Vickers VC10

what is it?

The Vickers VC10 is a retired mid-sized, narrow-body long-range British jet airliner designed and built by Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd and first flown at Brooklands, Surrey, in 1962. The 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, while the smaller Lockheed JetStar business jet also has this engine arrangement. The VC10 was designed to operate on long-distance routes from the shorter runways of the era and commanded excellent hot and high performance for operations from African airports.

🔎How to recognise it: 4 jet engines · low wing · retractable tricycle gear · 44.6 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 933 km/htop speed
• seats 151passengers
• size 141.5 tmax take-off weight
• built 54made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 64 years ago, in 1962.
• 🏎️Top speed is 7.2× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 44.6 m: about 10 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 24 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🏔️Can fly 1.5× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight

1962-06-29

introduced

1964

retired

2013

status

retired

number built

54

role

narrow-body jet airliner and aerial refueling tanker

origin

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

makers

Vickers-Armstrongs

engines

4× Rolls-Royce Conway RCo 42 / turbofan

crew

4

passengers

151

length

48.4 m

wingspan

44.6 m

height

12 m

max take-off weight

141.5 t

top speed

933 km/h

cruise speed

885 km/h

range

—

ceiling

13,106 m

wings

low wing

landing gear

retractable tricycle gear

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.