WesWorld

This is the BBC Home Service...

(with first some extra Q2 news)

June 6
The Foreign Secretary Sir Samuel Hoare today announced a summer European diplomatic tour to visit France, Netherlands, Germany and Nordmark to discuss various matters.

June 7
The Secretary of Air Sir P. Cunliffe-Lister has been appointed to the Tizard Committee. Winston Churchill, former First Lord of the Admiralty and now a backbencher has made efforts to install his scientific adviser friend Lord Cherwell but Henry Tizard with the support of the Prime Minister has successfully rebuffed Churchill's demands.

June 16
Paxman Diesels of Colchester, Essex have agreed to cooperate with Napier to create a family of diesel aircraft engines. It is believed an engine of 1100hp is the major project to be created alongside a 700hp and 350hp engines.

June 18
The Air Ministry (the secret Tizard Committee) and the War Office have agreed that on the basis of the successful radio location trials by Robert Watson-Watt at the Daventry BBC transmitter station and a basic station at Orford Ness in Suffolk a new purpose-built research establishment is to be based Bawdsey Manor some twenty miles further south.

June 29
Flt. Lt Frank Whittle and two other serving officers of the RAF have set up a small company in Rugby. The firm Power Jets Ltd is looking at aircraft propulsion based on the Whittle Unit and is based at the British Thomson-Houston turbine works.

July 9
The Foreign Secretary Sir Samuel Hoare today left London to begin his European diplomatic tour. He will arrive, by Imperial Airways airliner, in Paris this afternoon to begin talks with his French counterparts.

Quoted

Originally posted by Hood
June 29
Flt. Lt Frank Whittle and two other serving officers of the RAF have set up a small company in Rugby. The firm Power Jets Ltd is looking at aircraft propulsion based on the Whittle Unit and is based at the British Thomson-Houston turbine works.

Hmmmm. About a year ahead of schedule, then.

Quoted

June 16
Paxman Diesels of Colchester, Essex have agreed to cooperate with Napier to create a family of diesel aircraft engines. It is believed an engine of 1100hp is the major project to be created alongside a 700hp and 350hp engines.

Interesting, I'm reading a book on high speed aircraft diesels at the moment. Whats the engine for? Interestingly there is mention of a Junkers project for a 2000hp unit made up of Ju 205 parts but disposed in a rhomboid shape with 4 crankshafts. Specific weight is pretty good for a diesel but the author questions the efficiency of the unit (but it'll still be a bit better than petrol engines)

The rhomboid Jumo is the Jumo-223 and it's big brother, the Jumo-224. The smaller Jumo-223 was reaching 2500 hp on the test bench at 4400 rpm at the end of the war, while the much larger -224 was aimed at 4000 hp. Development on the -224 continued for some time after the war in the USSR. See here http://www.geocities.com/hjunkers/ju_jumo223_a1.htm for more details.

Yes, that would be the one. The drawing in the book is slightly different though with more closely grouped engine accessories.

The aim is to to create diesel engines for long-range airliners and bombers.

Napier and Paxman seem logical enough bedfellows and the Deltic will also make an early appearance in both ships and trains. Britain is putting effort into many propulsion areas but I'm not giving away any plans as yet.

Lets just say the Bristol Brabazon might live...

Heh. Historically, Napier licensed the Jumo-204 in 1935, which became the basis for the Deltic.

July 10
Construction work at Bawdsey has begun and two 240 foot high towers are planned. The Radio Research Establishment has been formally created under the leadership of Watson-Watt

July 11
In France a deal has been struck which rekindles the European naval spheres of influence on the early 1900s. To maximise manpower and asset use the French and Royal Navies have agreed to split responsibilities. The French Navy is to focus on the Western Mediterranean while the Eastern Mediterranean and the English Channel and the North Sea are to be mainly areas of British responsibility. Further talks aimed at improving colonial relations are scheduled for tomorrow.

July 16
The Air Ministry has set up another research committee, the Cherwell Committee, chaired by Lord Cherwell to support the work of the twenty-four year old Dr R. V. Jones, currently the Skyner Senior Student in Astronomy at Oxford University. He is probably the world's authority on infra-red diction systems having begun a brief programme with the United States Navy in 1934. He made a breakthrough last year to enable accurate detection from the air. He works in Cherwell's laboratory at Oxford and the aim is to create and test an airborne infra-red diction system before 1937. Dr R. V. Jones will be attached to the Air Ministry Staff.

