NEARING RECORD RATE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 16, 20 January 1944, Page 5

NEARING RECORD RATE

PRODUCTION OF TYPHOONS

Rec. 12.50 p.m. LONDON, Jan. 19. Ranked highest among the worlds single-seater fighters for combined speed and fire-power, the Hawker Typhoon, which many young New Zealanders are flying, is now being produced in Britain at a rate which is approaching the record of the Hurricane output of the anxious Battle of Britain period, when a Hurricane that left the factory on Saturday was fighting on the following Thursday. That is still the record. One Hurricane was turned out every four hours during the peak period, but the bigger Typhoon takes longer. A factory in the west of England makes on the spot nearly everything for Typhoons except the compact Napier Sabre engine, which develops more than 2000 hdrse-power. Rough sheets and strips of metal start from one end of the factory and come out at the other end sturdy Typhoons ready for the test pilots. The planes are then highly polished and delivered to the R.A.F. for final checking of the armament installation and radio equipment. Thousands of skilled and semi-skilled workers do the job, working in pairs —a man who is frequently in the uniform of the Home Guard supervising or doing the heavy wovk and women in overalls attending to lighter tasks requiring deft and quick fingers. The management has found this method an excellent time-saver. It now reports that it is employing a high proportion of married couples.