Axial flow made more demands on metallurgy of the time than centrifugal flow. The Viscount was the first turbine powered civil aircraft using RR Darts with two centrifugal compressor stages.

I enjoyed flying on the Viscount. It offered a much nicer passenger experience than the current crop of sardine cans.

Decades later I got in a lot of time flying the simulator that Air Canada donated to a tech school.

http://www.vickersviscount.net/Pages_Technical/Rolls-RoyceDa...