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Aviation History
1938
1938 - 0729.PDF
MARCH 17, 1938. FLIGHT. 259 His Majesty shares a joke at the Standard factory with Viscount Swinton (left) and Capt. J. P. Black (right). THE KING VISITS SHADOW FACTORIES A Ten-mile Tour MOST people will remember thefirst official viewing and descrip-tion of the five Midland shadow factories last November, shortly after the visit of the German mission under General Milch. At that time the factories were not in full production,though each had turned out a set of parts towards the first complete "shadow-built" Bristol Mercury. During a visit to the Midlands last Thursday, His Majestythe King saw each of the factories in full swing. The first call was on Lord Austin at Longbridgc, Birming-ham. In the aircraft building the King saw the production and assembling of Fairey Battle components, including thewelding of fuel tanks; while in the engine section he saw crank- shafts, reduction gears, and v.p. airscrew controls in themaking, and whole engines being erected and, later, tested. One half of the components produced in the shadow factoriesare assembled and tested in a specially built department at the Eilton works of the parent firm, the Bristol Aeroplane Co., Ltd. Sodium Valves At the Rover factory the King was received by Mr. Ransom- Harrison, the chairman, and shown pistons and connecting rods in various stages of manufacture, together with gears and valves. He watched drilled-out exhaust valve stems being filled with sodium. Captain J. P. Black received His Majesty on arrival at the Standard factory at Coventry, and here the screwing and shrinking-in of valve seats and sparking-plug adaptors into heated alloy heads was observed with close attention. The whole cylinder assembly is produced at Standards. Passing on to the Daimler factory the King was shown by Mr. G. D.' Burton the manufacturing operations needed on the larger castings, crankcase halves, volute casings, etc. The Mercury VIII rocker mechanism is also the work of the Daimler concern. Incidentally, it was at this factory that the King had a ride in an 1899 6 h.p. Daimler car which had belonged to his grandfather King Edward VII, and is still in good order.The final visit of the tour, which brought the King's " walk round" up to about the ten-mile mark, was to the Humberfactory. Mr. W. E. Rootes conducted the party round, and the machining of supercharger impellors and the production ofrear cover accessories and drives was examined. Keen satisfaction was expressed by His Majesty upon thefirst-class lighting, heating and ventilation of the five factories, which are among the best equipped in the world. (Above) The Kingoperates an Asquith profilingmachine at the Humber workswhile Mr. William Rootes looks onfrom behind him. (Left) Machining of a crankcase holds the King's attention at the Daimler Factory. Mr. Geoffrey Bur- ton is just in the picture on the left and Mr. Patrick Hannon, M.P., looks on from the right.
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