On Sun, 1 May 2016 11:44:17 -0500, "Byker" wrote:

The British aircraft manufacturing industry of the postwar era was a mess.
There were petty disputes among companies, redundant research because no one
wanted to share anything, lack of public funding (this one is
understandable), and failure to adapt to the new era of air travel.

"We have handed to the Americans, without a struggle, the entire world
market for big jet airliners." — George Edwards, Vickers managing director

There's also the fact that the gov and BOAC only supported/financed
aircraft designed to cover the Empire routes, which were all
short-ranged and needed low passanger nymbers... and refused to
sanction bigger planes.