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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 0071.PDF
8 January 1954 33 PRODUCTION AT BELFAST A Visit to the Factories of Short Brothers and Harland THE recent news that production of the Britannia is to be started in Belfast by Short Brothers and Harland has called attention to the immense production capacity of this company's Ulster factories. The work programme at present being carried out there is extensive, and includes Canberra B.2 and Comet 2 production in addition to develop ment work on the company's own types and activity in the field of guided weapons. Seamew production for the Royal Navy is being started at the company's Altona factory, near Lisburn, one of three subsidiary plants. The progress made by the company since its move to Belfast was completed in 1948 is indeed remarkable. This progress, and the ability to expand production easily on to a number of different types has been made possible by the large factory-space (almost two million square feet), other natural advantages, a modern layout, and adequate reserves of labour (a total of almost 9,000 people are now employed by the firm). A detailed model of the Queen's Island site and the other factories enables planning deci sions, expansions and alterations to be made as they should be made—with the overall picture clearly presented on the spot. At present the main runway of the airfield is being extended to 2,000 yd, to permit its use by Comets. The main factory at Queen's Island was the first stage of a recent Flight visit. This building, which has a floor space of some 600,000 sq ft, contains, among other activities, those of the well-equipped tool-room, and the very large production machine shop. Towards the far end of the building can be seen Wickman and Wadkin spar-boom millers, Canberra sub-assembly jigs, and the Canberra assembly line. Sunderlands have not yet disappeared from the Queen's Island scene: R.A.F. and R.N.Z.A.F. machines are still being overhauled, and it is in the main factory that this work is done. Up-to-date radio and radar equipment is installed, hulls are stripped and re-skinned and floats replaced where necessary, and engines are removed and exchanged. The Comet assembly line also is planned for this building, and assembly jigs for front and rear Swift fuselages are in the process of erection there. In the "extension factory" of almost 150,000 sq ft are con tained the lofting department, sheet-metal shop, plastics depart ment and ancillary offices. Two small Hufford stretch-forming machines (a 20-ton A.10 model and a 65-ton A.12) are among the equipment of the sheet-metal shop, but the big Model 46 Hufford of 142 tons force (able to handle sheets 5ft 6in wide) and the heavy press shop are situated on the mainland, at the Hawlmark factory at Newtownards. The third factory at Queen's Island covers over 327,500 sq ft, and adjoins the airfield. At present, Comet sub-assembly work and final assembly are performed there, and there is associated heat-treatment and Reduxing plant. The company's first Comet will come off the line, it appears, about next June; on the occasion of our visit last month the centre-section had been attached to the fuselage of machine No. 1, work on the wings was progressing steadily, and the second and third fuselages were not far behind. The de Havilland company's rectangular network of floor tracks is employed at Belfast, too, in order to simplify sub-assembly movements. From Sydenham airfield, Queen's Island, the company's Can- berras are at present flown to Aldergrove for production test flying. The extension of the Sydenham runway, mentioned earlier, has been in progress for some time and should be com pleted before the first Belfast Comet is produced. A few miles from the Queen's Island base lies Short's Castlereagh factory, housed in an impressive modern building, originally built to hold Belfast's "Festival of Britain" exhibition. Here is based the company's precision engineering division, a young but expanding unit which was responsible for the Short analogue computor shown at Farnborough last year. Headed by Mr. E. Lloyd Thomas, B.Sc., A.C.G.I., the division handles electronic, electro-mechanical and mathematical research prob lems, together with a certain amount of design and manufacture. The "plug-in" units of the company's computor have been designed for ease of production, and the second of an initial batch of ten computors was under construction at the time of our In Short's main factory at Queen's Island (top) is housed the main production machine-shop, part of which is seen in the centre photograph. The bottom picture is of the Model 46 Hufford stretch-forming machine at the company's Hawlmark, Newtownards, factory. visit. Three of the machines have been ordered by Handley Page, Ltd., and three by Vickers-Armstrongs. Castlereagh con tains also the apprentices' training school, and a further useful addition to the main factory's machining capacity. Both the extension factory at Castlereagh and the Hawlmark factory were completed and brought into use during 1953. For the future, further extensions to the facilities at Queen's Island are in the planning stage.
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