Editing Vickers VC10 (section)

{{Short description|British narrow-body airliner}}
{{Redirect|VC10}}
{{Distinguish|McDonnell Douglas DC-10}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox aircraft
  |name = Vickers VC10
  |image = File:RAF Vickers VC10 K3 over the North Sea Lofting.jpg
  |caption = A [[Royal Air Force]] VC10 K.3 tanker over the North Sea in 2000.
  |type = [[Narrow-body aircraft|Narrow-body]] [[jet airliner]] and [[aerial refueling]] tanker
  |manufacturer = [[Vickers-Armstrongs]]
  |national_origin = United Kingdom
  |designer =  
  |first_flight = 29 June 1962
  |introduction = [[BOAC]], 29 April 1964
  |retired = [[Royal Air Force]], 20 September 2013
  |status = Retired
  |primary_user = [[BOAC]]
  |more_users = [[East African Airways]]<br />[[Ghana Airways]]<br />[[Royal Air Force]]
  |produced = 1962–1970
  |number_built = 54
  |variants =
}}

The ''' Vickers VC10''' is a retired mid-sized, [[narrow-body]] long-range British [[jet airliner]] designed and built by [[Vickers-Armstrongs|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 [[Lockheed JetStar]] [[business jet]] also has this engine arrangement. 

The VC10 was designed to operate on long-distance routes from the shorter runways of the era and commanded excellent [[hot and high]] performance for operations from African airports. The performance of the VC10 was such that it achieved the fastest crossing of the Atlantic by a subsonic jet airliner of 5 hours and 1 minute, a record that was held for 41 years, until February 2020 when a British Airways [[Boeing 747]] broke the record at 4 hours 56 minutes due to [[Storm Ciara]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vc10.net/Memories/testing_earlydays.html#AtlanticDash|title=Testing and early days|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150914022939/http://www.vc10.net/Memories/testing_earlydays.html#AtlanticDash|archive-date=14 September 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.forces.net/news/tri-service/vc10-rafs-record-breaking-airliner|title=VC10: The RAF's Record Breaking 'Airliner'|website=forces.net|date=25 July 2016 |access-date=4 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180123164157/https://www.forces.net/news/tri-service/vc10-rafs-record-breaking-airliner|archive-date=23 January 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Storm helps plane beat transatlantic flight record |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-51433720 |access-date=9 February 2020 |work=BBC News |date=9 February 2020}}</ref> Only the [[supersonic]] [[Concorde]] was faster at 2 hours, 52 minutes, 59 seconds. Although only a relatively small number of VC10s were built, they provided long service with [[BOAC]] and other airlines from the 1960s to 1981.

The VC10 was also used from 1965 as strategic air transports for the [[Royal Air Force]], and ex-passenger models and others were used as [[aerial refuelling]] aircraft. 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. The type was retired from RAF service on 20 September 2013.<ref name=BBC24165590/> It has been succeeded in the aerial refuelling role by the [[Airbus A330 MRTT|Airbus Voyager]]. VC10 K.3 ZA147 performed the final flight of the type on 25 September 2013.