Vickers VC10

The Vickers VC10 is a long-range British airliner designed and built by Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd, and first flown at Brooklands, Surrey, in 1962. The airliner was designed to operate on long-distance routes with a high subsonic speed and also be capable of hot and high operations from African airports. The initial concept of the VC10 was to provide a jet-powered airliner that could comfortably make use of the shorter runways commonly in use at the time. The performance of the VC10 was such that it achieved the fastest crossing of the Atlantic (London to New York) by a jet airliner, a record still held to date for a sub-sonic airliner; only the supersonic Concorde was faster. The 50th anniversary of the first flight of the prototype VC10, G-ARTA, was celebrated with a special 'VC10 Retrospective' Symposium and the official opening of a new VC10 exhibition at Brooklands Museum on 29 June 2012.

The VC10 is often compared to the larger Soviet Ilyushin Il-62, both aircraft having a rear-engined quad layout, the two types being the only airliners with such a configuration. As of July 2012 8 VC10s remain in service as aerial refuelling aircraft with the Royal Air Force but the type will be retired in March 2013.