Since my first missive on the Coventry bombing, several people have asked
how Rolls Royce managed without J. Ellor (Chief Engineer) and T.B.
Barrington (Chief Designer) after they died through war work in the States
in 1940.
To answer this question, obviously to loose Mr Ellor and Mr Barrington was
an enormous loss to the company, because both those great men were quite
brilliant. The success of Rolls in engineering terms was, I believe, due to
the fact that the management of the company was always thick with superb
engineers who's knowledge on their subject was definitive and 'state of the
art'
It was generally accepted that the Rolls Royce staff at that time, both
individually and as a team, were, without doubt, the finest aero engineers
in the world. The engineering team, which was considerable, were all
selected on proven ability, and were schooled in the vein of Sir Henry
Royce (at his insistence of course), who was born in Alwalton a small
village on the outskirts of Peterborough only about ten miles from my home.
Sir Henry died sometime in the mid to late thirties (I'll look that up).He
was a man of pure genius who laid down the basic design principles of his
aero engines from the first 'Eagle engine' of about 1910. The principles he
laid down, that of a 60 degree V12, were to last until the end of the
piston Merlin and Griffon eras (which were used in passenger aircraft after
the war).
The head of Rolls throughout the war was Earnest (later Lord Hives). He
started with Rolls at the turn of the century and loved Rolls cars which he
rallied regularly. He came up through the ranks at Rolls and was for some
years in charge of the Experimental department, and after WW1 became Chief
Experimental Engineer. So first and foremost, with Earnest Hives at the
helm, Rolls was led by a man who knew about aero engines from the very
start of Rolls involvement. Part of his genius was the fact that he
recognized the need at Rolls for 'men of science,' whilst sound in the
knowledge that Rolls made the finest engines (car and aero) in the world
anyway.
Probably the most significant members of the Engineering team for the war
effort were Hives himself, his Chief Designer A.E.Elliot and three Science
and engineering graduates who had been with the company for many years and
joined Rolls in the early twenties - whilst Sir Henry was still running the
show. The generally accepted 'Mr nice guy' of Rolls was Arthur Rubbra
-CBE.BSc.FEng.RDI.FRAeS.FIMechE- (his name was pronounced 'Roobra'). During
the war he was Deputy Chief designer aero engines, under the aforementioned
Mr Barrington (Chief Engineer aero engines) who he succeeded. Arthur Rubbra
was one of those delightful men who often credited definitive work of his
own to others rather than take credit himself (I wonder what he would have
thought of Mr. Robson?).
Ray Dorey was the engineer in charge of the Experimental Installation and
flight facility at Hucknall. His job was to oversee the fitting of
experimental Merlin engines, and anything else experimental into various
airframes, and prove flight integrity etc, - a hell of a job, which also
included engineering research and flight evaluation of captured German
aircraft like ME109's etc.
A.C. 'Cyril' Lovesey' became Chief Experimental Engineer after the death of
Mr Ellor.
in 1940. It is generally accepted in the world of engineering that Cyril
Lovesey was the finest development engineer in the world throughout his
working life - (I believe his skill, by example, has never been
superceded). He was a great character, and together with a first class
Science Degree, he was qualified in design and had a 'seat of the pants'
feel for engineering excellence - like Sir Henry Royce. An example of Mr
Lovesey's job on the Merlin engine was the fact that he was responsible for
the mechanical integrity of the engine throughout it's many modifications
and the doubling of its power from the start to the finish of the war. One
story I remember of him was when several engineers from outside Rolls
(during the war engineers often met from all over England to 'pool'
knowledge and ideas) became 'turbo' experts. It came to the point that many
engineers were insisting on a 'turbocharged' Merlin engine to the point
that government 'pressure' was being leveled at Rolls to do something about
it. The Rolls engineers (who had ignored directives) got thoroughly pissed
of with the suggestion, because they thought, quite rightly as it turned
out, that the 'smart arses' had not done their homework. It finally got to
the point (by shear devilment of Earnest Hives the head of the company)
that Cyril Lovesey was sent to give a talk on the 'turbo' thing to about
three dozen 'wizz kids' who were insisting on the 'Merlin turbo.' - Mr
Lovesey, after making sure everyone was comfortable said words to the
effect-
"For sometime now, as you all should know, my team and I have spent much
time developing the 'rear facing' exhaust stubs on the Merlin engine. I
have calculated that the jet propulsion effect of the stubs on the Spitfire
at full speed produces the equivalent of close on 100 Brake horse power. I
am therefore loath to sacrifice this by fitting an exhaust turbo
supercharger into the system which, besides relieving me of this power,
threatens aerodynamic integrity and would give us problems with the
airframe. It would also involve my staff with a plumbing problem almost as
complex with that of improving the toilet facilities on Plymouth Naval
Docks"!! (the inference being, Naval docks were often blessed with row
upon row of toilets for the sailors, most of which were often out of order
due to 'plumbing problems').
