Corgi AA37004 BOAC Vickers VC-10

G-ARVA was the first production VC-10 and the first of twelve to enter service with BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation), being delivered to London Heathrow Airport on 8th December 1964. It gave faithful service until being sold to Nigeria Airways as 5N-ABD on 29th September 1969, in whose hands it crashed short of finals at Lagos, just two months later. The Corgi model is depicted in BOAC’s delivery scheme, which was changed to the later blue and gold livery in 1965. On 1st April 1974, BOAC merged with BEA (British European Airways) to form today’s British Airways. However, by that time the majority of standard VC-10s had been sold and only a few survived in service to see the new livery, which continued on the airline’s Super VC-10s until they too, were finally disposed of.