WesWorld

1943

January 1
Today a new airline, Middle East Airlines has begun operations from Jerusalem to Beirut and Nicosia. Middle East Airlines was formed on 16th May 1942 by Saeb Salam, with operational and technical support from BOAC. Later routes will be added to destinations in Iraq, Egypt and Syria. The current Fleet consists of three DH.89A Dragon Rapides.

January 14
The War Office has revealed its plans for relocating forces abroad due to the “Peace Dividend” in Europe due to the formation of the Grand Alliance. Three divisions of the Home Forces are being relocated overseas; the 3rd Infantry Division to Kenya, the 4th Infantry Division to Sudan and the 43rd Wessex Infantry Division to the West Indies.

Arts and Literature

L. S. Lowry has completed two new paintings, Britain at Play and Going To Work
Arthur Pan has completed a portrait of Conservative MP Winston Churchill
Barbara Hepworth has completed her Oval Sculpture

Notable new books include;
Nigel Balchin's novel 'The Small Back Room'
T. S. Eliot's poetry, 'Four Quartets'
C. S. Lewis' novel 'Perelandra'. This is the second book in the Space Trilogy set in the Field of Arbol
Nikolaus Pevsner's book 'An Outline of European Architecture'
Malcolm Saville's children's novel 'Mystery at Witchend', first in The Lone Pine series.


Films

The Adventures of Tartu, a spy drama directed by Harold S. Bucquet and starring Robert Donat and Valerie Hobson was a popular film in 1943. They Met in the Dark is another spy thriller film, directed by Karel Lamac and starring James Mason, Joyce Howard and Edward Rigby. In the film a cashiered Royal Naval officer and a young woman join forces to solve a murder and hunt down a foreign spy ring.

The Dark Tower is a thriller film starring Herbert Lom, Anne Crawford, David Farrar and Ben Lyon. Herbert Lom plays a hypnotist who seeks work at a travelling circus and hypnotises Anne Crawford to perform a dangerous aerial stunt. Her partner and boyfriend, David Farrar is suspicious. Lom soon exerts control over Anne and she lets David fall during an act. Eventually he recovers and challenges Lom who meets his death seemingly by falling but actually has been shot through the head, perhaps by the Circus’s sharpshooter…
The Dummy Talks is a crime thriller. A murder takes place during a theatre variety performance. It was directed by Oswald Mitchell and starring Jack Warner and Claude Hulbert. Warn That Man is a thriller directed by Lawrence Huntington and starring Gordon Harker, Raymond Lovell and Finlay Currie. It was based on a play by Vernon Sylvaine. The plot follows the niece of a peer who is kidnapped and an impersonater takes her place as part of an attempt to assassinate a politician.

The Butler's Dilemma was a comedy directed by Leslie S. Hiscott and starring Francis L. Sullivan and Judy Kelly. A group of friends are forced into a number of deceptions in order to stage a gambling party in peace. It was produced by Shaftesbury Films. Dear Octopus is another comedy film directed by Harold French and starring Margaret Lockwood, Michael Wilding and Celia Johnson. It is based on the 1938 play Dear Octopus written by Dodie Smith. The Demi-Paradise is a comedy film made by Two Cities Films and distributed in the U.S. by Universal Pictures. It starrs Laurence Olivier as a foreign inventor who travels to England to have his revolutionary propeller manufactured, and Penelope Dudley Ward as the love interest. It was directed by Anthony Asquith and produced by Anatole de Grunwald and Filippo Del Giudice from a screenplay by de Grunwald. Thursday's Child is a comedy, drama, directed by Rodney Ackland and starring Ronald Shiner, Stewart Granger and Wilfrid Lawson. It was produced by John Argyle and Associated British Picture Corporation. In the film a young girl, Fennis Wilson (Sally Ann Howes), is cast in a film, launching her career to stardom, the very thing her older sister desperately wants. It creates tension in the family that threatens to tear the family apart, while Fennis just wants everyone to be happy. When We Are Married is a comedy-drama directed by Lance Comfort and starring Sydney Howard, Raymond Huntley and Olga Lindo. The film is based on the 1938 stage play by J. B. Priestley, in which three Edwardian Yorkshire couples, who were all married on the same day 25 years earlier, gather to celebrate their joint silver wedding anniversary, only to be told that due to a legal technicality, their marriages were not valid and that for the past quarter-century they have all effectively been living in sin and follows the events that follow.

