19 For a listing of all the military research and development establishments and the numbers of scientists working in each, see Edgerton, Warfare State, p. 120.
20 These included 1270 engineers (of whom half were GPO engineers running the telephone service), 740 chemists and scientific research officers, 460 medical research doctors and 200 technical officers engaged in other sorts of scientific research, see Edgerton, Warfare State, p. Ill; the number of 6500 in the technical and scientific grades compares with 1150 in the administrative grades (the ruling group of permanent and assistant secretaries in the senior civil service) and 4350 in executive grades (the middle management of the civil service).
21 Edgerton, Warfare State, p. 118; equivalent sum calculated on www.measuringworth.com according to the retail price index.
22 It was more than a decade before Frank Whittle’s theoretical design for a gas turbine jet engine could become a practical reality as new metals needed to be developed to sustain the stresses of jet propulsion before an engine could be built; although Whittle later complained of lack of support from the Air Ministry, the record shows that several senior RAF figures continued to provide him and his private company, Power Jets Ltd, with considerable support. See Andrew Nahum, Frank Whittle, pp. 52ff.
23 Clark, The Rise of the Boffins, p. 12.
24 Speaking to the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee in February 1942. See Downing, Churchill’s War Lab, p. 178.
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Index
Page numbers listed correspond to the print edition of this book. You can use your device’s search function to locate particular terms in the text.
acetone, 169–70, 337
Admiralstab, Berlin, 104, 107, 116
Admiralty: acetone and, 169–70
allows reporting from the front, 288
Balfour as First Lord, 118, 201, 294, 296–7
Board of Invention and Research, 154–5
Churchill as First Lord of, 67–9, 72, 104, 117–18, 169, 196–7, 271–2
cinema and, 292, 294, 295–7, 332
code-breaking and, 11, 102–3, 106–14, 117, 118–19, 121–3, 125, 126–7, 128, 138, 339
communications interception, 102, 105–6, 109–14, 116–17, 118–19, 121–3, 138, 163
conservative values of, 36
develop
ment of the tank and, 197, 198–200
Director of Scientific Research at, 354
failures in processing of intelligence, 112–16, 118, 121–2, 123
Hall’s recruitment of women, 127–8
Intelligence Division, 101, 109–11, 324
interception of diplomatic cables, 110, 111, 125, 126–7, 131–2, 138, 139–44, 145–6
Landships Committee, 198–200
propaganda and, 294, 295–7, 316
radio communications and, 104, 105–6, 155, 163
Research Laboratory, Teddington, 354
Room 40 code-breakers, 106, 108–9, 110–12, 117, 118–19, 121–3, 125, 128, 138, 339
Room 40 diplomatic mail readers (Room 45), 126–8, 131–2, 139–44, 145–6
Royal Society and, 7
sacking of Churchill, 117–18, 200, 277
Short brothers and, 62, 67, 72
suspicion of scientists, 155; see also Royal Navy
aerial combat: ‘ace’ fighter pilots, 93–4
‘dog fights’, 91, 93
first examples, 89–90
new aircraft for, 91
tactics, 90
aerial reconnaissance: ballooning, 44, 52–3
Battle of Cambrai and, 206
Battle of Mons and, 81–2
Battle of the Somme and, 93
cameras used for, 86, 87, 89, 91, 92–3, 98
Capper on, 53
Dunne and, 57
fighter escorts for reconnaissance aircraft, 90
first ever flight (19 August 1914), 80–1
French as leaders in photographic field, 84, 97
German counter-measures, 95–6
German spring offensive (1918) and, 96
German techniques, 89
higher altitude flying, 91
hobbyists as pioneers, 65
during Palestine campaign, 97–8
photo interpretation, 85, 92, 93, 97, 98
photo maps, 87–8, 98
photography and, 83–5, 86, 87–9, 91–3, 95–7, 98, 347
poison gas and, 173
RE series aircraft, 73
RFC for Expeditionary Force, 72, 80–3, 87–8
spotting for the artillery, 88, 98
summer manoeuvres (1912), 71
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