"diction systems" Do you mean "detection systems"?

Damn the auto speller on word! Many a time it puts it what it thinks you want and you don't even notice it!

Yes I mean detection system. I'm not sure if this research will lead to any hardware but its all linked with some political plot based on the real world Tizard Vs Cherwell rivalry.

July 14
The Foreign Secretary Sir Samuel Hoare has arrived in The Hague in the Kingdom of the Netherlands for a four day stopover before heading on to Germany. It is expected Asian policy will be on the agenda. He will be guest of honour at a dinner this evening hosted by Queen Wilhelmina.

July 18
The Foreign Secretary Sir Samuel Hoare in a press conference today confirmed that the Dutch had agreed to joint co-operation in the Far East for defensive purposes but did not release any more information despite probing questions by the correspondents present.

July 19
After travelling by sleeper train overnight the Foreign Secretary Sir Samuel Hoare has arrived in Berlin to begin talks with the German government.

July 20
The Foreign Secretary Sir Samuel Hoare in Berlin today announced a proposal made by the German government on submarine construction. Germany has promised to limit its construction of large, ocean-going submarines (defined as 600 tons submerged displacement or greater). Germany promises no to lay down any large ocean-going submarines before January 1, 1937 and no more than four large ocean-going submarines to be laid down per year until January 1, 1940. Should Germany lay down any submarines of a new class between January 1, 1935 and January 1, 1940, the British Naval Attaché will be invited to inspect the completed external hull of the vessel and take measurements to determine whether the class would be above or below the above-mentioned 600 ton limit. The British government is able to accept this proposal and cites this as a further step towards a rational and lasting peaceful relationship with Germany and part of the final stage of Germanys redemption after the Great War.

July 22
Talks in Berlin today over Eastern Europe have met with some agreement today. Sir Samuel Hoare in a press conference said today, "I feel it is time Germany benefited from National Self-Determination. The German people in the Sudetenland feel they should be part of Germany once again and Germany herself feels this is the preferred option. Britain would not be hostile to this concept in theory provided the full legal requirements were met and Britain would be willing to give Czechoslovakia any assurances it may wish against further German demands." He refused to comment on whether the German government had made any such moves towards the Czech government.

Quoted

Originally posted by Hood

July 18
The Foreign Secretary Sir Samuel Hoare in a press conference today confirmed that the Dutch had agreed to joint co-operation in the Far East for defensive purposes but did not release any more information despite probing questions by the correspondents present.

Don't like this piece of news at all.

It shouldn't surprise you, though. To be honest, I find the July 22nd item more intriguing.

Quoted

Originally posted by perdedor99

Quoted

Originally posted by Hood

July 18
The Foreign Secretary Sir Samuel Hoare in a press conference today confirmed that the Dutch had agreed to joint co-operation in the Far East for defensive purposes but did not release any more information despite probing questions by the correspondents present.

Don't like this piece of news at all.

I doubt any of the SATSUMA nations will, but then again given recent events its not surprising.

Quoted

Originally posted by The Rock Doctor
It shouldn't surprise you, though. To be honest, I find the July 22nd item more intriguing.

I think "disturbing" might be more appropriate, even for a close friend like Italy. (Even closer since Germany gobbled up Austria )

Quoted

I doubt any of the SATSUMA nations will, but then again given recent events its not surprising.

I guess they decided that the "stay at home" approach wasn't working, and decided to try something else.

Quoted

I think "disturbing" might be more appropriate, even for a close friend like Italy. (Even closer since Germany gobbled up Austria)

Ah, but as an ethereal presence in Wesworld, I can afford to be merely intrigued.

The more things change, the more they remain the same: First Austria, now Czechoslovakia...

Disturbing is too soft a word, this calls for an "omminous humm"

No, not Czechoslovakia, the Sudetenland. There IS a difference, one is much larger than the other, and mostly peopled by Czechs and Slovaks.

Now that is interesting...

Just picking up the pieces taken out during the last Great War....nothing to see here.

Move along. Move along.