The Vickers VC10 is a 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 business jet Lockheed JetStar also has this engine arrangement.

The 50th anniversary of the first flight of the prototype VC10, G-ARTA, was celebrated with a "VC10 Retrospective" Symposium and the official opening of a VC10 exhibition at Brooklands Museum on 29 June 2012.

In 1943, the Brabazon Committee introduced command economy-style principles into the industry, specifying a number of different types of airliners that would be required for the post-war years, though it assumed that US dominance in transport aircraft would translate into leadership in long-range airliners and conceded in principle that the industry might have to cede the long-range market to US makers.

During the 1950s, the government required the aviation industry to consolidate: in consequence only two engine makers were left by 1959: Rolls-Royce and Bristol Siddeley.

In 1951, the Ministry of Supply asked Vickers-Armstrongs to consider a military troop/freight development of the Valiant V bomber with trans-Atlantic range as a successor to the de Havilland Comet.

[7] Vickers and the Ministry of Supply hoped that BOAC would still be interested in the VC7 but they were reluctant to support the production of another British aircraft following delays in the Britannia programme and the crashes involving the de Havilland Comet.

[12] The VC10 was capable of landing and taking off at lower speeds than the rival 707 and its engines could produce considerably more thrust, providing good 'hot and high' performance, and was considered to be a safer aircraft.

Vickers designer Sir George Edwards is said to have stated that this plane was the sole viable option unless he were to reinvent the 707 and, despite misgivings on operating cost, BOAC ordered 25 aircraft.

Vickers offered a smaller version, the VC11, to BEA for routes like those to Athens and Beirut but this was rejected in favour of the Hawker Siddeley Trident.

The aircraft featured Powered Flight Control Units an early type of electro-hydraulic actuator; these were produced by Boulton Paul.

[21] The whole project looked to be facing cancellation prior to government intervention, supporting Vickers with an order for Super 200s being placed on 23 June 1960.

[24][25] BOAC chairman Gerard d'Erlanger and managing director Sir Basil Smallpeice resigned, defending the opinion that the airline was a profit-making company, not a sponsor of indigenous aircraft.

Although the Super was ostensibly a minor development of the Standard with an extra fuel-tank in the fin, testing was prolonged by the need to move each engine pair 11 in (27 cm) outboard as well as up and giving them a 3-degree twist.

Later VC10 developments included the testing of a large main-deck freight-door and fitting new wing leading edges featuring a part-drooped, four-per-cent chord extension over the inboard two-thirds and a drooped, extended-chord wing-tip that allowed more economical high-altitude flying.

Efforts focused on getting a BOAC order for a 250-seat "VC10 Superb", a move away from the VC10's initial MRE role into the area targeted by the DC-8 Super Sixties.

The VC10 became an immensely popular aircraft in the BOAC fleet with both passengers and crew, being particularly praised for its comfort and low cabin-noise level.

[31][32] Operational experience soon resulted in the deletion of the inboard thrust-reversers due to continued tailplane buffeting despite the engine repositioning.

[33] Ghana Airways leased one aircraft to Tayaran Assharq Alawsat (Middle East Airlines; MEA), destroyed at Beirut during an Israeli raid in December 1968.

[35] When BOAC ceased VC10 operations to South America, BUA took them over, purchasing Ghana Airways' cancelled third aircraft in July 1965 (Type 1103).

The 707 and Douglas DC-8, with their superior operating economics, encouraged many of the world's smaller airports to extend their runways, thus eliminating the VC10's main advantage.

BOAC's successor British Airways (BA) began retiring their Super VC10s from trans-Atlantic flights in 1974, mainly due to the 1973 oil crisis, and using them to displace standard VC10s.

In 1960, the RAF issued Specification 239 for a strategic transport, which resulted in an order being placed by the Air Ministry with Vickers in September 1961 for five VC10s.

[41] The military version (Type 1106) was a combination of the Standard combi airframe with the more powerful engines and fin fuel tank of the Super VC10.

[48] In 1991, 9 K.2s and K.3s were deployed to bases in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Oman as part of Operation Granby, the UK's contribution to the First Gulf War.

[58] The VC10s allowed Tornado GR.1 fighter-bombers stationed at RAF Bruggen to conduct long-range strike missions against targets inside Serbia.

The VC10s provided air transport missions in support of British and allied forces stationed in Afghanistan fighting against the Taliban, codenamed Operation Veritas.

[56] In the aftermath of the invasion, multiple VC10s were commonly stationed in Iraq; in addition to logistics operations, more than a thousand casualties of the conflict were evacuated to Cyprus by VC10s.

[56] During Operation Ellamy, Britain's contribution to the 2011 military intervention in Libya, a small number of VC10s were dispatched to bases in the Mediterranean and were used to refuel NATO strike aircraft being used in the theatre.

[63] The VC10 and Lockheed TriStar tanker/transports were replaced in RAF service by the Airbus A330 MRTT Voyager under the Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft Project.