Labour unrest at the Spitfire factory
How labour unrest nearly lost us the Battle of Britain
How it nearly cost us the war
The mess at Castle Bromwich had become intolerable. When the press tycoon Lord Beaverbrook was appointed by Churchill as Minister for Aircraft Production in May 1940 after the fall of the Neville Chamberlain government, his first action was to sack Nuffield and hand over the plant to Vickers, the parent company of Supermarine. Nuffield was furious, but a subsequent secret report commissioned by Beaverbrook revealed the full extent of the shambles. Written by the aircraft manufacturer Sir Richard Fairey, this study showed that expensive machinery had been unused and the assembly line was in chaos. But Fairey reserved his strongest words for the employees. ‘Labour is in a very bad state. Discipline is lacking. Men are leaving before time and coming in late, taking evenings off when they think fit. In parts of the factory I noticed that the men did not even stir themselves at the approach of the Works Manager.’ Having mentioned that in the week before Vickers took over there had been a petty dispute over pay, he continued, ‘The labour in the Midlands is not “playing the game”. They are getting extra money and are not working in proportion for it.’ One chief foreman at the plant, responsible for the much delayed building work, was described as ‘abusive and resentful’ if given any instructions with which he disagreed.
With commendable speed, the Vickers team began to turn round Castle Bromwich with dismissals and threats of military call-ups. ‘Incidentally, we are sacking 60 jig and tool draughtsmen next week,’ wrote the new Castle Bromwich manager Alexander Dunbar in July 1940. ‘We have tried to find out what they are doing but the answer’s not a lemon. In the meantime, we build the odd Spitfire or two.’ Eventually, under better management, the revitalised Castle Bromwich workforce was turning out more than 300 Spitfires a month. In total over 13,000 of the planes were built there. But in the Battle of Britain, the RAF almost paid a heavy price for not having the number of Spitfires it needed for the conflict with the Luftwaffe. If Nuffield had remained in charge, our finest hour could have become our darkest.
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Tim Hawkins
November 15th, 2007 4:41pmA very interesting perspective that rings true! I was a boy at the time and have read many books on the subject.
Herbert Thornton
November 15th, 2007 7:52pmThis account reminds me of a conversation I had - around 1966 - with a man then in his seventies.
Early in World War II he had worked as a skilled machinist in a factory in South Lancashire that manufacted equipment of some sort for the armed forces.
He described to me how a group of time & motion study experts from the government visited the factory to study how production might be increased and made more efficient.
He went into considerable detail about how he and he co-workers delibetately exaggerated how much time was required to operate the factory's various machine tools with the required degree of precision.
He said that they were so successful at hoodwinking the experts that shortly afterwards he and his fellow workers ware awarded considerably increased wages - and the rate of production was decreased.
He thought that having arranged things so that they did considerably less work for much more money was a considerable triumph.
Kenneth Perry
November 15th, 2007 9:59pmI worked in the Air Ministry before being called up in March 1940 & saw many files relating to the Spitfire & the Shadow Factory Schene. I would not dispute any details of this "researched" article,but it is an incomplete & incorrect picture. The Spitfire was a sophisticated hand tooled plane,not susceptible to mass production,unlike the Hurricane. And it was the Hurricane that won the Battle of Britain. The Shadow Factory Scheme embraced Aircraft Engines more than Aiframes & other Car Manufacturers besides Lord Nuffield. There was greed & selfishness amonst civilian workers who escaped call up,but 50% income tax,rationing,with copmpulsory Fire Watching & Home Guard duties were mitigating factors.The famed "Community Spirit"of1940 did indeed exist because none of us could escape the stark reality that we were alone.
Guy Wilson
November 16th, 2007 6:40pmI was under the impression that the lack of trained pilots represented the greatest threat to success during the Battle of Britain, not the lack of aircraft. Spitfire production may have been a problem but, as Mr Perry has pointed out, the Hurricane was of much greater significance. Nevetheless, an interesting perspective on the reality of the time.
Gervas Douglas
November 22nd, 2007 4:39pmThese Nuffield workers were not the only people who undermined our war effort. Michael Foot tried to get the Welsh miners out on strike during the war. Whose side was he on??
Nicholas Millman
November 25th, 2007 10:03amGuy Wilson - yes, you are correct that pilot availability was a more critical factor. I thought it curious that in an article about Battle of Britain era Spitfire production The Spectator should choose an image of a much later mark (IX?) flying over the D-Day invasion force to illustrate the article! I hope that is not down to the author of a book about the Spitfire?