cherry blossom
Senior Airman
- 516
- Apr 23, 2007
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There is a respectable origin of the idea that RR's tolerances were looser than ideal for mass production in Hooker's autobiography Not Much of an Engineer.
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It was said by Lovesey to someone from Ford, in the very early days of production expansion. Lovesey wasn't a production engineer and up to then his main involvement in engines were the racing engines for the Schneider Trophy. He was quite probably just being polite.There is a respectable origin of the idea that RR's tolerances were looser than ideal for mass production in Hooker's autobiography Not Much of an Engineer.
There is a respectable origin of the idea that RR's tolerances were looser than ideal for mass production in Hooker's autobiography Not Much of an Engineer.
I think it is a myth that will never be busted, despite all the evidence so many people like it, it supports all their ideas and preconceptions.Sorry, but the whole idea is laughable.
I am exposing my deep ignorance but might the issue have been that RR used first-angle projection and Ford and later Packard used third-angle projection. Is it possible that Hooker misreported the issue whilst correctly reporting that Ford had to redraw everything?
There were "disputes" in the shadow factories because (for example) Capstan lathe operators were paid less. But the capstan lathe operators in the main RR factory could machine anything, the ones in the shadow factories made one item on one machine. While the main demand was for the two stage Merlin, RR were also making all sorts of other Merlins (like the ones for the Hornet) Griffons and in the early part of the war Peregrins and Vultures.Quoted from wiki
At first, the factory had difficulty in attracting suitable labour, and large numbers of women, youths and untrained men had to be taken on.
Doesn't sound like craftsman style production. Roughly half the new wartime workers were women who would have had no opportunity to train in a trade prewar.
Yep, that's pure "Caidinism" - the Luftwaffe pilots usually referred to them as "Lightnings" and the American pilots (my great uncle Jimmy included) were the ones who called the P-38 the "Fork-tailed Devil".
This myth gets even better, did Packard decide the direction of rotation too? Surely Rolls Royce were a bit to dim to have sorted the bore and stroke on their own?According to this, RR did not supply tolerances and Packard had to work them out on their own.
Could this be the birth of that myth?Luftwaffe ace Heinz Knocke describing his first encounter with P-38s said "It flies like the very devil himself" - close
According to this, RR did not supply tolerances and Packard had to work them out on their own.
Only if Knocke encountered the P-38 in '41 and used that description while BS'ing with American pilots.Could this be the birth of that myth?
There has been all sorts of things posted including actual drawings and tolerances by Snowygrouch from archives. People are happy to believe that a company like Packard undertook license production of an engine and made up their own tolerances, so I fear the myth will never be de bunked.There tends to be a great deal of information in corporate drawing standards that doesn't get listed on drawings. Maybe somebody didn't connect these to the drawings.
Could this be the birth of that myth?