Vintage Quadjet: What Made The Vickers VC10 So Special? (original) (raw)

Updated Oct 30, 2024, 2:31 AM EDT

Unquestionably, the Vickers VC10 is an iconic aircraft and one of the most beautiful designs ever built. Its elegant swept wings and the soaring sweep of its T-tail earned it the title “Queen of the Skies”. The most eye-catching was its four rear-mounted Rolls-Royce Conway turbofan engines, and its roaring take-offs to exotic destinations echoed the bravado and excitement of the swinging sixties.

However, the VC10 never achieved the same commercial success as contemporaries such as the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8. With just 54 units ever built, it fell well short of the 75 required for the program to break even, according to Vickers' original estimations. Yet the VC10 had a long and storied career as both a commercial and military aircraft. So, what made the Vickers VC10 so special?

Hot and high performance

• Maximum speed: 580 mph (930 km/h, 500 kn)
• Cruise speed: 550 mph (890 km/h, 480 kn)
• Range: 5,850 mi (9,410 km, 5,080 NM)
• Service ceiling: 43,000 ft (13,000 m)
• Rate of climb: 1,920 ft/min (9.8 m/s)
• Takeoff distance to 35 ft (11 m): 8,280 ft (2,520 m)
• Landing distance from 50 ft (15 m): 6,380 ft (1,940 m)

The Vickers VC10 came about as the answer to a very specific need. BOAC, the predecessor to British Airways, had ordered 15 Boeing 707s in the late 1950s, which flourished on its transatlantic routes. But the type had a notable weakness: It was too large and underpowered for its medium-to-long-range “Empire routes” to Africa and Asia. These often included destinations like Johannesburg, Nairobi, and Karachi, with ‘hot and high’ airports that significantly reduced aircraft performance.

Photo: Quantillion

Enter the VC10, which was purpose-designed for this mission. Its high lift wings had wide chord Fowler flaps and full-span leading edge slats, maximizing take-off and climb performance from short runways. Its rear engine design enhanced performance, which left an efficient, clean wing. The result was that the VC10 could take off and land at lower speeds and with higher stability than a Boeing 707. And engines that produced considerably more thrust could deliver on the 'hot and high' performance needs.

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Why Was The Vickers VC10 So Successful With Military Operators?

The VC10 was popular with BOAC but went on to be operated almost entirely by the RAF.

Iconic tail and engine layout

Ask any aviation geek about the Vickers VC10, and likely, their first mention will be the rear-mounted quad-jet design. While not unique—the Ilyushin Il-62 also had this layout—it certainly made the VC10 stand out in a world of wing-mounted quad-jets. The reasoning behind the design was that mounting the engines on the aft fuselage kept them further away from the runway, a critical consideration considering the dust and debris from rough runways across Africa and Asia.

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However, this iconic appearance created its own set of challenges. In 1969, a BOAC flight on a climb-out from London Heathrow suffered a major mechanical failure in engine three (starboard-inner). Turbine blades penetrating engine four, positioned right alongside, caused it to catch fire.

Photo: Thomas Becker

The flight returned to Heathrow with just two operational engines and remarkably landed safely while 90,000 pounds over the design limit landing weight. With no injuries and the only other damage being two deflated tires, the incident is a testament to the robust design of the aircraft. However, all VC10 engines had to subsequently be fitted with Kevlar to avoid a repeat of the incident.

A smoother and quieter ride

Something else that made the VC10 special for its time was that it was a far smoother and quieter ride compared to the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8. The rear-mounted engines also meant much less cabin noise, something that was appreciated by passengers on the overnight ‘Empire routes’.

Photo: Brooklands Museum Archives

Of course, things were not quite the same outside the cabin. With four Rolls-Royce Conways howling at takeoff, the VC10 was infamous as one of the loudest aircraft ever built. It only escaped greater attention for its noise pollution because it shared the same airspace with the filthy-loud Concorde.

Fastest subsonic airliner

Another thing that the VC10 shared with Concorde was a need for speed. While the latter is renowned for being the fastest commercial aircraft to fly, until recently, the VC10 held the record as the fastest subsonic commercial aircraft.

In 1979, a British Airways VC10 set a new record for a subsonic transatlantic crossing, flying between New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Glasgow Prestwick Airport (PIK) in just five hours and one minute.

British Airways began retiring the VC10 from service in 1974, largely due to the 1973 Oil Crisis. While some were leased to other airlines, ultimately, the VC10 served just ten different carriers in a relatively limited lifespan in commercial service:

• BOAC/British Airways (1964-81)
• British United Airways / British Caledonian (1964-74)
• Ghana Airways (1964-80)
• Nigeria Airways (1964-69)
• Sierra Leone Airways (1964)
• East African Airways (1966-77)
• Middle East Airlines (1967-69)
• Gulf Air (1974-78)
• Air Malawi (1974-79)
• Air Ceylon (1977-78)

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For decades, a VC-10 held the record for the fastest sub-sonic Atlantic crossing.

A storied military career

But even as its life as a commercial aircraft ended, the VC10 had already embarked on a second life as a military aircraft. The Royal Air Force (RAF) had originally purchased 13 VC10s in 1966 as strategic transport aircraft, attracted to those same performance capabilities in tough conditions and short airfields.

Photo: Geoffrey Lee | vc10.net

As the commercial VC10s began retiring, the RAF ultimately picked them up on the cheap as well and, from 1977, was converting them into aerial refueling tankers. These military VC10s saw extensive service in the Falklands War, the First Gulf War, the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The RAF finally retired the VC10 in 2013, nearly 50 years after rolling it off the production line.

Photo: Royal Air Force

Notably, the Vickers VC10 was also utilized by the governments of Oman, Qatar, and the UAE on royal flights. The RAF also maintains VC10s used extensively by the British royal family and prime ministers for overseas trips. The ‘Queen of the Skies’ would ultimately become a firm favorite with her namesake, taking the British sovereign to the farthest-flung corners of the Commonwealth.