yesterdays war

by gerald hall

  Of course, few people realized that Harold had actually purchased those newspapers. Now, they only printed stories about him that he approved of. Not even Dorothy knew just how much effort Harold had expended to keep the rest of the world ignorant of their secrets and of his plans for the future.

  Cavill Ordnance Works Derby, Western Australia September 29, 1937

  Harold drove up to the small administration building of his ordnance production facility. The Ordnance Works complex consisted of only four buildings on the outskirts of Derby. This didn’t count the half-dozen earth-covered concrete bunkers where shells and other ammunition were stored about five hundred meters away.

  “Good afternoon, Eric. How are your various projects here progressing?”

  “You’ve already heard about our problems trying to make barrels for the Below Decks Mark II mount. I’m afraid we are still unable to do that. We are producing the other cannons and mounts that have been ordered. The new four-inch guns are now beginning to come off of the production lines and are meeting all performance expectations fortunately. However, we are still struggling to meet delivery deadlines.” Eric Carter, the Ordnance Works production and design chief explained.

  “Just make sure that quality doesn’t suffer. We must not compromise our reputation of delivering reliable and durable products, no matter what.”

  “That is going to be difficult, Sir. I’m still very short of skilled personnel.”

  “I am working on solving that problem. I am pushing people through schools as quickly as I can. I am also recruiting experienced workers from anywhere that I can find them as well.”

  “That’s great, Sir. But we can’t get them soon enough. That’s for certain.” A clearly frustrated Eric responded.

  “There are a few other issues that I wanted to discuss with you also, Eric. The first thing that I want to learn about is how we are doing with the production of the new CR-1 automatic rifles.”

  “We have the machinery and trained manpower to produce fifty rifles a month currently.”

  “Good. I want to increase that capacity to five hundred rifles a month by next June. Now, we have the ability to produce some of our own manufacturing machinery. I already have our machine shop working to build additional manufacturing hardware for you. Just let me know how many more workers that you need, Eric.

  There will also be additional machinery produced for a variety of other small arms production from pistols up to twenty-five millimeter automatic cannons, as well. I want to be able to compete with other major small arms manufacturers on the world market.

  As it is, I have some good news for you. We have our first order from the Australian military for fifty of the British twenty-five pounder field guns. We already have the design drawings for the Ordnance QF gun so that will require little work from your weapons design team.

  I want to also market that new 105mm field gun that you designed as well. It is a very capable weapon would also work well as a howitzer with the proper mount. We may be able to sell that cannon to more than just the Australian army as well.”

  “In any event, you will definitely need to get us more workers, Mister Cavill. They will be necessary if we are going to be able to produce those guns that you have promised. I have already explained to you before about our workload situation.”

  “You will get them, I promise. But I have another job or two for you and your design team as well.”

  Harold could already see the sigh of frustration coming from Eric at the idea of even more work being added to his agenda.

  “You know that I have had you working on a new sixty-caliber six-pounder high velocity gun for the new medium tank. Well, I want you to take that same gun and adapt it for anti-aircraft use. I expect that we are going to need a heavier punch and reach for our automatic anti-aircraft fire to deal with future aerial threats”

  “Are there any particular specifications that you need for this new gun, Sir?” Eric asked.

  “I want the gun to be capable of sustained automatic fire from a fifty round hopper of ammunition. It can’t be too heavy since it will need to be installed in the same space and weight as a twin Bofors forty-millimeter mount. I would like for the gun to be capable of firing at least one hundred and twenty rounds per minute for its sustained cyclic rate. The latter will probably mean that you will have to add a water cooling jacket to the gun barrel.

  These are only general parameters though. I will give you more specific guidelines shortly.”

  “I will get my design team working on the new project as quickly as I can, Sir.”

  “Very good. Are you familiar with the old Gatling gun design, Eric?”

  “Yes. That was one of the earliest machine gun designs with the rotating multiple barrel assembly. The Maxim and Browning machine guns eventually replaced the Gatling on the battlefield because they were so much lighter. It was a lot easier to move them around on the battlefield because the Gatling required a wheeled carriage like an artillery piece.”

  “That wouldn’t be nearly as much of a problem on a shipboard mount or even on an armored truck, would it?”

  “No, Sir. What do you have in mind?” Eric cautiously asked.

  “The greatest strength of the Gatling has always been its high rate of fire. For an anti-aircraft gun, this would be extremely useful. I would like for you to look into the possibility to designing and building a modern version of the Gatling gun in a high angle mount using something between a twenty to thirty millimeter high-explosive round. I would prefer using an existing high velocity round that has a good effective range and punch, if possible. It is important that the mount rely as little as possible on external power so that it can operate independently if necessary. There is one other requirement for this weapon. It has to fit in the same space as a single-barrel forty-millimeter Bofors cannon with the same or lower mass. ”

  Eric was immediately intrigued by what Harold had described. It certainly was different than any weapon being currently developed that he was aware of.

  “I’ll see what I can do, Mister Cavill. But I’m not going to make any promises at this point. I just have too much that I have to do with the limited resources that I have available.”