Miss London Ltd. is a comedy musical directed by Val Guest (his debut film) and starring Ronald Shiner and Arthur Askey. It was produced by Edward Black, Maurice Ostrer, Fred Gunn at Gainsborough Pictures. This musical comedy stars Arthur Askey as Arthur Bowden, the head of an escort agency in London. He soon has railway clerk Anne Shelton on the books. The opening sequence of the film features the latter singing "The 8.50 Choo Choo For Waterloo Choo" at Waterloo Station before she is recruited by Bowman for his agency. The film is notable for a surreal self-parodying sequence in which Bowman pretends to be the famous Arthur Askey, using some of his choice catchphrases. Another musical is We'll Meet Again directed by Philip Brandon and starring Vera Lynn. The film is about a young dancer trying to make it in London. Although she's reluctant at first to sing, she finally does and becomes a star. She meets a young musician who composes classical music and who turns his nose up at modern vulgar popular music, but she believes he can be a success at it and sets out to turn him around.

Other comedy films released this year were; Schweik's New Adventures adapted from a novel by Jaroslav Hasek directed by Carl Lamac and starring Lloyd Pearson, Maggie Rennie, Richard Attenborough and Julien Mitchell. Theatre Royal directed by John Baxter and starring Bud Flanagan, Chesney Allen and Peggy Dexter. In this film a theatre is threatened with closure, but its staff fight to raise funds and secure the support of an important backer. Happidrome is a comedy film spin-off from the hugely popular Happidrome BBC radio series directed by Philip Brandon and starring Harry Korris, Robbie Vincent and Cecil Fredericks. It's That Man Again is another comedy spin-off, this time from the It's That Man Again radio show. It was directed by Walter Forde and starrs Tommy Handley, Greta Gynt and Jack Train. Old Mother Riley Detective is a comedy film directed by Lance Comfort and starring Arthur Lucan, Kitty McShane and Hal Gordon. It is part of the long running Old Mother Riley series. Old Mother Riley Overseas is another in the series released this year, directed by Oswald Mitchell and starring Arthur Lucan, Kitty McShane and Anthony Holles. In this film Old Mother Riley relocates to Iberia.

My Learned Friend is another of the staples of Britsh cinema, the Will Hay comedy. It is directed by Basil Dearden, co-directed with Will Hay and starring Ronald Shiner, Will Hay and Charles Victor. It was produced by Michael Balcon, Robert Hamer and Ealing Studios. This comedy sees Will Hay playing a seedy lawyer, who finds himself marked for assassination by a forger that he defended unsuccessfully, in the past. He teams up with an incompetent solicitor to try to prevent the deaths of others involved. The film climaxes with a sequence where Hay hangs from the hands of the clock face of Big Ben in an attempt to prevent a time bomb being detonated.

The Lamp Still Burns is a drama based on the novel One Pair of Feet by Monica Dickens and directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Rosamund John, Stewart Granger, Godfrey Tearle and Sophie Stewart. In the story an architect retrains as a nurse.

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp was one of the bigger productions of 1943. It was made by the film making team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger under the production banner of The Archers. It stars Roger Livesey, Deborah Kerr and Anton Walbrook. The film is renowned for its Technicolor cinematography. The film follows the story of a British Army officer and his life from the turn of the century to the present day via the Great War. Anton Walbrook plays a German officer who eventually becomes a great friend of Blimp after the Great War and who marries the woman Blimp fails to tell he loves, played by Deborah Kerr.

One of the ten most successful films this year is The Man in Grey. This is a Regency period costume melodrama made by Gainsborough Pictures. It was directed by Leslie Arliss and produced by Edward Black from a screenplay by Leslie Arliss and Margaret Kennedy, adapted by Doreen Montgomery from the novel The Man in Grey by Eleanor Smith. It stars Margaret Lockwood, Phyllis Calvert, James Mason, Stewart Granger and Martita Hunt.

Millions Like Us is another Gainsborough Studios film, a documentary style film of contemporary life. It stars Patricia Roc, Eric Portman, Megs Jenkins, and Anne Crawford, was written by Sidney Gilliat, and directed by Gilliat and Frank Launder. Patricia Roc is the main character who enters the aircraft industry, sets out on indepedent life and begins a relationship with a young RAF airman.

The Shipbuilders is a drama film directed by John Baxter and starring Clive Brook, Morland Graham and Nell Ballantyne. The film is set in a Clyde shipyard and is based on a novel by George Blake.

