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BRITISH-TAW PLANT
BOOMS
SHARP RIBR Hi OUTPUT
Yorkshire boasts the' largest
and meet modem tank factory }n
Europe, And theJargest and most
modern tank factory ip Europe
boasts a wg Increase In output
50 per cent and more in three
months.
.The sky te the limlW-thet ls
my orders." A, J. Golding, super
intendent of the Boyal Ordnance
Factory at Leeds, told me as we
watched one mpre 50-ton Centum
ion tank driven oft the. eno of the
production Une on to a tank trans-
porter, writfs John Allan May,
staff correspondent ef tba "Chris»
tian Science Monitor."
"We are working up to two it
hour shifts," he added- "At pres-
ent wa have reached about li
shifts. We work weekends as
well, of course. And there la ne
limit to what a nian can earn
here^-the more he eama tba
cheaper I can produee tanka,"
At Leeds ene hears and sees
something of the ether «ide pf the
Story ef the British rearmament
programme. It ls the side that
may be less familiar than the one
that hint« «t slow beginnings and
of a Britain waiting on « guáran-
te* of 1500 million dollars of "in-
direct aid" from the United State«
before committing itself toi an all«
out defence programme.
CENTTJBJON ROLLS CN '<S.
This Royal Ordnance Factory
was built in 1940. It built WOO
guns for the anny and navy dur-
ing the war and reconditioned
many hundreds of Sherman tanks.
In 1945 it was decided to turn it
into a tank arsenal. Ministry of
Supply experts toured the United
States te gain knowledge ef the
latest manufacturing precesses. In
the summer of 1046 the factory
produced the first Centurion tank.
Of the Centurion, which car-
ries a 20-pounder gun and can
cruise at 20 miles an hour, it is
claimed that "so fa? as is Known,
it is the only new tank produced
in quantity by any nation since
the end of the war," It is in ser-
vice in Britain, Germany nn'd th 7
Middle East and has seen action
in Korea,
This I^ods factory uses a heavy
welding plant and napdljnr techi
niques that can be found in no
other factory in Britain. But there
ls an air about lt tnat en« hopes
very much is typical,
At one turn ,of the four-mlle
long assembly line stood three idle
machines. They were mammoth
in both else and shape. My guide
fondly patted the "tusks" of one
and remarked! "New boring mill,
made in Germany, One of three
that eeme in yesterday,"
SIX THTJND« PAST.
Later he drew my attention te
a long, low, new and gunering
turning machine and declared,
"Another st.r in the right direc-
tion, ït came in th!« morning.
Made locally."
Wa walked down to the testing
ground, jumping aside alt the
road every now an'd again as
monster tanks came-roaring and
slewing around corner« and thun-
dering past u« evçry few minutes.
"Of eourse, we do not r reduce
them quite as fast as all this
seems to suggest," Mr. Golding
said. 'These are the «ame. six
tank« coming round again, not ali
different ones. The six are on the
usual TS-rpile road test on our cir-
cuit here before anal' checking
and delivery."
I asked If the roaring six were
part of a special show put on for
the Press. Mr. Golding was horri-
fied at suoh a thought. "Bless you,
we are testing day and night,"
he declared. "We were out here
last night running them round
with searehlights en, and beastly
cold it wa«, too, I cen te»l you."
NEW Wt BKEKS RIBED.
The Leeds factory is taking on
hundreds of new workers almost
every week. But there still is a
shortage of skilled men. It 1« only
when a visitor discovers that lt
takes 27.000 man-hours to put a
single Centurion tank together
that he gets a fresh slant on the
constant talk over here about the
urgent need for new raanpov. r.
There are 21 Boyal Ordnance
factories operating in Britain to
Hay. During the wár there were
44. At the peak war period,
350,000 men and women were em-
ployed in these Government arms
factories.
To-day, the 21 faetorje-- have a
total staff of only 36,000. Until a
few months ago, most oí these
36,000 workers were producing not
arms but. clocks, watches, laundry
machines, electric cookers and
similar peace-time goods. Now all
except three or four of the ord-
nance plants already are baek on
defence production.
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