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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 0884.PDF
358 FLIGHT APRIL 8TH, 1943 British Mission to U.S.A. Reflections of Sir Roy Fedden, Following Aircraft Engineers* American Tour SIR ROY FEDDEN, who, witheleven aircraft engineers, has re-cently returned from a visit to the leading factories -of the U.S.A., gave his impressions to a Press gather- ing on Monday. The object of the mission was to assist production on both sides of the Atlantic and also to • look. into certain technical questions needing discussion. Sir Roy spoke feelingly of the excellent reception his mission was accorded. There was no delay in pairing up with their opposite numbers at American factories, and every assistance was readily forth- coming. They were able to interview technicians, production experts, and Army and Navy technical representa- tives at various points, their travels including 10,000 miles by air. What impressed the mission more than anything else was the growth of the American aircraft industry and the tremendous effort which was being put forward. As an example, he said that in 1939 the U.S. car industry was seven times greater than ours. To- day the U.S. aircraft industry was three times greater than their car in- dustry of 1939. As far as workpeople were concerned, whereas in 1939 50,000 were employed, and in 1941 500,000, the present total was 1,500,000 operatives, which would ex- pand by another 1,000,000 by the end of the year. Sir Roy felt that they had learned a great deal concerning jigging and tool- ing on aircraft, particularly as the scale and lavishness of equipment were so impressive. He admitted that certain- grave mistakes had been made by car people, who had overdone the tooling, but by and large their vision was mag- nificent. He praised the magnificent buildings, the lighting, and the speed with which new factories were erected and put into production. Women Workers America does not yet employ so many "women as we do—25 to 30 per cent, representing female labour on aircraft, and 10 to 15 per cent, on engines and airscrews. He praised the American War Production Councils for the interchange of experiences and opinions, one operating on the West and one on the East coast. These councils were valuable since they col- lated the experiences of factories 3,000 miles apart. He thought the hand- ling of material was better in this country than in America, and their sub-contracting methods were not so good. Many unfinished parts were transported for long distances for fijial machining operations. Sir Roy's committee praised par- ticularly the lofting and photograph- ing processes now commonly used in America. He estimated that 50 per cent, of time was saved by abolishing blue prints ; he was anxious to see the practice extended in this country also. The American system of utilising con- veyors for line assembly he particu- larly praised as well as the new weld- ing technique to which the mission was introduced. He also praised the Packard method of stripping and re- building Rolls-Royce engines, after test, by a rotary conveyor system, and added that they had brought back a new silver-lead bearing for engines. Labour in America worked 48 hours SIR ROY FEDDEN. in a six-day working week, and there was no piece work. It was interesting to find Sir Roy confirm the view that, generally speaking, American aircraft designers appear to be more '' production minded " than British. He mentioned as examples of aircraft types designed for ease of production the North American Mustang and the. Bell Aira- cobra. There was closer collaboration between 'design and production than in this country. The British mission was impressed by the size of American engineering staffs, which were about five times as large as ours. Conse- quently they got more brains on a job and got it out quickly. The mission saw with some envy the amazing research establishments. At one, for example, there was a wind tunnel of 24ft. diameter, capable of a speed of 500 m.p.h. in which con- ditions up to 50,000ft. could be simu- lated. Altogether the mission received fine help from all sides, and no information was withheld. As an example of how America achieves rapid progress Sir Roy told of a man who previously manufactured electric washing mach- ines. He was now developing power driven gun-turrets. Some of the new American turrets, originally based on Frazer Nash and Boulton Paul de- signs, were, he thought, ahead of ours. Visits to several repair depots im- pressed the mission greatly. At the Navy Repair Depot at San Diego they were repairing surprisingly large num- bers per month, and the work was equal to any done by the Rolls-Royce and Bristol firms of this country. Concerning American transport air craft, he referred to all the familiar types and mentioned one new one, be- ing produced by the Budd concern. It is an all-steel machine (and presum- ably spot-welded.—Ed.). Turning to the subject of training, the mission was very impressed by the new American training types, some six to eight of which were now coming into use. Stressed-skin con- struction was being used, and there was full equipment such as flaps, variable-pitch airscrews, etc. Engine Production On the subject of engine-production methods the British visitors did not appear to learn quite so much. That was natural because America had not been in large-scale production for as long as we, and consequently we were more on an equal footing in that respect. Sir Roy mentioned some new powerful engines which were seen on test, but again no information may- be published. Reverting to the size of American technical staffs, admiration w;as ex- pressed for American training facili- ties. For example, last year no fewer than 1,400 took degrees. Thus the volume of knowledge which was being concentrated on aircraft problems was enormous, and he hoped that we in this country would press strongly for better technical education facilities. The mission was surprised to find that in some of the American States there was an almost complete lack of knowledge of what Great Britain had done and was doing in the war. They had, for instance, no idea that a great number of American factories were paid for by this country before Lease- Lend came into being, and thus did .not realise to what extent our fore- sight in placing orders in America long ago had helped not only us but America. Two things Sir Roy Fedden wanted to plead for • as strongly as possible were: better facilities for technical education and vastly extended re- search equipment.
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