We Dive at Dawn is a war film directed by Anthony Asquith, starring John Mills and Eric Portman as Royal Navy submariners during the Great War hunting for the German battleship KMS Brandenbrug in the Baltic Sea. It was written by Val Valentine and J. B. Williams and was produced by Edward Black.

British Politics 1943

After the publication of the Beveridge Report in late 1942 there was an intense public debate on a scale not seen since the end of the Great War. Many Labour MPs pointed out the promises made for ‘Homes for Heroes’ and better Britain that would emerge never happened. The working classes were disenchanted with the slow progress and were beginning to sense that change was needed to change the direction Britain was heading in. They wanted social change, what they had been promised in 1917-19 plus interest on the ‘wasted years’.
Sir Howard Kingsley Wood’s Premiership since 1940 had been very steady, and indeed the Conservative Party thought they had the right pair of safe hands at the helm. Even so, younger Conservative cabinet members like R.A. Butler at the Ministry of Education and Harold Macmillan at the Ministry of Health were pressuring for change and were making their own impacts, Butler in particular was working on a radical overhaul of the education system which he hoped to announce in 1944. However, during 1943 the government dragged its feet on implementing the Beveridge Plan either in whole or part, primarily due to the fiscal impact it would have. However, by the end of the year it was becoming clear that doing nothing would not only increase unpopularity but might be electoral suicide for the next election in 1945 and slowly it was recognised change would have to come.
In terms of foreign affairs 1942 had been very quiet. Generally the kind of performance Anthony Eden could have made at the Foreign Office was still indiscernible during 1942. Indeed while the Empire still seemed as secure as ever the formation of the Grand Alliance in Europe and the withdrawal of Bharat and China from the League of Nations were events that left Britain at the periphery. In hindsight the formation of the Grand Alliance was obvious given the growing economic ties between its members. Eden was able to reassure the British public that it was a good event, the culmination of the healing of the Great War. At last continental Europe was united, and in Eden’s eyes, that meant Britain could revert to her global role unfettered and undistracted by continental commitments. Even so the rapid rise of Germany was dredging up public opinions and Whitehall memories reminiscent of the 1900-1914 era. If anything the Grand Alliance emphasised Britain’s global role, her NATO membership and the SAER bloc in the Far East. Eden made good political capital out of Bharat and China’s withdrawal from the League of Nations as reinforcing this point, Britain had to be vigilant everywhere. However, Eden could point to the Rangoon Treaty as evidence of continuing good relations between Britain and Bharat and the maintenance of a peaceful status-quo. Even so 1942 had been a year of reaction rather than pre-emptive policy. Membership of PETA still seemed an impossible goal and rebuffing the offer of Philippine Free Trade on their terms was judged by some to be a failure to grasp the changing nature of the world as many other large powers took advantage of the offer. A few younger party members of all sides began questioning the Empire’s influence over Home Policy. Harold Macmillan confided to his diary, “Yes as a nation we are rich, but should we not grasp every opportunity to become richer. What sane man would hand his seat at the high table to his opponents without a fight?”
Sir John Anderson could reveal some improvement in the financial performance of the country. Growth was on the up, still behind that of the PETA members’ average, but encouraging nonetheless. The government, although not ideologically ready to swallow rapid social change ushered in a series of new structural changes that they hoped would massively boost the economy and shape the social condition for the good. It was perhaps laying the foundations on which William Beveridge’s reforms could better sit and grow. In 1942 the Ministry of Transport created proposals for a motorway network across Britain as a result of the Hollinghurst Report. Five new motorways were planned and an Special Roads Bill was drawn up for 1943 to legislate “special roads” to enable construction to begin before the end of the year on a national network. It was thought by 1960 there would be a thousand miles of motorways and another thousand by 1980. Even grander in scale was the New Towns Bill. The New Towns policy was the result of a series of commissions; the Barlow Commission (1940) into the distribution of industrial population, the Scott Committee (1941) into rural land use, the Uthwatt Committee (1942) into compensation and betterment and the Reith Report (due 1944) into New Towns. The Abercrombie Plan for London (1941) envisioned moving a million and a half people from the slum areas of London to new and expanded towns. A similar plan was developed for the Clyde Valley during 1943 to combat similar problems in Glasgow. These committees reflected a wide consensus that urban sprawl needed to be halted. Also partly a response to a concern for social welfare reform as typified by the Beveridge Report, typified in the motto “if we can build better, we can live better.” The Act, if passed, would clear the way for over twenty New Towns to move parts of the population out of urban slums, mainly dating from Victorian times, into purpose-built healthy, modern, planned urban areas with modern industrial areas. It is perhaps the most ambitious public works programme since the 1800s and could have profound social impact. Whether this attempt to circumvent public calls for a fairer welfare system would succeed in swinging voters is still open to debate, but there is no doubt that the government was getting back some radical zeal, that had been long missing.

