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Abstract
As a successful engineering entrepreneur, William Weir took on government positions in the First World War and played a leading role in increasing British aircraft production in 1917–1918. The British Cabinet believed at the time that his policies were highly effective, a conclusion picked up in later historiography that dubbed him the ‘architect of air power’, responsible for ‘dazzling’ production results. This article looks afresh at Weir’s aeronautical career in the First World War, and highlights hitherto neglected quality problems with British aeroengines, and cost overruns in airframe production, which heavily qualify the apparently high levels of aircraft production attributed to him.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the anonymous reviewers of this article, whose insightful comments have improved it significantly. Jim Claven and Mick Ewer provided helpful comments during drafting, and their encouragement and support is gratefully acknowledged.
Notes
1 https://www.global.weir/about-us/a-history-of-innovative-engineering/, accessed 20 November 2022.
2 W.J. Reader, Architect of Air Power: the life of the first Viscount Weir of Eastwood 1877-1959 (London: Collins, 1968), p.135.
3 CAB 23/5/53, The National Archives, War Cabinet 361, Minutes of a Meeting held at 10, Downing Street, 7 March 1918.
4 S. Ritchie, Industry and Air Power: the Expansion of British Aircraft Production 1935-41 (London: Frank Cass, 1997), p.44.
5 L. McKinstry, Spitfire: Portrait of a Legend (London: John Murray, 2008), pp.10, 11, 58
6 Reader, p.22; see also R. Davenport-Hines, ‘Weir, William Douglas, first Viscount Weir’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/36818, accessed 17 December 2022.
7 C. More, Skill and the English working class, 1870-1914 (London: Croom Helm, 1980), pp. 41-5, 78-87, 104–6.
8 Reader, p.22. Weir’s circuit around the various sections of the family workshop as an apprentice was interrupted by relegation back to the pattern shop, after he celebrated his promotion to the drawing room by swinging off a roof fitting, which gave way under his weight, much to the anger of his Uncle.
9 Reader, p.28
10 Reader, p.29
11 William Weir, ‘Report on the effect of trade unionism on wartime efficiency’, Glasgow Digital Library, University of Strathclyde, n.d. (probably 1915), http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/redclyde/redclyindexpeople.html,
accessed 02/01/2023.
12 D. Edgerton, England and the Aeroplane: an essay on a militant and technological nation, (London: Macmillan, 1991), p.17.
13 Reader, pp.59-60
14 To avoid confusion, the acronym ‘R.A.F.’ denotes the Royal Aircraft Factory, and the Royal Air Force is spelt in full throughout.
15 Richard Burbidge, Charles Parsons and H.F. Donaldson, Report of the Committee on Royal Aircraft Factory, 12th May 1916, The National Archives, CAB 42/16/9.
16 A. Nahum, ‘The Rotary Aero Engine’, History of Technology, 11th annual volume, 1986, pp. 125–166.
17 By 1916–17, the rotary engine had reached its development ceiling because in layouts of that type, the air-fuel mixture followed a complicated path through the fixed but hollow crankcase to the cylinders, limiting the aspiration capacity of such designs. The point is brilliantly explained by Nahum, ‘The Rotary Aero Engine’.
18 B. Gunston, The development of piston aero engines (Sparkford: Stephens, 1993), p.123.
19 Reader, p.61
20 Bentley describes his contribution to the design of the Eagle in his autobiography, W.O. Bentley, W.O. An Autobiography, (London: Hutchinson & Co, 1958), pp.74-6; see also A. Lumsden, British piston aero-engines and their aircraft, (Shrewsbury: Airlife, 1994), p.183.
21 P. Pugh, The magic of a name: the Rolls-Royce story, the first 40 years, (Cambridge: Icon, 2001), pp.72–4.
22 DSIR 22/14, The National Archives, Internal Combustion Engine Sub-Ctee: Minutes, December 12th 1916 - June 5th 1917, Meeting of 17th January 1917, and DSIR 22/15, The National Archives, Internal Combustion Engine Sub-Ctee: Minutes, June 26th 1917 - February 10th 1920, Meeting of 13th February 1918.
23 Industrial Mobilization in Britain and the Ministry of Munitions, 1915-1918: VolumeXII The Supply of Munitions Part I Aircraft, (Farmington Hills: Gale, 2013), at http://gdc.gale.com/archivesunbound/ at http://gdc.gale.com/archivesunbound/, (reproduced from the original at The National Archives), accessed 31 December 2022, p.76.
