The story of Vickers VC-10:

Vickers VC-10 - just 54 built, 32 VC-10s + 22 Super VC-10s, all powered by Rolls Royce engines. (Vickers later became part of British Aircraft Corp.).

Royal Air Force VC-10 RR Conway 43 mk 550 turbofans. (Foto ©: Petr Liška)

It was commercially unsuccessful mainly due its late entry onto market.
Direct competitors: Boeing 707: 1.013 built (764 B707s, 154 shorter B720s, 95 B707AWACS. Apart of these, 820 C-135 / KC-135 military variants were produced).
Douglas DC-8: all variants 556 built.
Slightly smaller Convair 880 & 990: 102 built.
Soviet IL-62 with almost the same shapes as VC-10 was built min. 285 pieces.


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Just 9 VC-10s remain in service with Royal Air Force as the last operator.
Scheduled withdrawal from service 2013.
28 VC-10s were scrapped, 5 written off, 12 are stored/mostly preserved as exhibits.
First flight 29th June 1962.
Largest operator was B.O.A.C. (later British Airways).
Other operators almost solely from UK and British Commonwealth nations:
BUA (later British Caledonian), Laker AW
East African AW, Ghana AW, Nigeria AW, Air Malawi,
Air Ceylon, Gulf Air (Bahrain), Middle East Airlines (Lebanon),
Governments of Oman, Qatar and of United Arab Emirates - one aircraft each,
Royal Aircraft Establishment - one VC-10.
Rolls Royce leased one aircraft as a test-bed of its RB-211 engine developed for Lockheed TriStar (first fl. with one RB-211 mounted instead of two original engines: 6th Mar 1970).
Royal Air Force ordered planes directly from the manufacturer when BOAC cutted the original order.


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on left: VC-10 C1K Royal Air Force PRG-2012-03-24. (Foto ©: Petr Liška)
on right: VC-10 C1K nose. (Foto ©: Petr Liška)


on left: Royal Air Force VC-10. (Foto ©: Petr Liška)
on right: in-flight refuelling pod. (Foto ©: Petr Liška)


on left: refuelling pods+eng.+flaps. (Foto ©: Petr Liška)
on right: VC-10 from behind. (Foto ©: Petr Liška)


RAF VC-10 C+K PRG 2012-03-24. (Foto ©: Petr Liška)

on left: standing position unfavorable for spotters.... (Foto ©: Petr Liška)
on right: standing position unfavorable for spotters.... (Foto ©: Petr Liška)


XV 106 was built as VC-10-1106/C.1, first flight on 17th Nov 1967.
Ordered by & operated by ROYAL AIR FORCE, delivered on 1st Dec 1967.
Name "Thomas Mottershead VC" is in small letters by front port side door only.
(Sergeant Thomas Mottershead of Royal Flying Corps was a brave WWI pilot landing with its aircraft in flames behind own lines, thus saving the life of his observer. He died of wounds - honoured by Victoria Cross = VC).
XV 106 with spare parts for ill-fated TriStar arrived PRG Mar 24th, 2012 and then departed onto its planned destination at Akrotiri UK Sovereign Base (on Cyprus).

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Author — Petr Liška — (March 2012)

 

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