The British built Vickers VC10 and Super VC10 are my favourite aircraft hands down. There is something about the engines being placed at the rear along with the elegant styling that appeals to me. British Pathé have a lot of their old newsreel films on YouTube and here is one about the VC10. It features a proving flight between London and New York, then a short flight to Boston for the travel trade. The video is around 4 minutes duration and it is worth a peek.
Vickers VC10 Film
The cabin shots of both First Class and Economy Class are notable – no lie flat seats here! Look out for the rear bulkhead in Economy Class which features prints of 16th century London. The film includes glimpses of the on board service in both classes which is fun for comparison to today. There is a special mention about the aerobridge which you will enjoy. Plus there is a lot of air to air footage and cockpit shots for the aviation geeks among us!
The aircraft looks fantastic in the navy blue and gold BOAC livery of the 1960s which only adds to its appeal for me. Sadly the Vickers VC10 was never a sales success with only 54 examples produced and it retired from airline service in 1981. Despite this, the aircraft continued to serve with the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom in the role of refueling tanker and transport aircraft. The last example retired in 2013 and by then some of the aircraft had been flying for over 45 years. Quite noteworthy!
Overall Thoughts
There is an entire collection of British Pathé films on YouTube that cover the early part of the 20th century. From time to time I will feature the odd one here for your viewing pleasure, so keep an eye out for them. I hope you enjoyed the film and if you have any comments please leave them below.
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I was very lucky to have been a passenger on BOAC Super VC-10’s in the 60’s. They used to fly to South America. It was so quiet inside and I loved the dark blue with gold colour scheme. Since then I measure all planes to that beautifully designed plane.
That sounds like an excellent experience indeed. I wish I had the opportunity to fly in one – I heard they were very quiet inside. Thanks for the comment!
Flew LHR to Colombo then Hong Kong on this, the most beautiful airliner ever to reach the skies.
I agree with you, it really can’t be beat in looks for the most part!
I flew from New Delhi to Teheran in a VC-10 in 1966. Went right over Mt Everest and got the cockpit tour from the Captain. I was 10 years old. Climbed out fast and steep. Great plane.
That is a great memory to have, especially getting to go into the cockpit. It would have been pretty much a brand new aircraft at that time. Exciting! Thanks for sharing that!
I hope your sense of geography has improved since 1966, Everest is almost 700 miles due East of New Delhi, so not possible to overfly the mountain on a flight from Dehli to Tehran. Maybe you meant K2, but that would still be a detour.
Hello all, my first ever trip on an airliner was from London to Abu Dhabi in 1978 on a British Airways Super VC-10 when I was 7 years of age. Naturally I can’t remember much aside from it was exciting and the cabin was very cold. My mother told me later that my brother and I “befriended” the pop group The Vapours who were onboard. It is a shame I have little memory of the journey, but I do feel incredibly lucky to have travelled on such an iconic aircraft.
That is wonderful that you managed to fly on the Super VC10, even if you were just 7 years old. A shame you don’t have much of a memory of it, apart from the coldness. Still, very cool indeed that you flew on one, and as your first flight too! Awesome! Thanks for the comment!
I flew VC-10’s between BGI and LHR starting in 1973. I remember it was quiet because the engine location on the tail. It was so exciting and this aircraft had a certain elegance.
Oh I would have loved that! It’s nice to hear it was quiet – I’d love to be able to have experienced that!
I recall vaguely watching a BOAC VC10’s perform a touch and go at Prestwick on one occasion between September 73 and June 76. I wish we had digital cameras back then for it was an awesome sight. I presume this practice preceded flight simulators.
Yes, I think that was part of the training programme before full motion flight simulators with full visuals and so on were common. I would have loved to see something like that myself! Would have been an awesome sight!
I flew the VC-10 in 1970 when my first scheduled flight on a B747 was scrubbed by an equipment problem.
You’re very lucky indeed! How was it?