The maximum range of the aircraft was
5,275nm (9,765km), insufficient to y from
London to Rio de Janeiro direct, so ights
were routed initially via Lisbon then the stop
was changed to Las Palmas in the Canary
Islands and then switched to Casablanca
(for a period both
Lisbon and the
Moroccan city were
used). A stop was
also necessary in
Recife. Because the
service was operated
in conjunction with
Varig, the Brazilian
ag carrier, traffic
rights were held for
all sectors, thus the
costs of what were
basically technical
stops were offset by
passenger revenue.
Las Palmas was
already served by
BCal and was latterly
utilised as part of the
African west coast routing.
By 1971 the integration was complete,
and the airline formally became British
Caledonian Airways on September 1. Soon
after this, rumours of a eet renewal,
which included the replacement of the
VC10s, began to circulate. However, they
continued to operate on the South Americanservices until November 1972, when they
were replaced by Boeing 707s. The three
remaining VC10s – one had been written off
in a landing accident – continued to operate
on the African services.
In 1973, the company chairman Adam
Thompson
announced the
VC10s would be
sold – if there were
suitable offers –
otherwise they
would continue to
operate on speci c
routes until their
book value had
been written down
to zero. This plan
was changed by
world events: the
1973 Arab-Israeli
War brought about a
global oil crisis and
the price of a barrel
of oil quadrupled.
The VC10, not
known for its frugal fuel consumption, was
thus doomed and by the end of 1974 all
three aircraft had left the eet.GROUNDBREAKING
Although the jet engine was quite mature
by the1970s, its reliability was not nearly
as good as it is today. Given the type of‘During a fl ight
between Buenos
Aires and Santiago,
the aircraft was
thrown up and onto
its side at a bank
angle of more than
90° and then forced
nose down’
40 Aviation News incorporating Jets September 2018
Top: British Caledonian took over
British United Airways and for a
brief period the company traded
under the Caledonian/BUA banner as
illustrated by VC10, G-ARTA, wearing
the titles of both carriers. Bob
O’Brien Collection
Above: Four VC10s were operated by
British Caledonian, all of which were
named after lochs. AirTeamImages.
com/Carl Ford