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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 1795.PDF
592 %^m JUNE 8, 1939 THE INDUSTRY Reorganisation of Parnali Aircraft ltd. AN extraordinary general meeting of the shareholders of Parnall Aircraft, Ltd., is to be held on June 26, when the directors will propose an increase of the share capital from the present £450,000 to £750,000, and an alteration in the articles of association modifying the company's borrowing powers. It is proposed to create 1,200,000 new ordinary shares of 5s. each and to offer them to the shareholders at 5s. 6d. each, in the proportion of two new shares to every three existing shares. The Pru dential Assurance Co., Ltd., has agreed to underwrite the whole of the new issue for a commission of three-halfpence per share. In a letter to the shareholders the chairman of the company, Sir Louis Vaughan, explains that the company has acquired three further concerns: Powered Mountings, Ltd., Magnal Products, Ltd., and Yate Development Co., Ltd. Powered Mountings, Ltd., holds'the rights in the Frazer-Nash patents for tanks and armoured cars (all rights for aeronauti cal purposes are held by Parnall Aircraft, Ltd.);. Magnal Products, Ltd., was formed to safeguard the supply of light alloys, and the foundry is situated near Bristol, within a few miles of Yate; Yate Development Co., Ltd., is a housing con cern, and will provided living facilities for the employees. At a dinner given last week to make these announcements, Capt. E. Grattan Thompson recalled that the beginning of what he very descriptively termed " turretry," was to be found in the con nection of himself and of Capt. Frazer- Nash with the development of the Con- stantinesco fire-control gear during the war, 1914-18, when both were in the Air Ministry. They realised, soon after the^ war, that manually operated guns would have to be superseded by power- operated guns when aircraft speeds went up to 200 m.p.h. By 1931 they had evolved the Nash and Thompson power- operated gun gear, and put the scheme up to the Air Ministry. The first tur ret was designed in 1932. Not until 1935 was one installed in a Hawker Demon and tested by the R.A.F. A small order was then placed, from which had since been developed the multi-gun turrets now in increasing use on Service aircraft. Capt. Grattan Thompson said it was fair to claim that Parnall Aircraft, Ltd., had created a revolution in air armament equal to that of the Constantinesco of the late-war period. He thought the financial arrangements to be suggested at the meeting on June 26 would satisfy the problem of making the fixed capital structure of the company properly re lated to the output demand over the next five years, leaving the company with a permanent capital structure which it could profitably employ in normal years. By way of explanation he said that the type of infinitely variable gear em ployed in the operation of armament would certainly have a great many ap plications in commercial spheres, so that if the present demand for "turretry" should dwindle, there was hope of de veloping cmmercial business. PARACHUTE PRODUCTION : A busy scene in the canopy department of Irving Airchute of Britain, Ltd., at Letchworth, where large Air Ministry orders are being fulfilled. The Rolls-Royce Scottish Factory A PARTY of Rolls-Royce officials recently visited Glasgow, and it was learned from them that work on the site of their vast new aero-engine factory, to be established on the industrial estate at Hillington, will begin almost imme diately. Sir Steven Bilsland, chairman of Scot tish Industrial Estates, Ltd., gave a dinner at which he introduced a number of Glasgow and West of Scotland indus trialists to the visitors from Derby, and the following evening the latter enter tained local trade union officials and dis turbed with them employment prospects at the new factory. The Rolls-Royce representative in cluded Mr. E. \V. Hives, who will be deputy controller of the new factory; Mr. Haldenby, assistant; Mr. Robins, works engineer; Mr. Philips, architect; and Mr. Buckie, consulting engineer. In an interview with our Glasgow correspondent, Mr. Hives said that the immediate purpose of their visit was to give final consideration to the lay-out of the factor ' site so that work on the roads could be started immediately. ROOF-TOP TRANSPORT : How an Avian fuselage arrived at the Gatwick shops of Airwork, Ltd., for repair. It departed homewards by the same method. There was still a lot of preliminary work to be done, he added, but they would look around for temporary premises in which to start work on jigs and tools during the next few weeks. It was their desire to have the jigs and tools avail able when the factory was built and ready for production, and for this immediate work mechanics would be needed. The number of men to be employed in the temporary premises would depend on the delivery of the machine tools. So far as employment at the new factory was concerned, Mr. Hives thought that by this time next year between 2,000 and 3,000 men would be working there. In Retrospect IT comes as a refreshing change to glance through the pages of a brochure recently issued by a London firm of aircraft suppliers which has been established for over 150 years. The firm—Mosers, Ltd., of Borough High Street, London, S.E.i—started in the year 1787 to deal mainly in ironware. Proportionately, its connection with the aircraft industry is equally old-established. In particular, it has been doing busi ness with Short Bros., Ltd., of Rochester, from that company's earlv Battersea days. To-day, Mosers are one of Shorts' principal suppliers, both for commercial a 11 d A.I.D.-re- 1 parts. Their activities include not only the supply of aircraft 5, but also A.R.P. material.
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