Based on the author's own involvement as an engineer at the company through the 1950s and early 1960s and on more recent research of the archives at Brooklands Museum and the PRO, this book explains the successes and failures of leading-edge developments at Vickers, in the early days of guided weapons.

Containing diagrams and photographs, this volume looks at missile and avionics systems, and the trials and their effects on missile design. Telling the story of the company and its individuals and interactions with governmental bureaucracies, it also goes through certain projects, including Red Rapier, Red Dean, and Vigilant anti-tank missile.