Vickers V-1000
Encyclopedia
The Vickers-Armstrongs V-1000 was a prototype jet-powered cargo aircraft
designed to a UK Ministry of Supply
requirement for a strategic transport to support the V bomber
fleet. Both the Ministry and Vickers also intended to use the same basic design as the VC7, a six-abreast trans-Atlantic jet airliner
for BOAC
. With the prototype largely complete, the Ministry of Supply cancelled the development contract in 1955. By this time the design had garnered interest from the airlines, and led to re-designs in the competing US Boeing 707
and Douglas DC-8
. The V-1000 is one of the great "what-ifs" of British aviation, and its cancellation was the topic of considerable debate in the House of Commons.
bomber
with windows. It retained the Valiant's shoulder-mounted wing, which would have left many rows windowless, and also meant that it had long landing gear
that BOAC considered unsuitable. Originally designed in the late 1940s, the VC5 attracted little interest and was dropped.
. There was an unstated criterion that the aircraft would also be adaptable as an airliner design for BOAC, then government-run. All of the V bomber entrants responded with designs.
Handley Page offered the HP.97, which featured a two-level layout that moved the passenger seating above the wing of a design otherwise almost identical to the Handley Page Victor
. BOAC rejected the design, which led to the more highly-modified HP.111, which was similar in layout but had a modern six-abreast single-deck fuselage
.
Avro
started with their Vulcan
design, keeping its tailless
delta wing
planform and mating it with a new fuselage, producing the Avro Atlantic
(Avro Type 722). As the name implies, the design was specifically intended to offer trans-Atlantic range. Avro boasted that the delta wing offered good takeoff performance without the need for flap
s or slat
s that conventional wings would require, while also offering a high cruising speed. Various versions were offered with 2+2 to 3+3 seating, with the added oddity that the seats faced to the rear of the aircraft.
Vickers re-visited their VC5 and decided to modify it more heavily for the new requirements. A larger 12 ft 6 in (3.81 m) fuselage was added with six-abreast seating for 131 passengers. The wings were moved to a low-mounted position, slotted flaps were added, and the wing was made considerably larger. Their new design won the MoS competition in March 1953, and work started on a prototype, serial number
XD662, along with an order for six production versions.
The VC7 was of some concern in the United States, where both Boeing
and Douglas
were in the process of designing their own jet transports to a very similar requirement from Strategic Air Command
. Both companies had responded with designs sized for 2+3 seating (the original 707 design was 2+2), and had smaller passenger capabilities than the VC7. Additionally, the VC7's wing design offered a number of advanced features and increased wing area that greatly reduced take-off run and allowed it to operate from a wider selection of airports, while at the same time offering longer ranges. Finally, the VC7 was intending to use the Rolls-Royce Conway
, the first production bypass
engine, which further increased range and improved fuel economy.
When these companies approached carriers with their plans, they found that they were constantly rejected as the VC7 was more interesting. Both companies started expensive re-design projects to compete, enlarging the fuselage to match the VC7's 3+3 layout, and increasing the size and weights of the aircraft as a whole. When they were re-introduced to the markets in this larger form in 1955, they fared considerably better, and after an initial order from Pan American Airways, orders started rolling in from around the world. The better range that the VC7 offered took longer to address, and at one point was solved by incorporating the Conway into those designs.
, was still in development and was by no means a "sure thing". Instead, BOAC claimed that they were perfectly happy with the Bristol Britannia
for their trans-Atlantic routes, and would remain so until an enlarged de Havilland Comet
4 arrived in a few years.
At the same time, the MoS was experiencing budget pressures, and wanted to move the budget assigned to the V-1000 to other projects to avoid their cancellation. They also started to question the need to support the V bomber fleet at long distances, given the ever-shrinking Empire. Finally, they stated that Transport Command
's needs for strategic airlift were immediate, and chose to purchase several Britannias of their own to fill this role. This coincided with political pressure to bolster employment in Northern Ireland
, where much of the production of the de Havilland
Comet
2 was to have been conducted under licence by Short Brothers
. The Comet's cancellation had left Short's with a bleak future, and an order for Britannias, to be built in the same factory, was seen as providing a neat solution for all concerned.