By-Election Results

Acton by-election, held on 12 December 1943 for the constituency of Acton in London. The seat had become vacant after the death in October of the Conservative MP Hubert Duggan. He had first been elected at the 1931 general election. There were six candidates including Walter Padley for the Independent Labour Party (ILP), Edward Godfrey as an 'English Nationalist' candidate and Independent Dorothy Crisp who wrote for the Sunday Dispatch. The official Conservative candidate Henry Longhurst easily retained the seat.
Consett by-election, held on 15 November 19431943 for the constituency of Consett. The seat had become vacant when the Labour MP David Adams had died on 16 August, aged 72. He had held the seat since the 1935 general election. The Labour candidate, James Glanville held onto the seat.

St Albans by-election, held 14 October 1943 for the constituency of St Albans in Hertfordshire. The seat had become vacant when the town's Conservative MP Sir Francis Fremantle died suddenly at home on 26 August, aged 71. Fremantle had held the seat since a by-election in 1919. The Conservative candidate John Grimston held onto the seat.

University of Wales by-election, held between 25 and 29 January 1943 for the constituency of University of Wales. The seat had become vacant when the constituency's Liberal MP Ernest Evans had been appointed a County Court Judge. Evans was admitted to the bar in 1910 and became a King's Counsel (KC) in 1937. After serving as private secretary to the Prime Minister David Lloyd George, he was elected as Coalition Liberal MP for Cardiganshire at a by-election in 1921. He held the seat at the 1922 general election as a National Liberal candidate, but was defeated standing as a Liberal at the 1923 general election by the Independent Liberal Rhys Hopkin Morris. Evans did not stand again in Cardiganshire, but at the 1924 general election he defeated the Christian pacifist George Maitland Lloyd Davies to win the University of Wales constituency as a Liberal. In addition to the three main parties, Plaid Cymru and also stood. The Liberal Party candidate Professor William John Gruffydd, who is Professor of Celtic at University College, Cardiff held onto the seat comfortably. Gruffydd was at one time a member of Plaid Cymru and had served as deputy vice-president in 1937. However, Gruffydd had a disagreement with the party president Saunders Lewis, which eventually led to his leaving the party. Representing Plaid Cymru in the by-election was its President, Saunders Lewis. Gruffydd had long held disagreement over Lewis’s policies and easily won the by-election. The election effectively split the Welsh-speaking intelligentsia, and left Lewis embittered with politics and he retreated from direct political involvement. However, for Plaid Cymru, it was the first time had been taken seriously as a political force and the party noted a rise in membership after the election.

Belfast West by-election, held on 9 February 1943 for the constituency of Belfast West, in Northern Ireland. The seat had become vacant when the sitting Unionist MP Alexander Browne had died in December 1942. The winner was Northern Ireland Labour Party candidate Jack Beattie, a shock result in what had previously been a Unionist safe seat.

This is the BBC Home Service...

February 9
The Northern Ireland Labour Party candidate Jack Beattie has won the Belfast West by-election. Most commentators agree this is a shock result in what had previously been a Unionist safe seat.

February 11
In the Midlothian and Peebles Northern by-election, the radical socialist Common Wealth Party candidate Tom Wintringham has come close to winning the seat in what could have been another success for the party. The Common Wealth Party has kept its popularity and the Party hopes to win further seats in by-elections until the next General Election when it hopes to do well.

February 13
The Nuffield Foundation was formally established today by William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield (founder of the giant industrial Nuffield Organisation). The Nuffield Foundation is a charitable trust. Lord Nuffield wants to contribute to improvements in society including the expansion of education and the alleviation of disadvantage. He called this in his announcement today the “advancement of social well-being”, and emphasised the importance of education, training and research in achieving that goal. The Foundation will fund research and innovation in education and social policy. It also aims to increase the proliferation and quality of research and professional skills – both in science and social sciences – through its capacity building programmes. The Foundation's work is underpinned by its belief in the importance of independent and rigorous research evidence and its power to bring about change.

February 20
The British Antarctic Survey has been officially formed today. This organisation has been set up under the Colonial Office and will take over the running of all the British Antarctic scientific bases and expeditions. It is seeking new equipment to support scientific missions and it is believed that a large expedition will be undertaken later this year into 1944.

Quoted

Originally posted by Hood
February 9
The Northern Ireland Labour Party candidate Jack Beattie has won the Belfast West by-election. Most commentators agree this is a shock result in what had previously been a Unionist safe seat.

Hum. Interesting. Definitely not a Nationalist, from the looks of it, nor a Unionist... odd.

March 3
Today the Bristol Aeroplane Company Limited and Vickers-Supermarine, the second largest aviation group in terms of output and development potential, comprising the firms of Vickers Aircraft Limited and Supermarine Limited, today announced that they were merging their operations. This deal also includes the Bristol Aeroplane Co. Ltd. Aero Engine Department, which will still be marketed as Bristol. The new company will be known as the Bristol Vickers Aircraft Company (BCAC). This will take effect from later this year and all new designs will be prefixed as BCAC. All Vickers commercial designs will be designated VC and Bristol BC. It is eventually hoped to merge the design teams and to streamline production at two or three key sites.
BCAC will take its place beside Hawker Siddeley and AIRCO as the main players in the British aviation industry.

March 17
Today Parliament passed the Special Roads Act 1943. The new act allows the construction of roads that are not automatically rights of way for certain types of user. All previous roads were automatically rights of way for all road users, including pedestrians, so it was not possible to build roads designated only for vehicular traffic. The Act therefore allows the construction of the planned motorways. All motorways and associated sliproads in Britain will be classified as special roads. The special road regulations allow motorways to prohibit certain types of road user, including learner drivers, agricultural vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists, horseriders, invalid carriages, motorcycles under 50 cc and motorscooters. The special road regulations also forbid stopping (except in an emergency, waiting in a queue, or under the direction of traffic signals or a police officer). It is thought that construction work, on the already planned motorways will now begin quite soon and the first stretches may be complete by the end of the year.

March 26
Allied Airways (Gandar Dower) Limited today took delivery of two new-built DH.89 Dragon Rapide airliners. These may well be among the last of these veritable biplane airliners to be built. The DH.89 currently serves across the world in all kinds of climate and terrain. The two new aircraft will serve on Allied Airways routes to the Shetlands.

April 1
The prototype Blackburn B.48 Firecrest, developed to meet Spec N.7/42 for a carrier-based ‘strike-fighter’ was designed by George Petty. Armament will be four 20mm cannon and a torpedo or two 500lb bombs or eight 3in RPs. It is powered by a 2,470hp Bristol Centaurus VIII radial with an estimated maximum speed of 380mph and a range of 900 miles. The Fleet Air Arm hopes to receive the first production aircraft in 1945.

April 20
The Political Intelligence Department has been disbanded. It was a department of the Foreign Office established in 1939. Its main function was the production of weekly intelligence summaries. It was headed by Foreign Office diplomat Rex Leeper. It has been merged with the Royal Institute of International Affairs' Foreign Research and Press Service in Oxford, creating the new Foreign Office Research Department.

April 26
A new Government Department has been officially created today. The Ministry of Supply (MoS) will co-ordinate the development and supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Minister of Supply. It will take control of all the Royal Ordnance Factories which produce explosives and propellants, filled ammunition, and weapons. The Ministry of Works are responsible for building any new ones. The Ministry of Supply is also responsible for the Agency Factories which are run on its behalf by private companies, such as Imperial Chemical Industries. It is also responsible for aircraft production and development and takes over these roles from the Air Ministry. All of the Defence Research Establishments will come under the control of the MoS and several new ones will be formed. It is thought that armoured vehicle design will be transferred from industry to a new Research Establishment. The new Minister for Supply will be Sir Andrew Rae Duncan. Duncan was previously a Director of the Bank of England and of Imperial Chemical Industries. He was chairman of the Central Electricity Board from 1927 to 1935, and has been chairman of the British Iron and Steel Federation since 1935. He was elected as a Conservative MP for the City of London in the 1940 General Election and was made a member of the Cabinet and a Privy Counsellor.


