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Aviation History
1952
1952 - 0237.PDF
25 January 1952 103 A CALL TO ARMS Hawker Siddeley Chairman on the "Very Serious Problems' of Defence Production ADDRESSING shareholders at the sixteenth annual /\ general meeting of the Hawker Siddeley Group on January 16th, the chairman, Mr. T. O. M. Sopwith, C.B.E., Hon. F.R.Ae.S., delivered a speech that is worthy of more detailed treatment than we are normally able to accord to company reports. "A year ago," said Mr. Sopwith, "we asked if the air power of the R.A.F., the Commonwealth and our Allies was strong enough to preserve the security and freedom of our people. The answer then was NO. It is still NO. "Although our research and experimental prototypes have led the world for years, the R.A.F. is still flying with aeroplanes which are obsolescent. "In the haste of disarmament and retrenchment, orders for the more modern aircraft were not placed in time to ensure that we could outclass a potential enemy. We had the types; but we did not have production orders for them. Now we have some of the orders required, but it is indeed late in the day." P1067 Man-hours in building; a comparison between Hawker fighters. Mr. Sopwith went on to say that of the things which governed the production of aircraft and engines, the first was design and development; the second was manpower; the third was raw materials; and the fourth was machine tools. But even when these four vital points were under control, there was still the all-import ant factor of time: the time that it took to build aircraft—time that must be measured not in days or even months, but in years. What, asked Mr. Sopwith,, was the position to-day as compared with the war years ? A modern fighter like the Hawker P. 1067 absorbed nearly three times as much manpower as did its counterpart, the Hurricane, in 1940. Manpower was the key to al most all our problems and we must beat the manpower shortage. It was an anomaly that apprentices were conscripted for military service when they had completed their training and were beginning to be of real value. Deliveries of materials such as steel, light alloys, copper, brass and bronze now took from three to eight times as long to obtain. The material shortage must be overcome by eliminating bottle necks and stringently applying priorities. "Machine tools, also," continued Mr. Sopwith, "are a harassing problem. We have placed substantial orders for them in this country, in America and on the Continent. But . . . deliveries are, in the main, running late. And we must get those vital tools. "In three of our major works we are curtailing our civil and commercial activities to a considerable extent in order to make manpower, space and plant available for rearmament. There is a risk that we may lose ground in these commercial fields but we feel that this step is necessary in the national interest." Reviewing the group's activities in detail, Mr. Sopwith recalled that Hawker Aircraft had increased their plant by 1J million square feet by taking over the Squires Gate factory in which suitable equipment was now being installed. The P. 1067 was being pre pared for large-scale production, while the Sea Hawk was already in production at Kingston, the first deliveries to the Royal Navy being due this month. The year under review also saw further Sea Fury deliveries to the Royal Navy, Canada and Australia. A great deal of the group's work was upon delta-winged air craft, the 707 series having sent Avros to the forefront of all aviation companies in this respect, while the G.A.5 was an example of close collaboration by companies within the group—Gloster, Avro and Armstrong Siddeley. Turning to well-established fighters, the Meteor, in various marks, was still in quantity production for the R.A.F. and for the air forces of various N.A.T.O. and Western' Union countries, while the Armstrong Whitworth N.F.II development, spoken of as "the deadliest night fighter in operation today," was already in R.A.F. service and had performed well in recent exercises; it was in production at Coventry for N.A.T.O. countries, and would form the backbone of Western European night-fighter defence. Going on to review production of other types of aircraft, Mr. Sopwith reported the R.A.F.'s satisfaction with the very-long- range Shackleton, and the good work being done for the M.o.S. by the high-flying Ashton. He then paid tribute to the Anson (its sixteen years in production are now drawing to a close) and spoke of Avro's new production-line at Malton, Ontario, whence the Canadian company had recently made the first deliveries of the CF-100 to the R.C.A.F. Reduced priority would have to be accorded to the group's civil aircraft, the Apollo and the Canadian Jetliner. Turning to the group's engine work, Air. Sopwith recalled that, as reported last year, Armstrong Siddeley had granted a licence to the Curtiss Wright Company to manufacture the Sapphire in America. A.S. had received substantial direct orders for both their Sapphire and Double Mamba engines, and were now actively engaged in preparing their existing premises at Coventry and co-operating with the group's new Brockworth Company at Hucclecote for this very large volume of production. Apart from the new production aircraft in which these Sapphire and Double Mamba engines are to be fitted there were new prototype aircraft in which the Sapphire was being, or would be, installed. During the year the existence of the new Armstrong Siddeley Snarler rocket motor—first British product of its kind—had been revealed, while still another new engine taken off the secret list was the Viper, which powered the Australian pilotless aircraft. The Avro Canada Orenda was also in production and very substantial orders had been received from the Canadian Govern ment. It would be remembered that last year the Orenda was about to take the air in the CF.100; it had since flown hundreds of hours in several of these aircraft. Light Alloys Stainless Steel Other Steel Copper, Brass and Bronze 1945 m 1951 Material-delivery delays: each rectangle represents two months. Briefly mentioning the secret work being done by the group in the field of rockets, guided weapons and missiles, the chairman then went on to report good progress in other sections of the organization. He paid tribute to the intensive research carried out by High Duty Alloys, who had consequently secured large con tracts for gas-turbine compressor blades, and referred also to Air Service Training, Ltd., who would come of age this year. A.S.T.'s aircraft division had been expanded, and now undertook both production of major aircraft components and experimental jet installation work. Earlier in his statement, the chairman had reported a satisfactory year for the group with an increased turnover, both in quantity and value, and an increased profit, compared with the year 1949-50. The existing taxation code, however, made inadequate allowances for depreciation and replacement of capital assets—or for expan sion, or even replacement, of trading stocks. The board had, therfore, considerably increased its reserves, part of such in crease being due to sales of rights to manufacturers abroad. Mr. Sopwith concluded his address with the words : "The commanding lead which this country has in the new jet age is due in no small measure to the talent and hard work of the people who have produced such exceptional aircraft and engines as the Hawker P. 1067, the A.V. Roe Deltas, the Gloster G.A.5 and the Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire. These are outstanding achieve ments, but we must now translate them into thousands of aircraft available on the runways and air-strips of the Western world. "Therein lies our future strength and, I regret to say, our present weakness."
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