In the end, BOAC's decision would quickly be reversed when it became clear that their competitors were going to enter the jet age before them. The VC7 had been cancelled by this point, and a study demonstrated it would be too costly to re-start the line. Instead, BOAC ordered the Boeing 707
in October 1956, ironically in a special model to be powered by the Conway. Contrary to BOAC's worries, the Conway proved to have an almost flawless development cycle, and on several occasions outstripped the development of the models it was meant to power. Likewise, the attempt to save other military projects proved futile, and almost all ongoing projects were cancelled as part of the 1957 Defence White Paper
.
As had been pointed out at the time, the VC7's performance from limited airfields was considerably better than that of the Boeing 707, which required long runways and extensive ground support. This limited the BOAC 707s to high-volume routes between larger well-equipped airports in Europe and North America. BOAC was also under strong political pressure to offer jet service on a number of limited-capacity "Empire routes" that the Boeing could not service, and turned to Vickers for a solution. The result was the Vickers VC10
, with additional power and a smaller fuselage that dramatically improved "hot and high
" performance. Although the VC10 was successful in this role, most of the airports for which it had been designed were soon improved sufficiently for the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 to be able to serve them comfortably after all. The VC10 lost its competitive edge, and sold only in limited numbers.
characterised it as "this disappointing and retrograde decision". Deputy Leader of the Labour Party
George Brown
asked "does not this decision mean that the American companies, the Douglas and the Boeing, will, in effect, be so far ahead of us in the next development of the pure jet that we shall have 10 or 20 years to make up at some stage afterwards?", a prediction that proved astonishingly accurate. Air Commodore Arthur Vere Harvey expressed concerns of the industry in general, while William Robson Brown
questioned the wisdom of cancelling at such a late date given that £2.3 million had been invested in the project.
In response, the Minister of Supply
, Reginald Maudling
, noted that it was extremely unlikely that other airlines would order the VC7, as "everyone concerned accepts that we cannot launch an aircraft of this category into the markets of the world unless we first have a home purchaser who will buy and operate it, which is not so in this case." He declined to offer continued financial support to Vickers for the civilian model for this reason. He also claimed that development was lagging and weight had increased to offset performance.
These later claims were attacked several weeks later in a lengthy statement by Paul Williams
, who pointed out that weight had indeed increased, but Rolls-Royce had addressed this by increasing power to offset this effect. He also noted that the aircraft had a built-in margin of safety due to its larger wing. He described the entire issue as "one of the most disgraceful, most disheartening and most unfortunate decisions that has been taken in relation to the British aircraft industry in recent years."
Debate on the issue continued, and the V-1000 continued to come up in debate as late as 1957.
with a new fuselage or the Valiant. The fuselage section looks similar to any modern "narrow body" airliner, although the nose was a rounded ogive
similar to the Comet's (a design note also copied on the Sud Aviation Caravelle
). Although it may have looked similar, the V-1000/VC7 was designed for a six-abreast layout, and thus had a much larger diameter than the Comet.
The wing planform
was largely that of the Valiant with engines embedded in the wing near the wing-root, which decreased drag but increased difficulty in maintenance and was later considered to increase the risk of fire. Later designs universally used podded-engines on pylons to address these concerns. The wing shared a number of design notes from the Vickers Valiant
bomber. The tail surfaces were conventional, although the horizontal stabilizers had a pronounced dihedral to keep them clear of the jet exhaust.
The aircraft was designed from the start to mount the Rolls-Royce Conway engine, the world's first turbofan
. The in-wing mounting dramatically limited the amount of bypass air, however, to about 25%. There are reports of a follow-on design, the V-1001, which would used under-wing podded engines instead.
