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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 1948.PDF
OCTOBER 4TH, 1945 years past were in the ascendancy. :Qur piston engines were ahvays on • the top line. The Fw 190 and the various bomber types were not really a success, he added. But in the opinion of British technicians with whom we discussed the subject, Ger- many was more advanced in the production of turbine jet-propelled aircraft, not only in designs but in quantity also. Three thousand per month were reported to be in pro- duction. Jet propulsion was very attractive to the Germans because of the speed of manufacture, and there- fore it received high priority; but the machines were more complicated than British designs, heavier and relatively less efficient. Jet fighters of the 600 m.p.h. class were in proto- type form. Day fighters, night fighters, and even a couple of four- engined bombers were turbine- \ equipped, though latterly German Energies were diverted from bombers to means of defence. In rocket- assisted take-off Germany evolved many novel designs revolutionary in performance ; but their life was brief. In most applications of jet propulsion, materials of suitable quality, denied to them by reason of constant bombing and the urgency of the deteriorating situation, would have provided much improved results. They were forced to utilise hollow turbine blades of sheet metal, for example, save for the Schmidt turbine, which had water-cooled blades. Panic decisions by Nazi leaders led to frequent changes in leading personnel and their production plans, which seriously handicapped German output. "Hitler was our best ally" is a good method of describing the final phases of the war, after studying the ever-changing Nazi plans which hampered production. Co-ordination and strong direction was completely lacking, and high Nazi officials frequently "*fl?/er-ruled the judgment of experienced technicians. By contrast, this country pursued a definite policy without deviation or interruption, and scored thereby. This did not prevent desirable modifications and up-to- The Fw 190/Ju 88 composite aircraft. The Ju 88 was flown under the control of the Fw 190 and released over the target. In the Ju 88 was a heavy load of explosiveand the aircraft became, in effect, a guided bomb. the-minute changes dictated by experience to ensure the finest aircraft for Service use. The biggest German factories were gradually driven underground by per- sistent bombing, but curiously this was not a bar to production as it was found that due to more settled mentality, even temperature and better conditions gener- ally, more work was achieved. Metal stocks were large. The largest underground factory was at Nordhausen, Saxony, now in the Russian zone. Here in a tunnel over a mile in length, with shafts on either side, some 30,000 workers—Russians, French, Italian, Poles and Germans—were employed on Vi and V2 weapons and Ju and B.M.W. turbine jets. The output of V2S was 900 per month. Twenty-five thousand machine tools were used in the factory, which had no lifts ; it is possible to drive straight in like entering a railway tunnel. But never again will such diabolical weapons leave these factories and tunnels. The combined fighting forces of the Allied Nations have rendered their account. Butter, not guns, will be Germany's cry for many years. FUTURE OF ROLLS-ROYjDE FACTORYM R. ARTHUR WOODBURN,tary to the Ministry of visited the Rolls-Royce factoryentered into a full discussion with on the question of redundancyGovernment policy was Juction in order thpossible into Dealing withutilise M,lAircJ Secre- tie devg fn for thfc Iilljjfcfl|f8rf^*frlasgow, andnaM^ement and workers Woodburn said that these workers from wartime pro- ght be absorbed as speedily asDpment. Ron that the Government shoulddeduction of peacetime goods, he said theW was^rtot time to wait until legislation gave suchpowers t¥ ttfe Government. It was essential that factory space should be available for enterprises with plans, prepara-tions, and markets ready. The Government appreciated the ffears of the West of Scotland arising from experiences in theblack period between the wars, and was, therefore, designat- ing Clydeside as a development area. This meant that privateenterprise seeking to begin production would be diverted auto- matically to this area. So far as it was possible, the Govern-ment intended to give preference to industries likely to prove a permanent acquisition to Scotland. Alarm was expressed by the workers at the apparentlymounting figures of unemployment. Mr. Woodburn/empha- sised in his reply that it was important to distinguish betweenthe registered figures of unemployed, representing workers absorbed into peacetime production in the space of a few days, and the figure of unemployed which 'referred to the pre-warperiod and was on a somewhat permanent basis. The Ministry of Labour, he said, had given assurances thatthere was still an urgent demand for labour. A great part of our housing production was actually being held up forlack of the very skill that was being set free in Hillington. R.A.F.'s WARTIME EXPANSION FACTS and figures issued to-day graphically illustrate thetremendous growth of construction necessitated by R.A.F. expansion and the enormous burden of work thrown upon theDirectorate-General of.Works of the Air Ministry. The total cost of meeting the U.S.A.A.F. works programmecarried out by the Works Directorate amounted to more than £100,000,000. Total works expenditure (excluding mainten-ance) at home and abroad was, from 1939 to 1944, over £570,000,000. In 1942, the peak year, £145,000,000 was spent.The normal sum expended on Air Ministry works before 1935 ranged between £750,000 and £1,250,000. Up to the end of March, 1945, a total of 430 airfields inuse by the R.A.F. and U.S.A.A.F. in the U.K. had been pro- vided with paved runways. The areas of paved runways,perimeter tracks and hardstandings totalled approximately 175,000,000 sq. yds., or 36,000 acres. This area is greaterthan that of all the land within the boundary of the city of Edinburgh (32,000 acres) and is the equivalent of a 30ft. wideroad stretching for nearly 10,000 miles. .
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