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Well count me among the folks who had to go to Wikipedia to figure out what Ford was doing building an engine famously made by Rolls-Royce. Thanks for the bit o
by mauvehaus 8y ago
Well count me among the folks who had to go to Wikipedia to figure out what Ford was doing building an engine famously made by Rolls-Royce. Thanks for the bit of history.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Merlin#Manchester https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Merlin#Manchester
- gsnedders 8y agoMore generally, this was part of the Shadow Factory Scheme, whereby a number of motor industry plants across the UK were moved to manufacturing aircraft, their components, and their engines from the mid-1930s as Germany rearmed and war was seen as increasing risk. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_shadow_factories https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_shadow_factories
- NeedMoreTea 8y agoFord had their UK plant in Trafford Park from around the First War years until the 30s when they completed building a far larger site in Dagenham. They were asked to resurrect it, as they still had the site, for Merlin production as one of the many shadow factories. The location made sense, Ford Merlins usually went into 4 engined Lancasters as Avro and Metrovick had several sites nearby that produced the majority of the type.