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VickersAirlinerRetired

Vickers VC10 family

The VC10 story, from first flight to lasting reputation

The elegant rear-engined British long-haul jetliner designed for hot-and-high operations and prestige routes.

Vickers VC10 family is a retired airliner by Vickers, first flown in 1962 and introduced in 1964. This canonical Airchive page keeps the family history, specs, variants, operators, and related archive discussion at a single permanent URL.

First flight

1962

Service entry

1964

Seating band

135 to 174

Vickers VC10 family is a retired airliner by Vickers, first flown in 1962 and introduced in 1964, with typical seating for 135 to 174 and range up to 5,850 nautical miles.

The family page acts as the primary unit of record so airline deployment, cabin experience, production history, and representative variants remain legible instead of fragmenting into model-number sprawl.

Range band

5,850 nm

Notable operators

BOAC · Gulf Air · East African Airways

Source stack

  • Manufacturer heritage material
  • type certificate and planning data
  • museum and preservation references

Variants

Representative variants

Manufacturer pageForum hubCompare families

Variant

Super VC10

Super VC10 is the representative branch of the Vickers VC10 family, capturing the stretched branch most associated with BOAC’s mainline use.

Range 3,200 nm · Entry 1965

Specifications

Current public facts

Manufacturer
Vickers
Program history
Class
Airliner
Airchive taxonomy
First flight
1962-06-29
Program history
Service entry
1964-04-29
Operator records
Current status
Retired
Fleet reality
Typical seating
135 to 174
Operator and cabin references
Range band
Up to 5,850 nm
Program literature
Cruise speed
505 kt
Planning data

Archive moments

Human context

The VC10 is remembered as much for its poise on the ramp as for its performance, a long-range jet that always looked fast even when parked.
Passenger memory matters here because airport routine, cabin atmosphere, and route geography are part of the aircraft story rather than side notes.

Timeline

Program milestones

  1. 1962

    First flight

    The VC10 begins flight testing and establishes the public shape of the family.

  2. 1964

    Service entry

    The family enters passenger or executive service and begins building its operating footprint.

  3. Today

    Current role

    The family remains active in service and still shapes fleet, mission, or archive discussions.

Related news

Editorial context

All news
No editorial dispatches are attached to this family yet. The aircraft record is live, and newsroom or archive coverage can be layered onto it later without changing the URL.

Forum threads

Community memory

Family hub