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BRITISH AIRLINERS: PROJECT CANCELLED

BRITISH AIRLINERS:

PROJECT CANCELLED

38 http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE SEPTEMBER 2017

VICKERS VC11

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VICKERS VC11

The VC11 or

Type 1400 was the

last, now forgotten,

commercial transport

from the great Vickers company before

it was merged out of existence WORDS: RICHARD PAYNE

A three-view

arrangement of

a tri-jet Vickers

Vanjet concept,

one of several

proposals put out

under that name.

up to

W

hen British European

Airways put forward

a requirement for a

new jetliner in July

1956, the airline hoped it would be

met by a Vickers project, having

been so impressed by the company’s

Viscount. For Vickers it was a way

of continuing aircraft design and

production at the Weybridge factory,

and one of the cornerstones of the

government-led reorganisation of the

British aircraft industry that began at

the end of the 1950s.

Vickers had already looked at

various designs for developments of

the Viscount, a process that led to

the Vanguard when BEA felt it only

required turboprops for its medium-

range routes. However, the success of

the Rolls-Royce Avon jet-powered

Sud-Est Caravelle and its purchase by

a number of major European airlines

negated this thinking. Suddenly BEA

needed a jet transport, and urgently.

38-47_AM_VICKERS_Sept17_cc C.indd 38 31/07/2017 13:27