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).
Page from 'The Autocar' magazine featuring 'Disconnected Jottings' on various topics including honours for industry figures, air raids, an obituary, Amy Johnson, and the Y.M.C.A.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 160\5\ scan0134 | |
| Date | 10th January 1941 | |
| -42 The Autocar January 10th, 1941 "IF YOU WOULD LOVE MANKIND, YOU SHOULD NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH" HELVETIUS Disconnected Jottings BY THE SCRIBE Congratulations! CONGRATULATIONS to Mr. Peter F.{Mr Friese} B. Bennett, O.B.E., M.P., J.P., whom H.M. the King has made a Knight Bachelor in the New Year's Honours. Mr. Bennett—or Sir Peter, as he will now be called—is chairman and joint managing director of Joseph Lucas, Ltd., and was recently returned unopposed to the seat left vacant by the death of Mr. Chamberlain. Until lately he was Director-General of Tanks and Transport. In addition to many other activities, he is chairman of C.A.V.-Bosch, Ltd.; chairman of Rotax, Ltd.; director of Imperial Chemical Industries and president of the Federation of British Industries. Congratulations also to Sir Alan Gordon, D.L., managing director of S. Smith and Sons (M.A.), Ltd., upon whom the King has conferred the K.B.E., and to Mr. A.{Mr Adams} G.{Mr Griffiths - Chief Accountant / Mr Gnapp} Elliott, chief engineer of Rolls-Royce Aero Division, who has received a C.B.E. for his distinguished service. Air Raid! ALL sorts of ways have been suggested for warning motorists that an air-raid alarm has been given. Certainly it is difficult to hear a siren's dulcet note above the general noise of engine, transmission and tyres. A few days ago I was given a signal which for simplicity and directness of meaning it would be hard to beat. I was driving in a country district, with three passengers, and on seeing this simple signal we all four chorused "Air raid"; the signal registered on our minds in a flash, although we were in a district where a warning would not be expected. What happened was this. As we ran through a small village the local padre, wearing tin hat bearing the letter W, waved his hand to catch our attention and then pointed skywards with several jabs of extended forefinger. He might, of course, have been trying to turn our minds and thoughts to better things, but something seemed to tell us that for the moment he was more concerned with the safety of our bodies than of our immortal souls. Had he not been wearing his warden's tin hat we might have wondered, but, as it was, the signal was unmistakable. What does A do in such circumstances? There were no sounds of planes or guns, no enemy action was apparently imminent. Accordingly we carried on, for the road was well camouflaged by nature with great overhanging trees. We were prepared, if necessary, to pull up suddenly and leap into the ditch, but it was not necessary. In a town it may be different. It may not be possible to hear anything because of the general noise of traffic, and in such a case it is wiser to run the car into a side road near a convenient shelter. It is always better to be wise than sorry. Why not have The Autocar sent every week to husband, son or fiancé who used to be so keen on motoring before he went away to fight for Britain? It can be arranged through our publishing department. The Autocar (April 8th, 1938), she said: "Nothing would make me give up flying, but it would take a lot now to induce me to give up motoring. It fulfils a different need and satisfies a craving for speed which, only temporarily, I hope, the air has somehow ceased to give me." I remember W. G.{Mr Griffiths - Chief Accountant / Mr Gnapp} McMinnies, who was her partner in some of the rallies, once told me that he had never met a more charming companion for a difficult motoring journey. Y.M.C.A. IN the last war the work of the Y.M.C.A. was known to every man in it. This war is different; everyone is in it and only a few seem to get noticed. I thought of this while inspecting the ruins of London's famous buildings when the streets around St.{Capt. P. R. Strong} Paul's were littered with hose-pipes and pumps were working at full pressure while lofty buildings on each side of the Cathedral were still flaming. It was a ghastly picture. On my return the lady who normally sits on my left asked me what had impressed me most. What had impressed me most? I think it was the sight of the illuminated Christmas tree on the steps of the Cathedral, of people going inside for a few moments' quiet meditation in a world of smoke and hose pipes, of the pigeons flying down to the steps and their apparent surprise that somehow routine had been disturbed, for there were very few people there to feed them. There was one other thing that impressed me—a Y.M.C.A. mobile canteen amid the wreckage with a red-eyed voluntary worker handing out tea and cake to other red-eyed workers. I was told that over 3,000 cups of tea and 5,000 slices of cake had been served the previous night. The Y.M.C.A. mobile canteens now number several hundred—the one I saw was the gift of the people of Kenya to the people of Britain. Most of these vehicles are gifts from someone. The Ford Co. gave them six. They are badly in need of chassis of 10 and 12 h.p. for conversion to Obituary I AM sorry to hear of the death last week, at the age of 63, of Mr. Alfred W. Dougill, M.I.A.E., M.I.Mech.E., formerly of Birmingham, but later of Maidenhead. He was a pioneer motorist. About 1906 he joined Wolseley Motors, with J.{Mr Johnson W.M.} D.{John DeLooze - Company Secretary} Siddeley (now Lord Kenilworth), as experimental manager and later in charge of the foundries and aircraft production in the last war. He was a member of the 19th-Century Motorists. Amy Johnson THE news that Miss Amy Johnson has been drowned while on ferry duty for the Air Transport Auxiliary comes as a great shock to everyone. Her great solo flight to Australia brought her fame in 1930: she was then only 22. In the following year she flew to Tokyo across Siberia and then back to England. In 1932 she flew solo to the Cape and back, making new records both ways. In recent years she often competed in motoring trials and rallies, which she found quite as exciting as record-breaking in the air. In an article in A 20 | ||