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VC10 Origins - Vickers & B.A.C.

The Vickers name is one that is well known in aviation. As far back as 1919 Vickers was already famous for the first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic Ocean when Alcock and Brown flew their converted Vickers Vimy bomber from Newfoundland to a crash landing in an Irish bog. It started earlier though. Vickers Ltd. was known as a shipbuilder, but early in the 20th century they became involved in aviation, as early as 1908 the Admiralty ordered the R.1 airship from Vickers. A few years later Vickers was building a French monoplane design under license, but in 1913 their first design, the F.B.I. flew. At that point they had already opened the Vickers Flying School at Brooklands. After this many highlights followed:

Eighty years of Aircraft Manufacture at Weybridge

Reproduction of a painting by Simon Sturgess

The formation of B.A.C. was not the only merger in the British Aviation community, and it would not be the last. A year before DeHavilland had been forced to merge with Hawker Siddeley, creating another large firm. In 1966 the government proposed the nationalization of B.A.C. and Hawker Siddeley Aviation which would have meant a monopoly on the British Aerospace market. At that point cooperation was already the buzz word in the business as both the Concorde, in which B.A.C. had a 50% share, and the Jaguar, a product jointly developed by B.A.C. and Breguet under the SEPECAT name, were shown to the public. In 1969 the British technology minister made the announcement that Britain had pulled out of the European Airbus program, he had been advised that the aircraft would not sell. Hawker Siddeley was thinking about funding a private share in the project. This they did, and therefore Britain was still a partner when the A300 first rolled out of the hangar in 1972. By the time the next Airbus project took to the air the government had regained its sensibility and once again put its name on the list of contributors, through this act involving B.A.C. again. In 1974 the next project came to fruition with the first flight of the Panavia Tornado from Manching (West Germany) in the hands of B.A.C. chief test pilot Paul Millet. This time the team was comprised of B.A.C. with MBB in Germany and Aeritalia in Italy. In 1977 the B.A.C. name disappeared again as the Labour government's Aircraft and Shipbuilding act formed British Aerospace out of B.A.C., Hawker Siddeley Aviation, Hawker Siddeley Dynamics and Scottish Aviation. This nationalized company was instantly the largest aerospace company in Europe, with key stakes in all the major joint European projects.

As the VC10 emerged just when Vickers became a part of B.A.C. the airplane is sometimes listed as the B.A.C. VC10, but in my view it is more fitting to pay tribute to the design office at Weybridge, which was still completely a part of Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd. when it designed the VC10. Because of this I will refer to the aircraft as the Vickers VC10 in these pages.

A Selection of Vickers and B.A.C. Aircraft

Not all of the Vickers or B.A.C. designed aircraft are shown here but I have tried to give an impression of the different Vickers designs through the 20th century. More information on these aircraft can often be found on the internet, look on my links page for addresses.

Vickers F.B.27 Vimy Built as a bomber for the RAF, the Vimy became known for its record breaking flights: First non-stop North Atlantic crossing, England to Australia and England to South Africa. Pictured here is the Vimy reproduction that is re-enacting aviation history by retracing the routes of these flights.
Vickers Supermarine S.6B When Vickers acquired Supermarine, this successful British Schneider Cup design was part of the deal, but in the memory of many it will probably remain the Supermarine S.6B that won the Schneider Trophy for good. (Apologies for the wingtip that's in the way, I hope that the fact that it's from a Vickers Vimy - of Alcock and Brown fame - makes up for the inconvenience.)
Vickers Wellington Built to specification B9/32 the Wellington was Britain's main heavy bomber at the outbreak of WW II. Only two survive with R for Robert pictured here in the Brooklands Museum. Photo Cliff Knox / Brooklands Museum
Vickers Supermarine Spitfire Mk.9 Although widely known as the Supermarine Spitfire, R.J. Mitchell's design is officially a Vickers product as Supermarine had been a part of Vickers for 8 years when the Spitfire first flew in 1936.
Vickers VC1/V.498 Viking 1A Created by mating the wings of the Wellington with a newly designed fuselage, the Viking was the first British airliner to fly after WW II. The photo shows G-AGRU under restoration at the Brooklands Museum. The second photo was taken in July 2002 and shows the newly polished fuselage of G-AGRU. This particular Viking has an interesting history, click here to read more about The Vikings of Soesterberg
Vickers V.668 Varsity T1 The Varsity is essentially a Viking (or rather its military equivalent the Valetta) with a tricycle undercarriage and an underfuselage pannier that holds a bomb aimers position and a small bomb bay. The type was used exclusively for training bomb aimers, radio operators and navigators in the RAF.
Vickers Valiant B(K)1 The Valiant was the first of the V-bombers. Designed as an 'all-electric' aeroplane it suffered from fatigue problems when relegated to low level bombing and was withdrawn from service. Only one complete example remains at the RAF Museum Hendon. The photo shows the nose section of XD816 at the Brooklands Museum.
Vickers VC2/V.806 Viscount The post-war success of Vickers was the Viscount. The first turboprop airliner was a major success and some still fly today.
Vickers VC9/V.953 Vanguard / Merchantman Designed as a larger successor to the Viscount the Vanguard never came close to its predecessor's success. Just 44 were built, and the only surviving example is seen here at the Brooklands Museum.
Vickers VC10 / Super VC10 The largest airliner built solely in the UK. For more info: stay on this site.
B.A.C. One-Eleven 475 The B.A.C. 1-11 was originally designed by Hunting Aircraft as the H.107, but after the amalgamation of the British aviation industry it became a B.A.C. product.
B.A.C. TSR-2 The still-born low-level strike aircraft that would have made a great addition to the RAF had the government not decided against the development of manned aircraft, which limited the program. In 1965 it was canceled outright. The TSR-2 was built at Brooklands.
B.A.C./Aerospatiale Concorde Developed jointly, the Concorde is a complete technical success, even though its economics were flawed. Large sections of the aircraft have been designed and built at Brooklands.

All photos J. Hieminga except where noted

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