Some of the design notes of the VC7 would go on to influence the Vickers VC10
. In particular, the wing arrangement with the various high-lift devices proved useful in the "hot and high" roles the VC10 would later fill. Additionally, the VC10 was powered by the Conway, albeit in a higher-powered version with much greater bypass ratio.
Cargo aircraft
A cargo aircraft is a fixed-wing aircraft designed or converted for the carriage of goods, rather than passengers. They are usually devoid of passenger amenities, and generally feature one or more large doors for the loading and unloading of cargo...
designed to a UK Ministry of Supply
Ministry of Supply
The Ministry of Supply was a department of the UK Government formed in 1939 to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Minister of Supply. There was, however, a separate ministry responsible for aircraft production and the Admiralty retained...
requirement for a strategic transport to support the V bomber
V bomber
The term V bomber was used for the Royal Air Force aircraft during the 1950s and 1960s that comprised the United Kingdom's strategic nuclear strike force known officially as the V-force or Bomber Command Main Force...
fleet. Both the Ministry and Vickers also intended to use the same basic design as the VC7, a six-abreast trans-Atlantic jet airliner
Jet airliner
A jet airliner is an airliner that is powered by jet engines. This term is sometimes contracted to jetliner or jet.In contrast to today's relatively fuel-efficient, turbofan-powered air travel, first generation jet airliner travel was noisy and fuel inefficient...
for BOAC
Boac
Boac may refer to:* Boac, Marinduque, a municipality in the Southern Philippines* Boac , an American rapper* British Overseas Airways Corporation, a former British state-owned airline...
. With the prototype largely complete, the Ministry of Supply cancelled the development contract in 1955. By this time the design had garnered interest from the airlines, and led to re-designs in the competing US Boeing 707
Boeing 707
The Boeing 707 is a four-engine narrow-body commercial passenger jet airliner developed by Boeing in the early 1950s. Its name is most commonly pronounced as "Seven Oh Seven". The first airline to operate the 707 was Pan American World Airways, inaugurating the type's first commercial flight on...
and Douglas DC-8
Douglas DC-8
The Douglas DC-8 is a four-engined narrow-body passenger commercial jet airliner, manufactured from 1958 to 1972 by the Douglas Aircraft Company...
. The V-1000 is one of the great "what-ifs" of British aviation, and its cancellation was the topic of considerable debate in the House of Commons.
History
All of the manufacturers supplying designs for the V bombers considered airliner derivatives at one point or another. Perhaps the least innovative of these was the Vickers VC5, which was essentially a slightly-stretched Vickers ValiantVickers Valiant
The Vickers-Armstrongs Valiant was a British four-jet bomber, once part of the Royal Air Force's V bomber nuclear force in the 1950s and 1960s...
bomber
Bomber
A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, by dropping bombs on them, or – in recent years – by launching cruise missiles at them.-Classifications of bombers:...
with windows. It retained the Valiant's shoulder-mounted wing, which would have left many rows windowless, and also meant that it had long landing gear
Undercarriage
The undercarriage or landing gear in aviation, is the structure that supports an aircraft on the ground and allows it to taxi, takeoff and land...
that BOAC considered unsuitable. Originally designed in the late 1940s, the VC5 attracted little interest and was dropped.
New beginnings
In 1952 the UK Ministry of Supply (MoS) offered a contract for a jet-powered transport that would be able to support the V bomber fleet through cargo and crew freighting, as well as in-flight refuellingAerial refueling
Aerial refueling, also called air refueling, in-flight refueling , air-to-air refueling or tanking, is the process of transferring fuel from one aircraft to another during flight....
. There was an unstated criterion that the aircraft would also be adaptable as an airliner design for BOAC, then government-run. All of the V bomber entrants responded with designs.
Handley Page offered the HP.97, which featured a two-level layout that moved the passenger seating above the wing of a design otherwise almost identical to the Handley Page Victor
Handley Page Victor
The Handley Page Victor was a British jet bomber aircraft produced by the Handley Page Aircraft Company during the Cold War. It was the third and final of the V-bombers that provided Britain's nuclear deterrent. The other two V-bombers were the Avro Vulcan and the Vickers Valiant. Some aircraft...
. BOAC rejected the design, which led to the more highly-modified HP.111, which was similar in layout but had a modern six-abreast single-deck fuselage
Fuselage
The fuselage is an aircraft's main body section that holds crew and passengers or cargo. In single-engine aircraft it will usually contain an engine, although in some amphibious aircraft the single engine is mounted on a pylon attached to the fuselage which in turn is used as a floating hull...
.
Avro
Avro
Avro was a British aircraft manufacturer, with numerous landmark designs such as the Avro 504 trainer in the First World War, the Avro Lancaster, one of the pre-eminent bombers of the Second World War, and the delta wing Avro Vulcan, a stalwart of the Cold War.-Early history:One of the world's...
started with their Vulcan
Avro Vulcan
The Avro Vulcan, sometimes referred to as the Hawker Siddeley Vulcan, was a jet-powered delta wing strategic bomber, operated by the Royal Air Force from 1956 until 1984. Aircraft manufacturer A V Roe & Co designed the Vulcan in response to Specification B.35/46. Of the three V bombers produced,...
design, keeping its tailless
Tailless aircraft
A tailless aircraft traditionally has all its horizontal control surfaces on its main wing surface. It has no horizontal stabilizer - either tailplane or canard foreplane . A 'tailless' type usually still has a vertical stabilising fin and control surface...
delta wing
Delta wing
The delta wing is a wing planform in the form of a triangle. It is named for its similarity in shape to the Greek uppercase letter delta .-Delta-shaped stabilizers:...
planform and mating it with a new fuselage, producing the Avro Atlantic
Avro Atlantic
The Avro Atlantic was a proposed civilian airliner version of the British Avro Vulcan medium jet bomber. In early June 1953, Sir Roy Dobson C.B.E. then Managing Director of A.V. Roe and Company revealed the company was working on a project for a 100 ton airliner based on the Vulcan planform...
(Avro Type 722). As the name implies, the design was specifically intended to offer trans-Atlantic range. Avro boasted that the delta wing offered good takeoff performance without the need for flap
Flap (aircraft)
Flaps are normally hinged surfaces mounted on the trailing edges of the wings of a fixed-wing aircraft to reduce the speed an aircraft can be safely flown at and to increase the angle of descent for landing without increasing air speed. They shorten takeoff and landing distances as well as...
s or slat
Leading edge slats
Slats are aerodynamic surfaces on the leading edge of the wings of fixed-wing aircraft which, when deployed, allow the wing to operate at a higher angle of attack. A higher coefficient of lift is produced as a result of angle of attack and speed, so by deploying slats an aircraft can fly at slower...
s that conventional wings would require, while also offering a high cruising speed. Various versions were offered with 2+2 to 3+3 seating, with the added oddity that the seats faced to the rear of the aircraft.
Vickers re-visited their VC5 and decided to modify it more heavily for the new requirements. A larger 12 ft 6 in (3.81 m) fuselage was added with six-abreast seating for 131 passengers. The wings were moved to a low-mounted position, slotted flaps were added, and the wing was made considerably larger. Their new design won the MoS competition in March 1953, and work started on a prototype, serial number
United Kingdom military aircraft serials
In the United Kingdom to identify individual aircraft, all military aircraft are allocated and display a unique serial number. A unified serial number system, maintained by the Air Ministry , and its successor the Ministry of Defence , is used for aircraft operated by the Royal Air Force , Fleet...
XD662, along with an order for six production versions.
The VC7 was of some concern in the United States, where both Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
and Douglas
Douglas Aircraft Company
The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer, based in Long Beach, California. It was founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas, Sr. and later merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell Douglas...
were in the process of designing their own jet transports to a very similar requirement from Strategic Air Command
Strategic Air Command
The Strategic Air Command was both a Major Command of the United States Air Force and a "specified command" of the United States Department of Defense. SAC was the operational establishment in charge of America's land-based strategic bomber aircraft and land-based intercontinental ballistic...
