BAC One-Eleven suffered disasters in service, strong passenger demand had been demonstrated for jet propulsion. Several manufacturers raced to release passenger jets, including those aimed at the short-haul market, such as the Sud Aviation Caravelle. In July 1956, British European Airways published a paper calling for a "second generation" jet airliner to operate beside their existing turboprop designs. This led to a variety of designs from the British aerospace industry. Hunting Aircraft started design studies on a jet-powered replacement for the successful Vickers Viscount, developing the 30-seat Hunting 107. Around the same time, Vickers started a similar development of a 140-seat derivative
Vickers-Armstrongs part of BAC) the VC10 jet airliner, which was used in RAF service as an aerial refuelling tanker until 2013. Vickers-Armstrongs was one of the few British manufacturers of marine diesel engines, notably for Royal Navy S, T-class and Estonian Kalev class submarines during World War II. In "The Adventures of Tintin" comic "The Broken Ear", the role of Vickers-Armstrongs in the Chaco War is parodied as "Viking Arms Co. Limited". A handgun described in a trial of Walter Mitty's alter ego is a 50 caliber Webley-Vickers revolver. Vickers-Armstrongs Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger