15 Facts About Vickers VC10

Vickers VC10 is a mid-sized, narrow-body long-range British jet airliner designed and built by Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd and first flown at Brooklands, Surrey, in 1962.

The performance of the VC10 was such that it achieved the fastest crossing of the Atlantic by a subsonic jet airliner of 5 hours and 1 minute, a record that was held for 41 years, until February 2020 when a British Airways Boeing 747 broke the record at 4 hours 56 minutes due to Storm Ciara.

The Vickers VC10 is often compared to the larger Soviet Ilyushin Il-62, the two types being the only airliners to use a rear-engined quad layout.

In October 1952, Vickers VC10 were contracted to build a prototype which they designated the Type 1000, followed in June 1954 by a production order for six aircraft for the RAF.

Crucially, Vickers VC10 was the only firm willing to launch its design as a private venture, instead of relying on government financing.

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The Vickers VC10 was capable of landing and taking off at lower speeds than the rival 707 and its engines could produce considerably more thrust, providing good 'hot and high' performance, and was considered to be a safer aircraft.

Vickers VC10 offered a smaller version, the VC11, to BEA for routes like those to Athens and Beirut but this was rejected in favour of the Hawker Siddeley Trident.

Vickers VC10 revamped its production plans to try to achieve break-even point with 35 sales at £1.

Later Vickers VC10 developments included the testing of a large main-deck freight-door and fitting new wing leading edges featuring a part-drooped, four-per-cent chord extension over the inboard two-thirds and a drooped, extended-chord wing-tip that allowed more economical high-altitude flying.

The Vickers VC10 would have needed an entirely new double-deck fuselage, which raised emergency escape concerns, and the design failed to attract orders.

The Vickers VC10 became an immensely popular aircraft in the BOAC fleet with both passengers and crew, being particularly praised for its comfort and low cabin-noise level.

One BOAC Super Vickers VC10 was lost during the Dawson's Field hijackings in 1970.

MEA leased the prototype aircraft that Vickers VC10 had kept until 1965, leased from Freddie Laker's charter airline.

Retirement of BA's Super Vickers VC10 fleet began in April 1980 and was completed the following year.

The Vickers VC10 served its intended market for only a decade and a half.