. Both companies had responded with designs sized for 2+3 seating (the original 707 design was 2+2), and had smaller passenger capabilities than the VC7. Additionally, the VC7's wing design offered a number of advanced features and increased wing area that greatly reduced take-off run and allowed it to operate from a wider selection of airports, while at the same time offering longer ranges. Finally, the VC7 was intending to use the Rolls-Royce Conway
Rolls-Royce Conway
The Rolls-Royce RB.80 Conway was the first by-pass engine in the world to enter service. Development started at Rolls-Royce in the 1940s, but it was used only briefly in the late 1950s and early 1960s before other turbofan designs were introduced that replaced it. The Conway powered versions of...
, the first production bypass
Turbofan
The turbofan is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used for aircraft propulsion. A turbofan combines two types of engines, the turbo portion which is a conventional gas turbine engine, and the fan, a propeller-like ducted fan...
engine, which further increased range and improved fuel economy.
When these companies approached carriers with their plans, they found that they were constantly rejected as the VC7 was more interesting. Both companies started expensive re-design projects to compete, enlarging the fuselage to match the VC7's 3+3 layout, and increasing the size and weights of the aircraft as a whole. When they were re-introduced to the markets in this larger form in 1955, they fared considerably better, and after an initial order from Pan American Airways, orders started rolling in from around the world. The better range that the VC7 offered took longer to address, and at one point was solved by incorporating the Conway into those designs.
Cancellation
In 1955, BOAC started expressing concerns about the project, notably their reservations about the Conway engine all of the designs were based on. The Conway, the world's first turbofanTurbofan
The turbofan is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used for aircraft propulsion. A turbofan combines two types of engines, the turbo portion which is a conventional gas turbine engine, and the fan, a propeller-like ducted fan...
, was still in development and was by no means a "sure thing". Instead, BOAC claimed that they were perfectly happy with the Bristol Britannia
Bristol Britannia
The Bristol Type 175 Britannia was a British medium-to-long-range airliner built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1952 to fly across the British Empire...
for their trans-Atlantic routes, and would remain so until an enlarged de Havilland Comet
De Havilland Comet
The de Havilland DH 106 Comet was the world's first commercial jet airliner to reach production. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland at the Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom headquarters, it first flew in 1949 and was a landmark in aeronautical design...
4 arrived in a few years.
At the same time, the MoS was experiencing budget pressures, and wanted to move the budget assigned to the V-1000 to other projects to avoid their cancellation. They also started to question the need to support the V bomber fleet at long distances, given the ever-shrinking Empire. Finally, they stated that Transport Command
RAF Transport Command
RAF Transport Command was a Royal Air Force command that controlled all transport aircraft of the RAF. It was established on 25 March 1943 by the renaming of the RAF Ferry Command, and was subsequently renamed RAF Air Support Command in 1967.-History:...
's needs for strategic airlift were immediate, and chose to purchase several Britannias of their own to fill this role. This coincided with political pressure to bolster employment in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, where much of the production of the de Havilland
De Havilland
The de Havilland Aircraft Company was a British aviation manufacturer founded in 1920 when Airco, of which Geoffrey de Havilland had been chief designer, was sold to BSA by the owner George Holt Thomas. De Havilland then set up a company under his name in September of that year at Stag Lane...
Comet
Comet
A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when close enough to the Sun, displays a visible coma and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are both due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind upon the nucleus of the comet...
2 was to have been conducted under licence by Short Brothers
Short Brothers
Short Brothers plc is a British aerospace company, usually referred to simply as Shorts, that is now based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Founded in 1908, Shorts was the first company in the world to make production aircraft and was a manufacturer of flying boats during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s...
. The Comet's cancellation had left Short's with a bleak future, and an order for Britannias, to be built in the same factory, was seen as providing a neat solution for all concerned.
