British Eagle were frequent visitors to Sydney with their fleet of Britannia aircraft during the late sixties

The Also Rans, Part Ill

What makes one commercial airliner a success while its rival drifts into obscurity? In this, the third of a four-part series. John Vogel examines the aircraft that were . . .

BOAC operated a large fleet of Super and standard VC10 aircraft. However, this aircraft missed the sales boat owing to high fuel consumption and Its lateness of entry into service. The VC10 airframe is today widely acclaimed for its longevity and most remaining VC10 aircraft are being converted to tankers for the Royal Air Force. (Eric Allen)

In my previous article, we looked at the also-rans in the pre-jet era. In this issue, we look at those aircraft from 1956 onwards.

In this era we find a strange kind of voodoo surrounding the year 1959. For the planemakers it was one year they should all have taken a long holiday, with the exception of Boeing.

The British aircraft industry, blessed by some of the world’s most inventive genii, has also been cursed by the most unfortunate sales records ever produced.

This content is available exclusively to Australian Aviation members.
Login
Become a Member
To continue reading the rest of this article, please login.

or

To unlock all Australian Aviation magazine content and again unlimited access to our daily news and features, become a member today!
A monthly membership is only $5.99 or save with our annual plans.
PRINT
$49.95 for 1 year Become a Member
See benefits
  • Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
  • Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
PRINT + DIGITAL
$99.95 for 1 year Become a Member
$179.95 for 2 years Become a Member
See benefits
  • Unlimited access to all Australian Aviation digital content
  • Access to the Australian Aviation app
  • Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
  • Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
  • Access to our Behind the Lens photo galleries and other exclusive content
  • Daily news updates via our email bulletin
DIGITAL
$5.99 Monthly Become a Member
$59.95 Annual Become a Member
See benefits
  • Unlimited access to all Australian Aviation digital content
  • Access to the Australian Aviation app
  • Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
  • Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
  • Access to our Behind the Lens photo galleries and other exclusive content
  • Daily news updates via our email bulletin

Want to see more stories from trusted news sources?
Make Australian Aviation a preferred news source on Google.
Click here to add Australian Aviation as a preferred news source.

You need to be a member to post comments. Become a member today!
Momentum Media Logo
Most Innovative Company
Copyright © 2007-2026 MOMENTUMMEDIA