***
The current, and some future Research Establishments are;

Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, 1918
Chemical Research and Development Establishment, Porton Down, Wiltshire, 1916
Naval Construction Research Establishment, Rosyth, 1940
Telecommunications Research Establishment, Malvern, 1941
Propellant and Explosives Research and Manufacturing Establishment, 1942
Underwater Detection Establishment, Portland, 1942
Guided Projectile Establishment Westcott, Buckinghamshire (ranges at Larkhill and Aberporth),
1944
Rocket Propulsion Establishment, Westcott, 1944
Armoured Vehicle Research and Development Establishment (AVRDE), Bovington, 1944
National Gas Turbine Establishment (NGTE) (formed from Power Jets Ltd.), Pyestock, Hampshire, 1945
Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), Waltham Abbey, Essex ,1945

May 1
Sir Basil Brooke becomes Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.
Born Basil Stanlake Brooke on 9 June 1888 at his family's estate, Colebrooke Park, Brookeborough, County Fermanagh. He was the eldest son of Sir Arthur Douglas Brooke, 4th Baronet, whom he succeeded as 5th Baronet on his father’s death in 1907. After graduating from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Brooke was commissioned into the Royal Fusiliers on 26 September 1908 and later transferred to the 10th Hussars in 1911. He was awarded the Military Cross and Croix de Guerre with palm for his service during the Great War. In 1920 he left the British Army to farm his estate at Colebrooke. He then entered politics. In 1921 he was elected to the Senate of Northern Ireland, but he resigned the following year to become Commandant of the Ulster Special Constabulary. He was created CBE in 1921. In 1929 he was elected to the Northern Ireland House of Commons as Ulster Unionist Party MP for the Lisnaskea division of County Fermanagh. He became Minister of Agriculture in 1933 and also acquired the title of Privy Councillor of Northern Ireland. From 1941 to 1943 he was Minister of Commerce. Today he succeeds John M. Andrews as Prime Minister.

May 7
The Design Research Unit (DRU), one of the first generation of British design consultancies, has been formed combining expertise in architecture, graphics and industrial design. It was founded by the managing director of Stuart's Advertising Agency, Marcus Brumwell with Misha Black and designer Milner Gray. The founders envision a "service equipped to advise on all problems of design", addressing the needs of "the State, Municipal Authorities, Industry or Commerce." They anticipate a demand for technical expertise and a need for "the reconditioning and re-designing public utility services." Herbert Read has become their first member of staff. It is believed that the sculptor Naum Gabo has been contracted to design a new car for Jowett. Black and Gray are also committed to exhibitions on behalf of various government ministries.

Also today,
Taylorcraft (England) Limited has changed its name to Auster Aircraft Limited as it moves its production line to Rearsby Aerodrome in Leicestershire. Its Plus D model will become the Auster and will have new split flaps added and larger cabin windows. Two new models will also follow into flight test this year; the J-1 Autocrat with three-seats and a 90hp Blackburn Cirrus Minor II engine; and the J-2 Arrow, basically a two-seat aerobatic J-1 Autocrat, but around 400lbs lighter.

May 9
Today saw the first flight of the Vickers VC.1 Viking airliner. Vickers veteran chief test pilot 'Mutt' Summers was at the controls for the first flight from Wisley Airfield.
The VC.1 was designed by to fulfil a BEA requirement for a new all-metal airliner which could carry a crew of three and 27 passengers. It is powered by two 1,770hp Bristol Hercules VIII radial engines with a maximum speed of 263mph; cruising speed of 210 mph; a range 1,700 miles and service ceiling 25,000ft. When in production it is likely that this aircraft will be marketed as the BCAC VC.1 Viking as the first airliner of the newly-formed Bristol Vickers Aircraft Company (BCAC).


May 10
The Ministry of Works has been formed today by the government. It takes over the role of the previous Ministry of Works and Planning and adds to its remit responsibility for Government building projects as well as the planning for new urban developments. Wyndham Raymond Portal, 1st Viscount Portal remains Minister of Works.

May 19
Today Miles aircraft flew its latest, and biggest, creation, the Miles M.60 Marathon. The M.60 was developed to meet Spec P.2/41 for BEA as a 12-15 seat feederliner. The M.60 has a high-wing, triple fins and tricycle undercarriage, is powered by four 250hp DH Gipsy Queen engines and can seat up to 20 passengers. 50 have been ordered for BEA and 20 for BOAC.


May 23
A potential aeronautical record-breaker, the Heston Napier-Heston Type 5 has flown again, for the first time. Originally developed in 1938 as a private-venture attempt to break the World Speed Record, the wooden-built prototype was powered by a Napier Sabre and featured a novel ducted Gallay radiator in the rear lower fuselage. The prototype G-AFOK crashed on its maiden flight on 12 June 1940. Components of the aircraft have included in the second aircraft, G-AFOL, which had been halted. New wings and a 2,500hp Napier Sabre IV have been fitted. Today marks the aircraft’s first flight. A speed of 480mph has been estimated as the maximum that might be reached.

[SIZE=1]A picture of the first, unlucky prototype which crashed in 1940[/SIZE]

June 7
The Chief of Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Cyril Newall, signed off the thick file on his desk. It had just been approved by the Cabinet in the morning and within its blue covers the paper made grim reading for some.
The so-called “Peace Dividend” caused by the Grand Alliance meant a strategic re-evaluation across the armed forces and the RAF in particular had come under close scrutiny. Fighter Command had lost two squadrons of fighters redeployed overseas, including one long-range fighter unit. Bomber Command had already planned to relegate its Buckingham fleet for overseas duties, but now almost all the Wellingtons would follow them plus one squadron of dive-bombers, seven squadrons in all. Several Army Co-Operation Flights were also to be sent overseas. In the longer term four or five more heavy bomber squadrons would be turned over the Transport Command to operate the new heavy four-engined transports now on order. The biggest and publically most controversial element was the removal of all seventeen squadrons of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force. Eleven of these units, manned by reservists and “Weekend Warriors” had formed the part of Fighter Command; the remainder were Bomber Command dive-bomber units. The Chief of Bomber Command, Air Marshal Charles Portal, had not minded losing the aging Henley dive-bombers, which would require replacement anyway, and the now surplus airframes would help to modernise other units overseas. The Chief of Fighter Command, Air Marshal William Sholto Douglas, bitterly fought the removal of his auxiliary squadrons which had formed a backbone since the early 1920s. However, modern aircraft were getting too sophisticated and powerful and tactics too proficient for reservists to adequately keep finely tuned and while in wartime they would serve a useful role, giving them modern 450mph-plus fighters (not to mention the new reaction-jet types of much faster speeds), when other regular units needed them badly was out of the question. The RAuxAF units would remain, but would only ever fly Canadian Chipmunk trainers on their weekend jaunts to keep their skills up and would participate in larger annual Summer Camps with regular units. In wartime they would once again become combat pilots. There was no doubt that the cuts meant bigger increases overseas and newer equipment could be concentrated, Sholto Douglas eventually being convinced by the promise that Fighter Command would be re-equipped with modern fighters entirely, by the end of 1946.

This is the BBC Home Service...

June 9

Today, Buckingham Palace has annouced the forthcoming marriage of His Majesty the King, Edward VIII, to Lady Rose Mary Primrose Paget. The wedding will take place on April 24, 1944 at Westminster Abbey.

Lade Rose Paget is the fourth daughter of the 6th Marquess of Anglesey, Lady Marjorie Paget, a daughter of the 8th Duke of Rutland. Charles Henry Alexander Paget, 6th Marquess of Anglesey GCVO has been Lord Chamberlain to Queen Mary since 1922.


OOC: The Royal Officals and the Government are pleased and breathing a sigh of relief. The King is 50 next year without any wife or heir. The King has also been involved in several affairs with married women since the early 1930s which have had to be covered up or supressed. Although there is a large age gap finally the King has found an unmarried match and one of childbearing age and of good family. Even so, both are not free from daliances and the future could still be rocky. Whether the public will approve of a 25-year gap between the couple is open to question but at least its a better match than divorced American women and a match the Church of England can accept.

OOC:

Shades of Henry VIII and Catherine Howard; let us hope it does not come to that in the end.

June 11
Seven new Vosper 75-ft Type G Motor Gunboats today commissioned with the 1st Motor Gunboat Flotilla at Valetta, Malta and treated the crowds on the quayside to an impromptu show of their speed and agility in the Grand Harbour.

June 16
The trade protection forces of the Royal Navy in the Persian Gulf have been reinforced by the addition of a new formation, the 11th Sloop Flotilla at Muscat, Oman. Four new sloops, the first of the new River Class, have completed builder’s trials and arrived in Oman two days ago. These ships are HMS Aire, Annan, Avon and Awe.

June 20
The 17th Submarine Flotilla has been formed at Singapore. Five new S Class submarines have been assigned to the unit.

June 25
Today marks the first flight of large four-engined Short S.35 S Class flying boat. Developed for B.O.A.C. to replace the G Class the S Class is to be the main aircraft for the long-range transoceanic routes. B.O.A.C. has made an initial order of ten passenger and five cargo aircraft and the first production airliner should be ready for the summer of 1945. The maximum number of passengers that can be carried is 70 but most of the S Class aircraft will be fitted for 40 day passengers with sleeping facilities for 24. The wingspan is 150 feet and the S.35 is powered by four 4x 2,625hp Bristol Centaurus XI engines. Maximum weight is 130,000lb and the range is 4,650 miles with 7,620lbs payload, max payload range is 2,076 miles with 30,025lbs.


June 30
The vital role of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary in supporting the activities of the Royal Navy have been further strengthened today as the service takes over three new tankers, the latest in a large building programme of new tonnage. The ships are the RFA Dingledale, Cairndale and Darkdale. All are Dale Class tankers.

5 July
Today the prototype Fairey Spearfish torpedo-bomber made its maiden flight. Developed to meet Spec S.11/40 to replace the Barracuda the Spearfish is a large aircraft with an internal bay for a torpedo or one 1-2,000lb or four 500lb bombs or depth charges. 150 are on initial order and should begin replacing the Barracuda during 1945.


July 17
The Tyne Tees Steam Shipping Company, formed in 1904, has been acquired by Coast Lines. Coast Lines was founded in 1913 and today has a controlling in interest in around twenty shipping firms in Britain.

August 5
The North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board was established by an Act of Parliament today. It has been founded to design, construct and manage hydroelectricity projects in the Highlands of Scotland. It will be chaired by the Scottish Member of Parliament Mr Thomas Johnston.
Current proposals are the Affric / Beauly hydro-electric power scheme located in the western Highlands of Scotland based around Glen Strathfarrar, Glen Cannich and Glen Affric, and Strathglass further downstream. The other major scheme now under study is the Sloy/Awe Hydro-Electric Scheme located between Loch Sloy and Inveruglas on the banks of Loch Lomond in Scotland. Construction work on these schemes should begin in mid-1945.

This is the BBC Home Service, here is the twelve o'clock news...

July 24
This morning at the Foreign Office The Foreign Secretary Mr Anthony Eden and the Colonial Secretary Mr William Ormsby-Gore held a press conference following a special session at the House of Commons, where the Prime Minister, Sir Howard Kingsley Wood, announced that the British and French governments have mutually agreed to a series of colonial territorial changes.

Mr Eden stated to the press that under the terms of this agreement, the British Empire will acquire the territory of Chad from the French Union. In exchange the French Union will assume control of British Togo, merging it into French Togo and would be granted full control of the current joint Franco-British condominium in the New Hebrides. Mr Ormsby-Gore confirmed that talks between both governments had been on-going for some time and that an agreement had now been reached but added that planning for the exchange was "exhaustive and still on-going." No official date for the exchange has yet been publically released.

September 5
A new aircraft company has been officially formed today.
In 1935 the armament firm Nash & Thompson Ltd. took over the former George Parnall & Co. and the patents, patent rights and designs to form Parnall Aircraft Ltd. and later also acquiring the patents, patent rights, designs and licences of the Hendy Aircraft Co. A few light aircraft are built each year but the main sector of the business is the turrets and armaments of Nash & Thompson Ltd. Nash & Thompson have entered into an agreement to acquire the maintenance, repair and building assets of Portsmouth Aviation, formerly Portsmouth, Southsea & Isle of Wight Aviation, which began trading as Inland Flying Services in 1923. This new aircraft will probably be built at Parnall’s Yate factory. The new holding company of these subsidiaries is General Aviation (UK) Ltd. In 1942 chairman and joint managing director of Portsmouth Aviation, Lionel Balfour, began ‘Project 109’, a twin-boom light aircraft for the airline’s low density routes. Rumours indicate that Chrislea Aircraft Co. Ltd. may also join the group.

September 20
First flight of the de Havilland DH.100 turbojet-powered fighter prototype, flown by Geoffrey de Havilland Jnr. at Hatfield.

September 30
Today crowds gathered the watch two of the largest aircraft carriers in the world, and the latest to be completed for the Royal Navy, HMS Audacious and HMS Formidable. Both ships sailed into Cromarty and were officially handed over to the Navy and commissioned. They will form the 5th Carrier Squadron. It is rumoured that once these vessels have been worked up they will be deployed to the Far East next year. The Audacious Class will comprise four ships; the Magnificent and Leviathan are currently under construction with completion due in 1945.