| abstract | - The Vickers VC10 is a long-range British airliner designed and built by Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd, and first flown at Brooklands, Surrey, in 1962. The airliner was designed to operate on long-distance routes from the shorter runways of the era, and demanded excellent hot and high performance for operations from African airports. The performance of the VC10 was such that it achieved the fastest London to New York crossing of the Atlantic by a jet airliner, a record still held to date for a sub-sonic airliner; only the supersonic Concorde was faster. Although only a small number of VC-10s were built, they provided long service with BOAC and other airlines from the 1960s to 1981. They were also used from 1965 as strategic air lifters for the Royal Air Force, and ex-passenger models and others were used as aerial refueling aircraft. The type was officially retired by the RAF on 20 September 2013, and the last two VC10 tankers made their final flights on 24 and 25 September. The 50th anniversary of the first flight of the prototype VC10, G-ARTA, was celebrated with a special 'VC10 Retrospective' Symposium and the official opening of a new VC10 exhibition at Brooklands Museum on 29 June 2012. The VC10 is often compared to the larger Soviet Ilyushin Il-62, both aircraft having a rear-engined quad layout, the two types being the only airliners with such a configuration (a configuration that they shared with the earlier, but smaller Lockheed JetStar).
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