From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Letter outlining the development and production position of the 40mm gun, including subcontracting in the United States.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 170\4\ img028 | |
| Date | 13th September 1940 | |
| 13 Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}6/Z. 13.9.40. W.Siley, Esq., c/o U.S. Naval Motors Building, DETROIT. Dear Siley, 40 mm. Gun. Here is a brief outline of the gun position. To start with, the development of the 40mm. gun beat that of the aircraft and in consequence we did not expect to receive any production orders for twelve months or so. However, we showed it to the Navy, who took an intense interest in it and immediately wanted to place an order for 500, to be increased to several thousand when the gun became reliable as a fully automatic weapon. This explains our sudden urge for barrel producing equipment. We suggested that, in order to expedite production, parts of the gun should be sub-contracted in the States, but initially this was not received with enthusiasm. Since then, however, they have realised that if they want anything quickly they will have difficulty in getting it in this country, and so they have agreed to let us get quotations from the States. We are therefore sending you models and drawings of the difficult pieces of the larger gun. Obviously, with the price of machine man-hours being what it is in America, it will pay to get a few simple fixtures made to assist with machining, and we should like quotations for such fixtures, the costs thereof and the delivery date for production quantities, together with prices. - Continued - | ||