Editing Vickers VC10 (section)

===Concept===
{{Stack|[[File:Vickers VC10 from the rear arp.jpg|thumb|VC10 from the rear, showing the position of its four engines]]
[[File:Vc10.tail.arp.jpg|thumb|The [[T-tail]] of a VC10]]}}
Though BOAC had ordered modified Comet 4s, it viewed the type as an intermediate rather than a long term type. In 1956, BOAC ordered 15 [[Boeing 707]]s. These were oversized and underpowered for BOAC's medium-range Empire (MRE) African and Asian routes, which involved destinations with "[[hot and high]]" airports that reduced aircraft performance, notably between [[Karachi]] and Singapore, and could not lift a full load from high-altitude airports like [[Kano, Nigeria|Kano]] or [[Nairobi]]. Several companies proposed a suitable replacement. [[De Havilland]] offered the [[de Havilland DH.118|DH.118]], a development of the Comet 5 project while [[Handley Page]] proposed the [[Victor B(SR).2|HP.97]], based on their V bomber, the [[Handley Page Victor|Victor]]. After carefully considering the routes, Vickers offered the VC10.<ref name="Harrison 494">Harrison 1965, p. 494.</ref> Crucially, Vickers was the only firm willing to launch its design as a private venture, instead of relying on government financing.<ref>Hayward 1983, pp. 24–25.</ref>

The VC10 was a new design but used some production ideas and techniques, as well as the [[Conway engines]], developed for the [[Vickers V-1000|V.1000]] and VC7. It had a generous wing equipped with wide [[Chord (aircraft)|chord]] [[Fowler flap]]s and full span [[leading edge slats]] for good take-off and climb performance; its rear engines gave an efficient clean wing and reduced cabin noise.<ref>Walker and Henderson 1998, pp. 18–18, 40, 49.</ref> The engines were also further from the runway surface than an underwing design, an important factor in operations from rough runways such as those common in Africa; wide, low-pressure tyres were also adopted with this same concern in mind.<ref>Harrison 1965, pp. 495–498.</ref> The VC10 was capable of landing and taking off at lower speeds than the rival 707 and its engines could produce considerably more thrust, providing good 'hot and high' performance, and was considered to be a safer aircraft.<ref>Walker and Henderson 1998, pp. 9–45.</ref>

The onboard avionics and flight-deck technology were extremely advanced, a quadruplicated automatic flight control system (a "super autopilot") was intended to enable fully automatic zero-visibility landings (though the autoland system did not work smoothly and finally was removed from the Super VC10s.).<ref>Walker and Henderson 1998, pp. 18, 26–27.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vc10.net/Technical/Autoland.html|title=Autoland on the VC10|website=www.vc10.net}}</ref> Capacity was up to 135 passengers in a two-class configuration. Vickers designer Sir [[George Edwards (aviation)|George Edwards]] is said to have stated that this plane was the sole viable option unless he were to reinvent the 707 and, despite misgivings on operating cost, BOAC ordered 25 aircraft. Vickers calculated that it would need to sell 80 VC10s at about £1.75 million each to break even so, apart from BOAC's 25, another 55 remained to be sold. Vickers offered a smaller version, the VC11, to [[British European Airways|BEA]] for routes like those to [[Athens]] and [[Beirut]] but this was rejected in favour of the [[Hawker Siddeley Trident]].

The aircraft featured Powered Flight Control Units an early type of [[electro-hydraulic actuator]]; these were produced by [[Boulton Paul]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.vc10.net/Technical/hydraulics.html | title=Hydraulics }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1201736 | title=Vickers Armstrong (Aircraft) LTD: VC 10; powered flight control units by Boulton Paul }}</ref>