British Jets | 1964

(TOP)
Airline - Royal Imperial Air Company
Aircraft - Hawker Siddeley HS.121 Trident 1C | G-ADTB
Delivered to the Royal Imperial Air Company, 1964
Sold to British International Airlines, 1968
Transferred to Royal Airways, 1974
Sold to Franco-Togolaise International, 1983
Stored at Yaounde Airport, 1987
Scrapped at Yaounde Airport, 1994
Livery - Standard 1961
Country - Great Britain

(BOTTOM)
Airline - Royal Imperial Air Company
Aircraft - Vickers VC10 Type 1101 | G-ADWA
Delivered to the Royal Imperial Air Company, 1964
Transferred to Royal Airways, 1974
Stored at London Heathrow, 1982
Scrapped at London Heathrow, 1982
Livery - Standard 1961
Country - Great Britain

In 1964, RIAC received two new aircraft types - the Hawker Siddeley Trident 1C and Vickers Standard VC10. The 1C was the only variant of the Trident ever operated by the airline. Competition with British International Airlines on intra-European routes led to a tripartite agreement between the two carriers and the British government limiting competition. As a result, RIAC sold all delivered Tridents and order slots to BIA by 1968, and did not operate any short-range jetliners for the rest of its history. Most European route rights were given away to British International, which in return confined its operations to Europe and North Africa, leaving Asia, the Americas, and most of Africa to RIAC. Select destinations in Europe were left to the Royal Imperial Air Company, such as flights to Berlin Tempelhof, which were flown by the Trident 1C during its time with the airline.

The Vickers VC10 Type 1101 was flown by RIAC (and its successor, Royal Airways) from 1964 until 1986. It was designed to have a similar capacity to the Boeing 707s already operated by the airline but be more suitable for operations in hot locations with less prepared runways, and was most successful on African and South Asian routes, also seeing some service across the Atlantic, especially to the Caribbean. The aircraft shown here, G-ADWA, was the first VC10 received by RIAC. Notably, it was involved in an incident in 1971 while operating flight 5626 from Mahé International Airport in the Seychelles to London Heathrow, when the number four engine suffered a catastrophic failure, with the resulting fire causing a shutdown of the number three engine as well. The aircraft made an emergency landing in Bender Qassim Airport in Bosaso, Somalia, and all 104 passengers and crew escaped uninjured. G-ADWA was repaired on site over a period of five weeks and continued to fly until 1982.