大象传媒

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In 1937 1 joined D. Napier and Son of Acton Vale, West London, as an apprentice toolmaker.
The Napier company had originally produced engines for sports cars, for example; the record breaking Bluebird with the "Lion" engine, and the Napier Railton with its 24 litre aero engine.
In 1939 my apprenticeship came to an abrupt end due to the difficulties of wartime, and that there were no suitable night schools to permit studies to continue. From then on my apprenticeship would be "on the job".
As with many other engineering companies in the Acton/Harlesden area Napiers moved into top gear with development and production for war; in my case it was aero engines.
I went along to the recruitment office to try and enlist in the forces but was turned away as, being an engineer in an industry essential to the war effort, I was deemed to be in a reserved occupation.
My toolmaking skills developed and were put to good use in the engine development contracts and orders being placed on Napiers by Lord Beaverbrook's Ministry of Aircraft Production which had been formed, 1 believe, in May 1940 at about the time of the Dunkirk evacuation.
I remained throughout the war working mostly on day shifts, but occasionally at strange hours, on development, toolmaking and in the engine assembly shop. Along with my colleagues I did my share of firewatching and saw many bombing raids in the area on what must have been important targets. Among the bombing was a V1 flying bomb which was a near miss, and exploded on landing in nearby Acton Park. Our factory escaped mostly unscathed.
I was involved with the initial development and subsequent production of a number of special engine projects, - for example the "Rapier", a sixteen-cylinder in-line engine, and the "Sabre" which was a rather unconventional engine with twenty-four cylinders and two crankshafts in an `H' formation and thus known as the `H' engines. These were used in airframes produced by Hawkers, possibly at Hatfield, and others. Some were of an experimental nature; one with the Rapier being installed in a seaplane which was mounted pickaback fashion on a large flying boat, possibly a Sunderland, to be launched in flight.
I believe that some projects were financed by the company until government funding was forthcoming after formation of the Ministry of Aircraft Production.
Towards the end of the war the Napier company merged with English Electric and continued with aero engines, both piston types and jets; but not before they had developed the "Deltic" diesel engine, originally for use in high speed naval patrol vessels, but later employed in the Class 55 "Deltic" locomotives in the much hoped for post war regeneration of the newly nationalised railways.
I too moved on to other things.
Engines for War

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