Roden 328 Vickers VC-10 K4 Type 1170 tanker 1:144

Royal Air Force's Avro Vulcan strategic bombers needed air refueling when conducting long distance missions, and the VC10 was very suitable for this role, especially considering its high speed and impressive endurance. In the late 1970s, tankers of the C Mk 1 Ks and K3 modifications entered into service with the Royal Air Force, and in the early 1990s, immediately after Operation Desert Storm and the withdrawal of the Handley Page Victor refueler from structure of the Air Force, for the role of air tanker five former passenger VC10s were converted, and designated the K4. Compared with their predecessor the K3, as well as in the K2 version, the fuselage fuel tanks were absent. Visually, the K4 differed from the K3 in lacking the broad side door in the front part of the fuselage due to

having no need to replace the fuselage’s fuel tanks. Overall, the conversion to the K4 variant was undertaken on five former passenger airliners.

Since the late 1990s, this type of aircraft took part in a variety of different scale conflicts in many parts of the world, including air strikes against Serbia, in the Second Iraq War (Operation Telic), and in air strikes against the Gaddafi regime in Libya.