Vickers 1103 VC-10 ex: G-ASIX I A40-AB (1964)
Type History: The first VC-10, registration G-ARTA, made its maiden flight from Brooklands on 29 June 1962. The largest all-British production airliner ever built, a further 53 examples (32 'standard' and 22 Super VC-10s) left the factory here over the next eight years. The largest VC-10 customer was BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) which bought 29 aircraft of both variants. Other operators included British United Airways, later part of British Caledonian), Ghana Airways, East African Airways and the Royal Air Force. Additional members of the VC-10 club, which operated second-hand or leased examples, were Air Ceylon, Air Malawi, Gulf Air, Middle East Airlines, Nigeria Airways plus the governments of Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The last flying VC-10s, used as air-to-air refuelling tankers, retired from RAF service in 2013.
Exhibit History: This aircraft was built by Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd. and first flew from Brooklands on 17 October 1964. Delivered to British United Airways at Gatwick registered G-ASIX, it passed to British Caledonian in November 1970 and was sold to the Omani Government in 1974. After refurbishment at BAC Hurn, it was operated as 'A40-AB' by The Sultan of Oman's Royal Flight at Muscat. Its final
flight was from Muscat to Brooklands via Heathrow on 6 July 1987, crewed by Officers of the Omani Royal Flight and with His Excellency Hussein Bin Ali (Omani Ambassador) and Sir Peter Masefield as passengers. Since then, volunteers have maintained the aircraft with invaluable help from many companies and other organisations including the RAF. Originally preserved on the adjacent airfield, this aircraft was carefully moved across the river to its present position in June 2004.
Data: Four Rolls-Royce Conway turbo-jets, each developing 21,000 lb static thrust. Wing span 146 ft 3 in (44.6 m); length 158 ft 8 in (48.4 m); height 39 ft 6 in (12 m); gross weight 312,000 lb (141.522 kg); maximum cruising speed 600 mph; service ceiling 43,000 ft, range 5,850 miles.
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