should be transferred to 32 Squadron. And repainted in these colours, which I prepared earlier (in 2015!).

A330 Ideas.PNG

Not brash enough, more Union Jack. Britannia needed on top. And a glamour model painted on the side. And teeth. And a skull.

Pictures of Piers Morgan & Simon Cowell on either side. That would scare the pants off anyone.

we could call it the British "Vomit comet" with those two painted on it !!!

Bloody Facebook posts for the Scotsman & Telegraph are going mental over this. So many bloody sheep depresses me how many folk won't look into the real story, believe the click bait & have such a hatred of all things forces related.

Why not just paint some big F.O. Roundels on it and some R/W/B Flashes (or Union Flags) on the Tail!

I'd be quite happy if it ended up looking something like this.



Though I wouldn't be keen on paying £900,000.

Based on a Red Arrows Hawk jet.

Pseudo wrote:I'd be quite happy if it ended up looking something like this.



Though I wouldn't be keen on it costing £900,000.

How much of that 900k would have to be spent anyway on repainting in its current colors?

BTW, 900k isn't exactly a lot of money these days.

SKB wrote:

That's horrible.

SKB wrote:

Oh, my god. My eyes!

Horrible. Literally looks like a budget airline.

Ron5 wrote:How much of that 900k would have to be spent anyway on repainting in its current colors?

The highest estimates I've seen for painting an A330 are around £200k-£250k. Though I haven't seen anything definitive.

BTW, 900k isn't exactly a lot of money these days.

It's a lot of money to me. And frankly, the design I posted isn't particularly complicated so I'd hope that it would cost a fair bit less that £900K to apply.

I wonder how much of it (if any) is covered under the AirTanker contract. I'd have thought that regular repainting as part of scheduled maintenance would be included in the contract.

£900k just sounds an awful lot compared to £200k-£250k that's the highest figures I've seen bandied around. Though I suspect that some of that will be a one off payment for the design work, so repainting it in the same colour scheme won't be as costly in the future.

^ P&O's MV Britannia, possibly the ugliest rebrand in history from its new foreign owners.
This is how NOT to rebrand!

SKB wrote:MV Britannia, possibly the ugliest rebrand i

Would take me half a day to walk from the bow to the stern, and i hope there are lifts to get upstairs too.
Besides that floating bug carrier.

Double post.

£900,000 is chicken feed, it only amounts to a few laps of Captain Tom Moore's back garden.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Tom

First glimpse of the repainted VVIP Voyager:

First glimpse of the repainted VVIP Voyager: