Britain In Advance Of Other Countries In Aero-Engines

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22728, 28 August 1948, Page 4

Britain In Advance Of Other Countries In Aero-Engines

ENGINEER’S OPINION

Considerable experience of work on some of Britain’s most famous aero-engines produced during the war can be claimed by a visitor to Gisborne. Mr. Lawrence Paynter, who with his wife and small daughter is touring New Zealand after spending the past 15 years in England. Mr- Pavnfcr left the Dominion for England 15 years ago to take up an engineering apprenticeship. During those years Mr. Paynter’s profession led him into various spheres of activity, his most interesting being on the production of Napier-Sabre aero engines in. a factory near Liverpool during the war. Tremendous strides were made in the development of aero-engines between 1940 and 1945 and Mr. Paynter. who was concerned with the tooling of much of the gear used in the production of the engines, said today that he had a never-ending job. Either small or large alterations were being made to the engines all the time, and no sooner would the tooling he done for one particular motor and it would be put on the assembly line, than an alteration by Ministry of Production experts would necessitate some part being re-tooled. Change-over in Production At the conclusion of the war, the factory in' which Mr. Paynter was employed was stopped from making aeroengines and there was a lull of three months before it could be turned over to the manufacture cf other machinery. Diesel truck engines and superchargers for large Diesel motors were now being manufactured in the Liverpool factory. Mr. Paynter has retained an interest in aero-engines, however, and knows the jet-propelled and gas turbine types from an engineering angle. He is of the opinion that Britain is considerably in advance of any other country in the development of aero-engines, and docs not seem in any danger of losing the lead in that field.

Skilled factory hands were particularly hard to obtain in England, said Mr. Paynter. This was partly caused by the sudden cessation of war contracts when large engineering plants had to close down while they reconverted to the manufacture of goods which were necessary in a post-war world. During this period, often of months, the factory hands, practically all of whom had become skilled workers during the war years, had drifted into other types of employment. As in New Zealand, housing was a particularly difficult problem and the workers just would not transfer to another job in another town as they knew it was practically impossible to obtain a house, said Mr. Paynter. I’re-fabricated Houses Even with all the houses which were destroyed in England during the war. he thought the housing problem appeared worse in New Zealand than in England. Aluminium pre-fabricated houses, many of which were imported, were being erected in great numbers in England and this was assisting the housing shortage considerably. Although Britain appeared to be in a rather bad position at present, she really was working hard to produce goods for export, and also for her home market, Mr- Paynter continued. There were now a few more goods in the shop windows than there were during the war years. The food position had improved a little. Although one had enough to live on, the rationing became terribly monotonous. Some people appeared to be of the opinion that Britain was down and out, but Mr. Paynter’s opinion was that with the work being done and the fortitude of the people, Britain would gradually struggle out of her present predicament and come out on top again-