Vickers-Armstrongs

Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a major British engineering conglomerate and armaments firm, formed in 1927 by the merger of Vickers Limited and Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth and Company and headquartered in Westminster, London. It is listed among commercial space and aerospace companies because of its aircraft work rather than any spaceflight program. It produced more than 21,000 Spitfire and Seafire fighters and about 11,000 Wellington bombers in the Second World War, and later the VC10 jet airliner, which entered service in 1962. It also built the Valentine infantry tank, King George V-class battleships and the Vickers machine gun, and its subsidiaries included Supermarine and Metropolitan Cammell Carriage and Wagon. Its main customers were the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. The company was wound down in 1977, with its business passing to the British Aircraft Corporation, British Shipbuilders and Vickers plc.