WesWorld

15 October
The Ministry for Transport and Shipping and the Air Ministry have announced plans to sell 35% stakes in British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), British European Airways (BEA) and British South American Airways (BSAA) to a combination of travel agents and shipping companies. It is hoped that more streamlined business can be achieved both in the holiday tourist trade and the carriage of cargo.

24 October
A railway crash has taken place south of South Croydon railway station. Two electric commuter trains have collided in fog and 32 people were killed, including the driver of the second train. It is the worst accident on Britain's Southern Railway. Investigations have revealed the crash was a rear-end collision caused by a signalman's error. The inexperienced signalman at Purley Oaks forgot about a train from Haywards Heath to London Victoria standing invisible in the fog and believing the safety equipment to be faulty had used a release key allowing the train from Tattenham Corner to Victoria into the same section and they collided near South Croydon Junction. The trains were crowded in the rush hour, carrying 800 and 1,000 people respectively.

26 October
Just days after the terrible South Croydon railway crash, another has occurred near the village of Goswick, Northumberland. The Flying Scotsman express from Edinburgh Waverley to London Kings Cross failed to slow down for a diversion, due to engineering work on the fast line, and derailed, taking the 15mph restricted turnout at approximately 60mph. Most of the train derailed and overturned and 28 passengers were killed.

29 October
The Minister of Transport and Shipping Alfred Barnes has begun an investigation into the safety and operations of the railway industry in the light of several recent accidents.

4 November
HMS Revolution has begun three days of intensive gunnery trials against the old cruiser Pellew somewhere off the Western Isles of Scotland.

12 November
The new Arctic/ Antarctic research ship, RRS Terra Nova, commissioned and joined the Royal Research Ship Fleet at Portsmouth today. She will commence her first scientific voyage to the South Atlantic next year.

16 November
The National Bank of Iraq has been formed today as the state bank. Since 1931, the London-based Iraq Currency Board has issued the Iraqi dinar and maintained its reserves. It is hoped that the National Bank will take over the duties of the Currency Board by 1950.

17 November
Today a new class of destroyer entered Royal Navy service. Eight anti-submarine destroyers of the P Class have entered service with the new 24th Destroyer Flotilla at Rosyth. The class has been purpose-built with the latest anti-submarine detection systems and weaponry. They are a most suitable counter to the ‘fast submarine’ threat which has been growing in recent years. The ships are; HMS Pakenham, Paladin, Panther, Pathfinder, Penn, Petard, Porcupine and Persistent. Current plans will see these followed by near-sisters, the Q Class, next year to serve overseas.

18 November
In response to the events of the Lagonoy Affair in the Far East, the Government today voted to extend the ban on the sale of weapons, military aircraft and naval warships to the South African Empire to avoid any possible circumventions of the current embargo on such exports to China.

19 November
Philip Mountbatten is created Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich by appointment of King Edward VIII.

20 November
The Princess Elizabeth, daughter of the Prince of Wales marries Duke of Edinburgh at Westminster Abbey, London. The wedding ceremony was officiated by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher and the Archbishop of York, Cyril Garbett. Thousands of well-wishers have lined the streets and the event is the first Royal Wedding to be televised, the BBC broadcasting the event live. The ceremony was also broadcast by BBC radio to 200 million people around the world. The couple received over 2,500 wedding presents from around the world and around 10,000 telegrams of congratulations.


Motor Torpedo Boats have long been the dashing command for aspiring young officers seeking independent command with the control of a racing thoroughbred. Although its military value is often debated, the Royal Navy has moved forward the science of high-speed combat with two experimental vessels commissioned today, HMS Bold Pathfinder and HMS Bold Pioneer. These two sleek craft have joined the High-Speed Trials Flotilla at Portland. HMS Bold Pathfinder is powered by two Bristol Theseus turboprop engines as well as a Rolls-Royce Merlin for low-speed manoeuvring. HMS Bold Pioneer is very similar but her turboprops are developments of the Rolls-Royce Clyde. Speeds in excess of 40 knots are hoped for. One engineering problem to be solved is the supply of fresh air given the extremely salty marine environment which poses a danger to jet-engines.

6 December
Edward Victor Appleton wins the Nobel Prize in Physics for his investigations of the physics of the upper atmosphere especially for the discovery of the so-called Appleton layer. Robert Robinson wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his investigations on plant products of biological importance, especially alkaloids.

Two important discoveries in physics this year have been the discovery of the pion, a subatomic particle, by Cecil Frank Powell at the University of Bristol and the discovery of the kaon, another subatomic particle, by George Rochester and C. C. Butler.

22 December
At Chequers, Clement Attlee called the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Hugh Dalton, and the Foreign Secretary, Ernest Bevin, to join him for a brief luncheon. Parliament had by now recessed for the Christmas break, but he wanted to gain their views on the German cabinet shuffles and the likely reasons behind the moves. Bevin felt that there must have been some form of cabal surrounding Bernard and that his removal required the expedient removal of his allies. There seemed no other rational reason for the changes to the Transport and Agricultural posts given the latest news in those fields indicated much success. Dalton reported the stable markets meant Vocke was seen as a safe pair of hands and he felt the expansionist German tendencies may now be abating slightly, especially due to rumours of disquiet among the PETA members to the sizable German dominance of the mid-continental markets. That may not necessarily mean much in terms of future British expansion into the region, but at least three men felt relieved that the winter was not as severe and they hoped to continue to make good the losses suffered last winter.