Vickers VC10

Vickers-Armstrongs · United Kingdom · first flew 1962 · airliner

The Vickers VC10 was a British four-engined jetliner with all four engines clustered in pairs on the rear fuselage and a tall T-tail, giving an exceptionally clean wing.

Recognition (WEFT)

W — Wings	Low-mounted, swept
E — Engines	4 × turbofan, fuselage-mounted
F — Fuselage	Tall T-tail above the rear fuselage
T — Tail	T-tail

WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.

Spot it by:

Four engines clustered in pairs at the rear
Very clean swept wing with no pods
Tall T-tail above the rear fuselage

The giveaway is the cluster of four engines in two pairs on the rear fuselage, leaving a strikingly clean swept wing with no pods, all beneath a tall T-tail; the Super VC10 has a noticeably longer fuselage.

Specifications

The Vickers VC10 has a length of 48.36 m (159 ft).
It has a wingspan of 44.6 m (146 ft).
Its maximum speed is 890 km/h (553 mph).
Typical crew: 4.

Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.

History

First flown in 1962, the VC10 was designed for BOAC's hot-and-high Empire routes and offered outstanding short-field performance and a famously smooth, quiet cabin. The stretched Super VC10 followed in 1964, though jet airport improvements eroded the rationale for its specialised design.

Variants

The main civil types were the Standard (Type 1101) and the longer Super VC10 (Type 1151), with combi versions for British United Airways and aircraft for East African Airways.

Where you'll see it

BOAC flew Standards and Supers from Heathrow on transatlantic and Empire routes, continuing under British Airways, with the 'Try a little VC-Tenderness' campaign. The RAF used C.1 transports and K.2/K.3/K.4 tankers until 2013; examples are preserved at Brooklands, Duxford, RAF Museum Cosford and Dunsfold.

Related aircraft

AircraftIQ — the aircraft field guide: 4,893 recognition guides, live overhead identification, works offline.