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Aviation History
1952
1952 - 1213.PDF
2 May 1952 529 Avions Fairey personalities: Left to right, Martin Tips, A. C. Vreedenburgh (who joined Mr. Tips at Fairey's Hayes factory in 1915), £. 0. Tips, H. C. Freeman. Maurice Tips and R. Coniot. Avions Fairey company in 1931, but his work at Gosselies was brought to an abrupt standstill at 5 a.m. on May 10th, 1940, when German bombers flattened most of the buildings and left behind them sufficient delayed-action bombs to put paid to the few re maining. The company's staff nevertheless managed to salvage a useful quantity of equipment and records, which they loaded on 30 or 40 trucks and headed south, with the idea of starting up afresh near Bordeaux. The state of affairs on arrival, however, prompted Mr. Tips to move his equipage across to England; so the material from Gosselies was shipped aboard a collier at Nantes and the staff secured a passage on the Cunarder Lancastria, lying at Front-fuselage assembly jigs in one of the new Cosselies workshops. (Below) The first Meteor assembled at Gosselies for the Belgian Air Force. Saint Nazaire. But hardly had the liner cleared the harbour when she was dive-bombed and sunk. Eight of the Avions Fairey staff were drowned, but the others were rescued and brought safely to Devonport by the destroyer Havelock. So it was that Mr. Tips became experimental manager and chief engineer of the Burton wood Repair Depot of the Ministry of Aircraft Production, under the Controller, Major C. H. Chichester Smith, who today is one of the assistant managing directors of The Fairey Aviation Co. in England. Mr. Tips was responsible for modifying strange American aircraft for which, in most instances, the drawings and tools had to be improvised. He left the depot in 1943, when the U.S.A.F. took over, and once again joined Faireys, where he was chief experimental and research engineer until 1945. Upon the liberation of Belgium he returned to the Gosselies factory and found it a mere shell. The Germans had temporarily reconstructed the hangars and used them as workshops for Me no repairs; but looters had left little else but bare walls. Before abandoning the factory in the face of the German advance in 1940 Mr. Tips had caused the major components for six of his machines to be hidden on the top floor of a local factory; but again his luck was out, for someone had given the game away in 1944 and the Germans had collected, assembled and flown the little monoplanes for their amusement. Scarcity of building materials and other handicaps notwith standing the works were reopened during October, 1946, and Mr. Tips gathered around him the nucleus of his old staff, having in prospect receipt of military contracts. Pending the placing of these —until the middle of last year, in fact—the principal activity was the repair and overhaul of civil and military aircraft, and over 200 Service machines, including Tiger Moths, Ansons, Dominies, Dakotas, Harvards, Spitfires, Meteors and Mosquitoes, had been dealt with up to the beginning of this year. For civil operators a number of Ju 52s, Fieseler Storchs, Piper Cubs and Fairchilds were repaired and overhauled. Meantime, production went ahead on a modest scale—seven Belfairs and two Juniors having been delivered during 1946-48. (The Junior was a post-war single-seater with a very spritely performance on extremely low horse-power.) It was on one of the Bclfairs that Mr. Van Cotthem broke the world's record for the under-500 kg class with a flight of 945 km—a record which no longer stands, though plans are in hand at Gosselies for its ultimate recapture. Factory space was extended considerably during 1950 and 1951, and the staff has been correspondingly and progressively increased to cope with the greatly expanded business. The Meteor Contract In December, 1950, a contract for Gloster Meteor Mk 8 intercepters for the Belgian Air Force was in prospect, and Avions Fairey was successful in being appointed sub-contractors, in the first place to Gloster- and secondly to Fokker, for the production on an assembly basis of these aircraft for the Belgian Government. Work on the Meteor contract began in July, 1951, and at the time of our visit a few weeks ago six machines had been completed. Of standard Mk 8 pattern, they are fitted with Rolls-Royce Derwent 8s made by the Fabrique Nationale factory at Li6ge— which, we were reminded by G/C. L. C. Slee, D.S.O., D.F.C., the British Air Attache in Brussels, is not the nationalized concern that its name suggests. No divergence from standard British practice is to be observed on the Meteors, except that the V.H.F. sets are of Belgian type : even the labels in the cockpit are printed in English, for the fact is increasingly apparent that English is the language of the air. The labels, incidentally, are of aluminium, anodically blackened and engraved, so that the lettering cannot be erased by wear during service. In the planning of the new works, Mr. Tips, assisted by Mr. H. C. Freeman (works' manager) and by his own sons ; Mr. Martin Tips (assistant works' manager) and Mr Maurice Tips (manager, technical department), had full scope. Everything appears to have been laid out for order and speed : the compressed-air system and electrical supplies are tidily disposed, and in place of the traditional battered wooden work-benches are stout metal structures with tubular legs. Track trucks and overhead cranes help the com ponents on their way to the assembly bay. Fuselages are assembled on one side of the shop and the wing centre-sections, ailerons, etc., on the other. Though the buildings are not remarkable for their dimensions, there is no obstruction to movement. Complete sets of parts for particular jobs are delivered from stores on dozens of standardized trolleys, and all man-handling in the shops is thus eliminated. Views of the shops herewith convey more of the scene than could any verbal account. Some replanning of the buildings has been necessary because a new by-pass road is to be brought through the area; but there is no natural obstacle to hinder future expansion. The airfield belongs to the company itself and the runway is being renewed
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