  “I know. I will be doing all that I can to provide you with the additional resources that you need. Don’t be surprised if a bunch of new apprentices show up at your door soon.”

  “Right now, I could use a surprise like that. My wife would like to see me come home at a decent hour once in a while.”

  “Don’t get too comfortable even with the prospect of additional help arriving soon. All of you will certainly be kept busy. I will be coming to you with more projects in the future. This ordnance works will be branching out into other areas like constructing rockets and torpedoes, for example.”

  Harold knew that it would take Eric a while to get through all of the projects that had been assigned to him. But Harold could afford to wait for a little while longer. The concepts for the sixpounder automatic gun and the Gatling gun rotary cannon were only slightly more advanced than the state of the art for 1937. But the weapons would most certainly be needed by 1942 to counter the Japanese carrier wings and eventually, their kamikaze suicide attacks as well.

  Soon, Harold’s focus would return to the air after spending so much focus lately on the ground and naval arenas. Beyond that, he still had multiple civilian businesses to run and a growing family to raise.

  A few days later, one of Eric’s shop foremen rushes up to Eric shortly after the beginning of the Ordnance Works first work shift.

  “Mister Carter, we’ve got a crowd of people standing outside of the factory. They say that they are here to begin working here.” The foreman quickly explained.

  Eric immediately walked out and saw more than one hundred people standing there. They were a mix of whites and aborigines. But perhaps the most surprising thing to Eric was that about two-thirds of the job seekers were women.

  A thin, brown-haired man who appear
ed to be in his early thirties walked up and reached his hand out.

  “You must be Mister Carter. I’m Sam Paulson. I’m here to start working for you here.” The newcomer said.

  “I’m pleased to meet you, Sam. I must say that I am a little surprised to see all of you here. Can you tell me who sent all of you here?” Eric asked the crowd.

  “Mister Cavill sent us. We heard that he was looking for more workers. So we all went to his office in town. The next thing that we know, he’s given us all jobs and told us to come here this morning to get started.” Sam answered with many of the others nodding their heads in agreement.

  “Alright everyone. I need for all of you to come inside, six at a time. We are going to get your names and information on what sort of experience that you have. Then I am going to assign you to one of my foremen to begin apprentice training based on what we think you would be best suited at. I’m assuming that all of you can read and write?”

  “Yes, Sir. We can.”

  “Very good. Go ahead and start up a queue while I make a phone call.”

  Eric then went to his office, closed the door and called Harold’s office. Harold’s assistant then got Harold on the phone.

  “Hello, Mister Cavill. I guess that you sent me a bunch of new workers today.”

  “I’m glad that they were able to find their way to you alright. I’m sure that you will be able to put them to work fairly quickly.” Harold answered.

  “Maybe. It looked like about two-thirds of them were women though. I doubt that any of them have had any manufacturing experience.”

  “I know. But these people all need jobs just as you need more workers to complete the orders that we have taken. We have more than enough people tending the farms already. I’m sure that the women will do just fine with any task except for the few that require the greatest physical strength once you have trained them. You should have enough capable men for those specific jobs. I expect that the women will work out exceptionally well in those tasks that require fine detail work however.

  In any event, if you need more people than this, just let me know.” Harold promised.

  “It’s going to take at least some of my most experienced workers away from their jobs just to train these new employees.”

  “I am aware of this. But I’m sure that you can manage your people in order to train your new employees and continue to produce products. In the long run, you will be able to produce far more than ever before. I have faith in your ability to accomplish this, Eric. Again, if you need anything else, please let me know.” Harold replied before hanging up.

  “I guess that I should be thankful.” Eric said to himself before going back out to meet with the first dozen new workers. This wasn’t going to be easy, but Eric was determined to make the best of the situation.

  Chapter Twenty-Two: Miles Aircraft Limited Woodley, Berkshire October 7, 1937

  Harold had received word from the Miles brothers that the first of the pre-production Dragonfly tandem-wing fighters had flown successfully a few weeks earlier. He immediately made arrangements for a seat on one of his Cavalier flying boats to fly to England. Harold wanted to see with his own eyes if the Miles Brothers’ claims in their telegraph were for real. While Harold was gone, Dorothy was running normal day to day operations. This was now possible since their son James was old enough to not demand quite so much of Dorothy’s time and attention.

  The Miles Brothers’ prototype tandem wing aircraft apparently had flown well in its debut over six months earlier. The Miles Brothers had even arranged to have some of its test flights filmed. The movie films were then sent to Harold for his viewing. Now, Harold rode up in a rented vehicle to the aerodrome for the demonstration. This was the first day in nearly a week where the weather was sufficiently clear for the flight demonstration to begin. Fredrick and George Miles were already waiting for Harold at the aerodrome.

  “Good morning, gentlemen. It is great to see a bright blue sky out today. That is one of the things that I miss the most when I am traveling here, I’m afraid.” Harold said while shaking hands with the Miles brothers.

  “Mister Cavill, I’m sure that you will find all of this worth waiting for. This is a fully production standard Dragonfly, complete with the four fifty-caliber heavy machine guns that you specified. There is enough weight and space available to upgrade the Dragonfly’s guns if necessary.

