At the start of World War II, Hitler relied on three ‘superweapons' to dominate the sea, the sky and the land: his U-Boats, his Stuka dive-bombers and his Panzer tanks. The company that can perhaps lay claim to doing much to defeat all three, was Britain's engineering giant Vickers-Armstrong. Guns, tanks, submarines, and then then the fighter plane that became known as the Spitfire - Vickers-Armstrong was one of the most important manufacturers in the world.