Probably the finest mathematical brain in Rolls was that of Stanley Hooker
(later Sir Stanley). He joined Rolls just before WW2 from a naval
ballistics department. He held every mathematical qualification possible at
the 'Hons' level, and was the world renowned expert on fluid dynamics.
Having never seen an aero engine or a supercharger before joining Rolls, he
stumbled on some graphs depicting the pumping capacity of a Merlin
supercharger, together with graphs of pressure produced and heat rise
through compression etc. By mathematical calculation alone he immediately
improved the Merlin supercharger efficiency by 15%. He later masterminded
the further development of the Whittle jet engine, and became the world
authority on jet engines thereafter. In fact he designed all the Rolls
engines up to about 1950 and oversaw the transition between the reverse
flow radial compressor Whittle type to the new axials; the first of which
was named the AJ (axial jet) sixty five ( the problems were such that this
engine took the Rolls engineers seven years to develop). After leaving
Rolls Sir Stanley went to the Bristol company and among a mountain of other
achievements was responsible for overseeing the design of the Olympus,
Orpheus, and the famed 'Pegasus' vertical take off engine used in our first
'Harrier' Jump jets.
The thing that impresses me so much about the shear depth of knowledge of
the Rolls engineers I've mentioned, which is why I now chose to highlight
three of them, is the part they played when Rolls went bust (mid 70's think
it was) whilst developing the RB211 jet engine. Rolls had spent millions
developing the new and revolutionary 'Hyfil' carbon fibre fan blades, which
although much lighter and stronger than the previous 'nimonic' blades,
failed the 'bird strike test'. - Chickens from the local supermarket were
shot at speed into the engine at take off speed. The hyfil blades failed
and a reversion was made back to nymonic alloy. The engine also developed
very serious performance problems which the Rolls engineers of the time
could not solve.
Sir Stanley Hooker was transferred back to Rolls from the Bristol Company
(which I think was now owned by Rolls) to sort things out. He brought back
to Rolls the aforementioned Arthur Rubbra and Cyril Lovesey, who he thought
were the greatest of Rolls engineers (piston and jet). They had both been
long since retired and were in their seventies.
Between them these three geniuses and their team solved the RB211 problems
within months, and I count myself honored to the extreme to have met all of
them in my youth. I also met, and am still in contact with, Geof Wilde -
ever known as 'Oskar' who was a senior member of Sir Stanley Hooker's
Merlin performance team and was to join the highest echelon of Rolls jet
engineers until his retirement. He still lectures on jet propulsion at
universities.- He also designed the radial supercharger for the V16 BRM.-
A great humorist, he told me not so long ago that during his interview at
Rolls before WW2 he found the engineer who interviewed him rather abrasive
and 'aloof.' The engineer was called Mr 'Rowbottom', Geof thereafter always
called him 'Paddle-arse.'
As a conclusion, I hasten to add, Sir Stanley Hooker blamed the problems
with the RB211, if blame is the right word, to the engineering void caused
by the sudden death of the Rolls Engineering Director of the time 'Adrian
Lombard,' who died in the mid sixties. FOTers will be interested to know
that Adrian Lombard was the uncle of our very own John Macartney.
Christ!! look at the time - I must get on with some work
All the best Paul
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