In the end, BOAC's decision would quickly be reversed when it became clear that their competitors were going to enter the jet age before them. The VC7 had been cancelled by this point, and a study demonstrated it would be too costly to re-start the line. Instead, BOAC ordered the Boeing 707
Boeing 707
The Boeing 707 is a four-engine narrow-body commercial passenger jet airliner developed by Boeing in the early 1950s. Its name is most commonly pronounced as "Seven Oh Seven". The first airline to operate the 707 was Pan American World Airways, inaugurating the type's first commercial flight on...
in October 1956, ironically in a special model to be powered by the Conway. Contrary to BOAC's worries, the Conway proved to have an almost flawless development cycle, and on several occasions outstripped the development of the models it was meant to power. Likewise, the attempt to save other military projects proved futile, and almost all ongoing projects were cancelled as part of the 1957 Defence White Paper
1957 Defence White Paper
The 1957 White Paper on Defence was a British white paper setting forth the perceived future of the British military. It had profound effects on all aspects of the defence industry but probably the most affected was the British aircraft industry...
.
As had been pointed out at the time, the VC7's performance from limited airfields was considerably better than that of the Boeing 707, which required long runways and extensive ground support. This limited the BOAC 707s to high-volume routes between larger well-equipped airports in Europe and North America. BOAC was also under strong political pressure to offer jet service on a number of limited-capacity "Empire routes" that the Boeing could not service, and turned to Vickers for a solution. The result was the Vickers VC10
Vickers VC10
The Vickers VC10 is a long-range British airliner designed and built by Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd, and first flown in 1962. The airliner was designed to operate on long-distance routes with a high subsonic speed and also be capable of hot and high operations from African airports...
, with additional power and a smaller fuselage that dramatically improved "hot and high
Hot and high
In aviation, hot and high is a condition of low air density due to high ambient temperature and high airport elevation. Air density decreases with increasing temperature and altitude. Lower air density reduces the amount of lift generated by the wings or the rotors of an aircraft, which may hamper...
" performance. Although the VC10 was successful in this role, most of the airports for which it had been designed were soon improved sufficiently for the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 to be able to serve them comfortably after all. The VC10 lost its competitive edge, and sold only in limited numbers.
Parliamentary debate
The cancellation led to a lengthy series of questions in the House that went on for weeks. John PeytonJohn Peyton, Baron Peyton of Yeovil
John Wynne William Peyton, Baron Peyton of Yeovil PC, FZS was a British politician. He was Conservative Member of Parliament for Yeovil for 32 years, from 1951 to 1983, and an early and leading member of the Conservative Monday Club...
characterised it as "this disappointing and retrograde decision". Deputy Leader of the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
George Brown
George Brown, Baron George-Brown
George Alfred Brown, Baron George-Brown, PC was a British Labour politician, who served as the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1960 to 1970, and served in a number of positions in the Cabinet, most notably as Foreign Secretary, in the Labour Government of the 1960s...
asked "does not this decision mean that the American companies, the Douglas and the Boeing, will, in effect, be so far ahead of us in the next development of the pure jet that we shall have 10 or 20 years to make up at some stage afterwards?", a prediction that proved astonishingly accurate. Air Commodore Arthur Vere Harvey expressed concerns of the industry in general, while William Robson Brown
William Robson Brown
William Robson Brown was a British Conservative politician. He was elected in 1950 as the first Member of Parliament for the new Surrey constituency of Esher. Robson-Brown served until his retirement in 1970, preceding Carol Mather.- References...
questioned the wisdom of cancelling at such a late date given that £2.3 million had been invested in the project.
In response, the Minister of Supply
Minister of Supply
The Minister of Supply was the minister in the British Government responsible for the Ministry of Supply, which existed to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to the national armed forces...
, Reginald Maudling
Reginald Maudling
Reginald Maudling was a British politician who held several Cabinet posts, including Chancellor of the Exchequer. He had been spoken of as a prospective Conservative leader since 1955, and was twice seriously considered for the post; he was Edward Heath's chief rival in 1965...
