I flew both the VC10 and the 707 as a line pilot and as an instructor. I thought the VC10 was the more stable of the two, it had very powerful controls and was a very steady instrument platform. It felt solid and predictable. The controls were powered by electrically driven PCUs with artificial feel that I thought gave heavier control forces than were strictly necessary.
The 707 had a very clever manual tab system system for the ailerons and elevators with hydraulic boost for the rudder. It was the more sensitive of the two, you could feel the aircraft better and it was the more satisfying one to fly. Whereas the VC10 was more forgiving when mishandled, the 707 certainly told you when you didn't do it right.
On both types, I took great pleasure in flying them with the minimum of control movements - it not only produced a smoother ride but was marginally more economical (every control movement slightly increases drag), while this may not have been measurable, it certainly gave me greater satisfaction. As Dave Gittins quoted in his post 31, John Farley said, "Over-control is a common problem with learning to fly, almost regardless of the task but with experience we get better at relaxing, better at trimming, better at letting it fly itself for a bit and then coaxing it back to the desired state. In fact better at becoming a low gain (relaxed) pilot rather than being a high gain (overactive) one. Airplanes take time to respond and it is a waste of time to oscillate controls.”
I was a great believer in trimming correctly, not only did it let the aircraft fly itself but it saved a lot of effort and gave one more time to think.
I once flew with a co-pilot to whom I gave the sector into Istanbul. It was a calm day yet his control inputs became larger, faster and more furious the closer we came to the ground. After the landing, I said to him, 'Just hold the controls lightly and feel what I do'. I than waggled them as furiously as he had done on the approach and landing. He was completely oblivious to what he had been doing and he didn't believe me. It was only when the flight engineer confirmed that what I had shown him was indeed correct that he sort of believed me, but I don't think he was convinced. I told him it was fortunate his inputs were so fast that the aircraft had had no time to respond to each one but that the average of his inputs was about right and so it had flown roughly where he wanted!
Although he had many hours on type, he had a distintly below average record.
We then talked about being self-aware, to think about his control movements and to take time to trim accurately. It would make his life much easier!