Aeroplane September 2017

ABOVE:

The cover of

BAC’s March 1965

study of different

double-deck VC10

confi gurations,

showing the various

arrangements of the

RB178 engines.

AEROPLANE SEPTEMBER 2017 http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com 43

W

ould the much-loved,

if little-sold, VC10

have been twice as

popular if its capacity

had been doubled? That was the

question British Aircraft Corporation

engineers were asking themselves half

a century ago as they sought ways of

competing with the enlarged versions

of American jets that were then being

envisaged.

The favoured solution was to create

a double-decker by effectively placing

one VC10 fuselage on top of another.

Such an aircraft could have been in

service with the British Overseas

Airways Corporation in the late

1960s or early ’70s.

Consideration of larger variants

of the VC10 came early in the

programme. This led initially to the

Super VC10, with passenger capacity

raised by 15 per cent compared with

the original. And despite BOAC’s

all-too-obvious lack of enthusiasm

for the VC10, BAC continued to look

at ways of extending its appeal at a

time when Boeing and Douglas were

releasing details of their projected

250-seat airliners, the 707-820 and

the DC-8-61 and -63.

BOAC said it would probably

need fi ve or six such aircraft by

DOUBLE-DECK VC10

BRITISH AIRLINERS: PROJECT CANCELLED

BRITISH AIRLINERS:

PROJECT CANCELLED

With proposals for a double-deck VC10, the British Aircraft Corporation

was some way ahead of its time WORDS: BRUCE HALES-DUTTON

A DOUBLE

DOSE of

VC-TENDERNESS

38-47_AM_VICKERS_Sept17_cc C.indd 43 31/07/2017 13:28