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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