Simon Thomas
Senior Airman
I was reading the history of the Sundstrand company, and in this article ( History of Sundstrand machine tool company ) it states:
On December 7, 1941, Rockford was thrown into World War 11. Rockford, a machine tool city, became involved in supplying the machine tools required to produce war materials for America and our allies in Europe. Sundstrand responded with a total effort, requiring long hours and seven days a week.
I recall one incident that Illustrates the urgency of the times. One day, I was called to the phone to talk to a man in an aircraft factory in England. Our representative in London had given him my name, and advised him I could design and Sundstrand could build his requirements.
He urgently needed a machine that would machine seventeen-foot long wing spars. After a lengthy discussion regarding machine specifications, I told him we would send him a proposal, estimating the cost and delivery time.
Due to the urgency of the time, he said no proposal was necessary, just proceed immediately to design and build four machines in the beat possible time. We built four machines in record time, and shipped them separately to avoid being sunk by German submarines. After the war, I met the gentlemen at a machine tool show in London, and he advised me that all four machines arrived safely and were still operating in his plant.
So can anyone figure out which plane the machine tools were for? Who was the man who made the call?
My WAG is Hawker Typhoon, but I don't know if they had one piece machined spars.
On December 7, 1941, Rockford was thrown into World War 11. Rockford, a machine tool city, became involved in supplying the machine tools required to produce war materials for America and our allies in Europe. Sundstrand responded with a total effort, requiring long hours and seven days a week.
I recall one incident that Illustrates the urgency of the times. One day, I was called to the phone to talk to a man in an aircraft factory in England. Our representative in London had given him my name, and advised him I could design and Sundstrand could build his requirements.
He urgently needed a machine that would machine seventeen-foot long wing spars. After a lengthy discussion regarding machine specifications, I told him we would send him a proposal, estimating the cost and delivery time.
Due to the urgency of the time, he said no proposal was necessary, just proceed immediately to design and build four machines in the beat possible time. We built four machines in record time, and shipped them separately to avoid being sunk by German submarines. After the war, I met the gentlemen at a machine tool show in London, and he advised me that all four machines arrived safely and were still operating in his plant.
So can anyone figure out which plane the machine tools were for? Who was the man who made the call?
My WAG is Hawker Typhoon, but I don't know if they had one piece machined spars.