24 Industrial Mobilization in Britain and the Ministry of Munitions, p.76.
25 Derek S. Taulburt, Eagle: Henry Royce's first aero engine (Derby: Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust, 2011), p.92. American criticisms of the hand crafting required to build the Eagle include the assessments cited in I. Lloyd, Rolls-Royce, the growth of a firm, (London: Macmillan, 1978), pp 142–146.
26 The Rolls-Royce strategy to prevent potential competitors from gaining access to the Eagle and Falcon designs is frankly outlined by Pugh, pp.77–87, including Johnson’s alleged willingness to face prison to prevent licence production by other firms.
27 Industrial Mobilization in Britain and the Ministry of Munitions, p.77.
28 Lloyd, Rolls-Royce, the growth of a firm, p.66.
29 The Aeroplane, April 10, 1918, p.1365
30 The Aeroplane, June 12, 1918, p.2189 and The Times, June 14, 1918, p.16.
31 Lumsden, and A. Brew, Sunbeam aero engines, (Stroud: Fonthill, 2020).
32 DSIR 22/14, Minutes, January 10th 1917.
33 CAB 24/7/49, The National Archives, Air Board, Report to the Cabinet, 10th March 1917.
34 D. Stevenson, ‘Britain's Biggest Wartime Stoppage: The Origins of the Engineering Strike of May 1917’ History, Vol. 105, No. 365, 2020, pp.268–290
35 Lumsden, p.81
36 J. M. Bruce, British Aeroplanes 1914-18, (London: Putnam, 1957), p.193.
37 Brew, p.74.
38 Lumsden, p.229.
39 Brew, p.77.
40 Production figures are from H. A. Jones, The War in the Air: being the story of the part played in the Great War by the Royal Air Force, Volume III, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1931), Appendix VII. The wartime storage of Bristol Fighters for want of Rolls-Royce Falcon engines to power them is documented by C. Barnes, Bristol Aircraft since 1910 (London: Putnam, 1994), p.110.
41 H. A. Jones, Appendix VII.
42 Bruce, p.449 for the Admiralty order of French-built Hispanos, p.456 for the storage of S.E.5a airframes, and p.605 for the storage of Sopwith Dolphins.
43 B. M. Jones, Granville Bradshaw: a flawed genius? (High Wycombe: Panther, 2008).
44 AIR 6/11, The National Archive, Air Board 2 November 1917, for Weir’s remarks about the Dragonfly.
45 CAB 23/5/53, War Cabinet 361.
46 DSIR 23/8122, The National Archives, Dragonfly engine: tests, T.B Barrington to Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, 20th June 1918.
47 Lumsden, p.52.
48 Gunston, p.123, and Lumsden, p.52.
49 A. Rowe, ‘The Dragonfly Disaster, 1917-1921’, Cross and Cockade, Vol. 20, No. 3, 1999, p.145.
50 G. P. Bulman, An account of partnership-industry, government and the aero engine: the memoirs of George Purvis Bulman, (Derby: Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust, 2002), pp.80-1.
51 Jones, pp.252-4.
52 Bruce, p.199.
53 Imperial War Museum, History of the Ministry of Munitions (Uckfield: Naval and Military Press, 2009, first published 1922), p.201.
54 Imperial War Museum, p.203.
55 Industrial Mobilization in Britain and the Ministry of Munitions, p.96 and p.98.
56 Fearon nominates 1920 as the date of birth for the Air Ministry’s policy of confining orders to S.B.A.C. members, see P. Fearon, ‘The Formative Years of the British Aircraft Industry, 1913–1924’, in Business History Review, Vol.43, 1969, pp 476-495. Weir’s embryonic work that led to this arrangement followed the proposal by the S.B.A.C. for a joint government-industry coordinating committee in February 1918, see S.B.A.C. to W. Weir 14.2.18, The National Archives, MUN 4/805, to which Weir agreed, see W. Weir to S.B.A.C. 15.2.18, The National Archives, MUN 4/805.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Peter Ewer
Dr. Peter Ewer is an Australian independent scholar and historian, specialising in military history and aviation technology. He is the author of four books, the most recent a revised edition of Forgotten Anzacs: the campaign in Greece, 1941 (2016). He is published in the Journal of Military History, the Journal of Transport History, and Australian Historical Studies.