  We have some targets set up for our test pilot to do strafing runs on in addition to the regular flight demonstration maneuvers. They would give you an excellent opportunity to see this aircraft’s capabilities.”

  “Excellent. I have another question. Is this aircraft set up to carry bombs or extra fuel drop tanks?”

  “Yes, Sir. Just as you specified. There is one hardpoint under each wing and one under the center fuselage. The wing hardpoints are capable of carrying up to three hundred kilograms of ordnance while the centerline hardpoint can carry up to five hundred kilograms. All three of the hardpoints are plumbed for external fuel drop tanks.”

  “Very good. I’d like to give our new aircraft a close personal inspection, please. ”

  “Of course, Sir. Please follow me.” Fredrick replied.

  The three men walked out to the aerodrome where the Dragonfly and its test pilot. The pilot was a compact, stocky man in his late twenties with blonde hair and hazel eyes. He was wearing a leather jacket and appeared to as excited as Harold about the aircraft.

  The unusual looking aircraft with its large foreplane, low mounted main wing with its vertical stabilizers and rudders mounted on the wingtips of the main wing sat on a relatively tall tricycle landing gear. The powerful Pratt & Whitney R-1830-35 supercharged radial engine was set up in the rear fuselage, driving a large four-blade constant-speed pusher propeller. The large bubble canopy was located just forward of the aircraft’s foreplane, giving the pilot exceptional visibility. Protruding from the lower surface of the nose were the muzzles of the Dragonfly’s four fifty-caliber heavy machine guns. Finally, the aircraft was painted in dark green and dark earth camouflage paint with light blue undersides. There was a small blue practice bomb attached to each of the wing hardpoints.

  “This is our test pilot for this flight, Mister Cavill. His name isLeftenantAlfred Smith. We borrowed him from the local Royal Navy base because of his experience with flying from aircraft carrier flight decks. We have a reviewing stand set up over here so that we can watch everything. There are several gunnery targets set up. We also have a target set up to drop bombs upon as well.” Fredrick said as the pilot shook hands with Harold.

  “Great. Let’s get to the reviewing stand then. I’m looking forward to the demonstration.” Harold said.

  The pilot quickly climbed into the cockpit, was strapped in with the aid of a nearby mechanic and then started the Dragonfly’s big radial engine. He taxied the compact fighter-bomber to the edge of the runway. Running up the engine to maximum power, the pilot released the brakes and quickly accelerated. In an astoundingly short distance, the Dragonfly was airborne and rapidly climbing into the sky.

  They were all enraptured with the exhibition that lasted nearly an hour. Multiple targets were quickly chewed to pieces by the Dragonfly’s heavy machine guns during strafing runs while a pair of targets were also hit by the practice bombs as well. The fighter-bomber was obviously highly maneuverable based on the aerobatics thatLeftenantSmith was putting it through. Finally, the Dragonfly came in for a remarkably short landing. It appeared that the Dragonfly’s pilot had simulated landing the aircraft on the small flight deck of an aircraft carrier with his final maneuver.

  “Excellent work, gentlemen. How soon can you begin production of the Dragonfly?” an immensely pleased Harold Cavill quickly asked after seeing the Dragonfly’s dramatic performance.

  “With sufficient orders and financing, we can perhaps have the first production aircraft in the air within six to eight months.”

  “Excellent! I will be putting in an immediate order for twenty ai
rframes. I believe that the Australian military will be very interested in those aircraft once they are fully outfitted at my base of operations. I will also be using my contacts here in England to see if perhaps the Fleet Air Arm would also be interested in purchasing some of your aircraft as well.”

  “We will try to get your order in production as quickly as possible. However, we have just received a rather substantial order from the Air Ministry for our Master trainer aircraft. The Master would have to be ahead of yours on the production queue. We will only be able to devote a limited amount of our production resources to your Dragonfly order. We simply do not have the resources here to produce it more quickly, I’m afraid.”

  “How low would the production rate be for the Dragonfly?”

  “We would not be able to make more than one per month, unfortunately.”

  Harold silently thought for a few moments at the news. He really needed to get those aircraft ready a lot sooner than that. At that production rate, the last of that small batch would not be completed until after the beginning of the war.

  But Harold had another solution in mind.

  “Gentlemen, I would certainly like to receive quantities of this aircraft much sooner than that. I propose that we license production for the majority of my order to production facilities that I own or control in Australia. This way, we can quickly increase the production rate for the Dragonfly as needed. The research and development for the Dragonfly would still be based here with you at Woodley though. We would all benefit as a result.” He explained.

  “That would work. But it would require you to create an entire duplicate set of tooling for your factory in Australia. That would add considerable costs for you, Mister Cavill.” George explained.

  “I will accept that expense as being necessary. We need to get these planes built soon, I’m afraid. You have been watching what the Nazis have been doing in Germany, haven’t you?”

  “Yes. That Hitler fellow is certainly very disconcerting, isn’t he? But he has united the German people after a dismal post-war economic period.” Frederick noted.