Originally Posted by
DaveReidUK
You could equally argue that it performed its intended mission (medium/long-haul from short runways) admirably.
Sadly, it was a role that was virtually non-existent by the time it entered service.
Yes, it's hard to justify a specification that was forced on to Vickers primarily by, I think it's not unfair to say, a state airline that did not need to make money (and,
AFAIK, never did). But what emerged was one of the most elegant aircraft ever built - all be it a less profitable one.
In the 1960s, of the two independent airlines that later constituted BCAL, Freddie Laker's BUA embraced the VC10-combi, whereas Caledonian's Adam Thomson, a canny Scot, chose the B707-320C.
The performance requirement Dave omits above is the VC10's superior WAT performance at high-altitude airfields, as previously discussed. On an average day, BUA/BCAL's (Standard) Type 1103 could offer an RTOW of about 141T (tonnes) out of Nairobi's very long runway, using Flaps 14, whereas the 707-320B/C was limited to about 129T. The VC10's 12-tonne advantage was partially eroded by its higher APS weight (around 5 tonnes, if memory serves) and its higher fuel flows for a given all-up weight. But, whereas BUA/BCAL's VC10s were able to carry nearly a full, mixed-class pax load direct to London, its 707s could not carry a similar load until around 1976, when over-boosting the JT3Ds and an increased V2 were permitted to increase the RTOW to about 135T.
Originally Posted by
VictorGolf
At least the engines didn't fall off like the early 707s and as mentioned in an earlier post it did eventually make money on the North Atlantic apparently.
Fewer than sixty VC10s were built. Admittedly, lessons would have been learned from the Comet and the early 707s and DC-8s (not to mention the CV-880/990). But vast improvements were made to both those types - particularly the 707 - between the sixtieth hull and the models against which the VC10 had to compete when it entered service in 1964. And, in terms of systems architecture, the VC10 was a mature package from the start, with better warning/indication systems and redundancy to the 707 in most respects.