, noted that it was extremely unlikely that other airlines would order the VC7, as "everyone concerned accepts that we cannot launch an aircraft of this category into the markets of the world unless we first have a home purchaser who will buy and operate it, which is not so in this case." He declined to offer continued financial support to Vickers for the civilian model for this reason. He also claimed that development was lagging and weight had increased to offset performance.
These later claims were attacked several weeks later in a lengthy statement by Paul Williams
Paul Williams (politician)
Paul Glyn Williams was a British Conservative Party politician who served as Member of Parliament for Sunderland South from 1953 to 1964. He was also a prominent businessman...
, who pointed out that weight had indeed increased, but Rolls-Royce had addressed this by increasing power to offset this effect. He also noted that the aircraft had a built-in margin of safety due to its larger wing. He described the entire issue as "one of the most disgraceful, most disheartening and most unfortunate decisions that has been taken in relation to the British aircraft industry in recent years."
Debate on the issue continued, and the V-1000 continued to come up in debate as late as 1957.
Description
The V-1000 was an all-metal jet-powered airliner of conventional layout, which in overall terms looked like a de Havilland CometDe Havilland Comet
The de Havilland DH 106 Comet was the world's first commercial jet airliner to reach production. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland at the Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom headquarters, it first flew in 1949 and was a landmark in aeronautical design...
with a new fuselage or the Valiant. The fuselage section looks similar to any modern "narrow body" airliner, although the nose was a rounded ogive
Ogive
An ogive is the roundly tapered end of a two-dimensional or three-dimensional object.-Applied physical science and engineering:In ballistics or aerodynamics, an ogive is a pointed, curved surface mainly used to form the approximately streamlined nose of a bullet or other projectile.The traditional...
similar to the Comet's (a design note also copied on the Sud Aviation Caravelle
Sud Aviation Caravelle
The Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle was the first short/medium-range jet airliner produced by the French Sud Aviation firm starting in 1955 . The Caravelle was one of the more successful European first generation jetliners, selling throughout Europe and even penetrating the United States market, with...
). Although it may have looked similar, the V-1000/VC7 was designed for a six-abreast layout, and thus had a much larger diameter than the Comet.
The wing planform
Planform
In aviation, a planform is the shape and layout of a fixed-wing aircraft's fuselage and wing. Of all the myriad planforms used, they can typically be grouped into those used for low-speed flight, found on general aviation aircraft, and those used for high-speed flight, found on many military...
was largely that of the Valiant with engines embedded in the wing near the wing-root, which decreased drag but increased difficulty in maintenance and was later considered to increase the risk of fire. Later designs universally used podded-engines on pylons to address these concerns. The wing shared a number of design notes from the Vickers Valiant
Vickers Valiant
The Vickers-Armstrongs Valiant was a British four-jet bomber, once part of the Royal Air Force's V bomber nuclear force in the 1950s and 1960s...
bomber. The tail surfaces were conventional, although the horizontal stabilizers had a pronounced dihedral to keep them clear of the jet exhaust.
The aircraft was designed from the start to mount the Rolls-Royce Conway engine, the world's first turbofan
Turbofan
The turbofan is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used for aircraft propulsion. A turbofan combines two types of engines, the turbo portion which is a conventional gas turbine engine, and the fan, a propeller-like ducted fan...
. The in-wing mounting dramatically limited the amount of bypass air, however, to about 25%. There are reports of a follow-on design, the V-1001, which would used under-wing podded engines instead.
Some of the design notes of the VC7 would go on to influence the Vickers VC10
Vickers VC10
The Vickers VC10 is a long-range British airliner designed and built by Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd, and first flown in 1962. The airliner was designed to operate on long-distance routes with a high subsonic speed and also be capable of hot and high operations from African airports...
. In particular, the wing arrangement with the various high-lift devices proved useful in the "hot and high" roles the VC10 would later fill. Additionally, the VC10 was powered by the Conway, albeit in a higher-powered version with much greater bypass ratio.