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).
Secret memo about maintaining absolute secrecy for the design and development of the Super Eagle engine.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 46\1\ Scan111 | |
| Date | 10th November 1924 | |
| SECRET AND URGENT. 44123 EJ13/10.11.24. To Mr. from B.J. Copies to ... C.J. Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} Mor. Ey. By.{R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} Mr. Claremont. SUPER EAGLE. I saw Col. Fell to-day and he strongly suggests and we have agreed, that we will keep the design of the Super Eagle an absolute secret. Nobody at the Ministry will know anything of the design except Col. Fell personally. Please arrange for any correspondence for the Ministry concerning this to be sent to me, and I will have it conveyed personally to Col. Fell. The correspondence should if possible not refer to the design in such a way as would give others any knowledge of the number of cylinders, etc. Please arrange for the engine to be kept secretly at the works in a very similar way to the manner in which we keep the S.A.C. secret. Nobody except a selected few should be permitted into the room in which it is being erected. The design should be kept secret. Col. Fell knows, as we know, that a number of manufacturers here and abroad are watching to see what form our latest development will take, with a view to copying our ideas, and it is important for the British Government and ourselves to be in front of everyone else a year hence. If we are developing a successful design on new lines for a year, and no other manufacturers are designing engines on the same lines, we shall have a very great pull over all other countries and manufacturers. C.J. fully agrees with the above suggestion. Please, therefore, arrange for all correspondence concerning the Super Eagle to be marked SECRET. It should be filed secretly, and dealt with in exactly the same manner as the S.A.C. B.J. | ||