London Aircraft Production By Our Industry
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How Five Concerns in the Metropolitan Area Met the Urgent Need for Halifax Bombers
SPEAKING recently at a reception at the Dorchester Hotel. Lord Ashfield told the story of the production of many hundreds of Halifax bombers in the London area by five undertakings well known in our industry. They are: London Passenger Transport Board, Chrysler Motors, I.td., Duple Bodies and Motors, Ltd., Express Motor and Body Works, Ltd., and Park Maya] Coach Works, Ltd.
The group of undertakings concerned became known collectively as London Aircraft Production, of which the public had scarcely been aware.
It was in the summer of 1940, at a time of desperate urgency, when the Minister of Aircraft Production askedthe group to take a hand in the building of these bombers, for which, in those days, there was pressing need.
The initial period was one of intense activity. It was a far cry. from the concerns' ordinary pursuits to that to which they had then committed themselves. They were novices and had to go to school again to learn the new techniques. They lacked the equipment and had nothing like the quantum of skilled staff normally deemed requisite for the work; the engineering staffs of the undertakings had already dwindled, consequent upon the demands of the war, but a small nucleus of skilled personnel, none of whom, however, had had previous 'aircraft experience, began to tackle the problem. The number of staff engaged eventually rose to thousands, although, even then, more than 85 per cent. had no previous engineering experience, whilst nearly half were women.
At the end of 1941, The first Halifax was airborne, to the great joy and. perhaps, greater trepidation of the con structors. However, all went well and, week by week, a regular and increasing flow of bombers came off the production lines. These were in addition to vast quantities of spares.
With progressive improvements in the war position and smaller losses of aircraft, the programme is being varied, with the result that the work of L.A.P. will come to an end some time next spring, when the concerns involved and the workers will be willing to go over to whatever work be indicated by the Government.
It is important to mention that throughout the period of aircraft production each of the undertakings was carrying oil with its normal job or doing other important war work.
• The effort was carried on despite high pressure and long hours, blackout conditions and the frequent bombing of the Metropolis, from which some of the factories did not altogether escape. This resulted in some loss of life, whilst many workers have been forced to continue with their jobs under conditions often far from comfortable.
Lord Ashfield remarked that whilst being intensely proud to be-associated with this magnificent effort, his task had been comparatively easy, and he took the opportunity of thanking those upon whose shoulders the burden bad largely fallen, these being Messrs. W. -R. Black, G. F. Watts and J. 13. Osler, managing directors, respectively, :of the Park Royal. Duple, and Express concerns; Benjamin King, chairman and managing director, Chrysler Motors, Ltd.; and E. C. Ottaway and L. C. Hawkins, joint general managers (Aircraft), London Transport. He paid tribute and gave thanks to the officers of the Ministry of Aircraft Production, who had consistently given the group every assistance. Thanks were also tendered to Sir Frederick Handley Page, the father of the Halifax, and to his executives.
When members of the group first saw the inside of a bomber with its 40,000 or more parts, they marvelled at their temerity in undertaking to build such an intricate and highly specialized machine, weighing 28 tons fully laden.
As regards the division of the work, Chryslers built the rear fuselage, Park Royal the outer wings, Express the intermediate wings and tail plane. Duples the shell and tomponents for the front fuselage. London Transport undertook the production of the centre section. the installation of the fittings and equipment for the front fuselage and of the engines, and the final erection and test flight of the complete aircraft.
The provision of the manufacturingand assembly jigs, tools and equipment was alone a major production problem. The country had to be scoured to provide tools and instruments. Eventually, the L.A.P. group became responsible not only for its own tooling, but also for the provision of gauges required to check the interchangeability of aircraft by Halifax builders throughout the country.
Owing to the scarcity of machine tools at the beginning, the machining work was spread over no feWer than 300 sub-contractoes, the first 200 aircraft being produced under these conditions.