Organisation
Management Structure
1928-1938: Vickers Aviation (Supermarine) Ltd.
Chairman:
Sir Robert McLean (Vickers Aviation Ltd.). – More coming soon
Overview:
In 1928 Supermarine Aviation Ltd. was bought by the massivearmaments firm Vickers Ltd., becoming a subsidiary company of the aircraftdivision of Vickers: Vickers Aviation Ltd.
Although now a part of Vickers Aviation Supermarine was stillallowed to operate and trade under its own name, The Supermarine Aviation Works (Vickers) Ltd.,however senior management now reported to the Chairman of Vickers AviationLtd., Sir Robert McLean, and several senior appointments in Supermarine wereVickers placements, including the General Manager, Trevor Westbrook.
Westbrook was seen as an outsider by many at Supermarine, aviewpoint not helped by his youth and abrasive style. However, he was largelyresponsible for a wholesale reorganisation of Supermarine to meet the increasedproduction demands being placed on the company by the re-armament programme andin particular the Spitfire.
1938-1940: Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd. Supermarine Works
Chairman:
Sir Charles Craven (Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd.) – More coming soon
General Manager:
H.B. Pratt – More coming soon
Overview
Delays andproblems with government contracts, and public unease with the arms industryitself during the ‘appeasement’ era of the 1930s, had made the Board of VickersLtd. extremely sensitive to problems with contract deliveries and, like most ofthe aircraft manufactures at the time, both Weybridge, with the Wellington, andSupermarine, with the Spitfire, had problems.
Under pressurefrom the Air Council, and in particular the Secretary of State for Air,Viscount Swinton, many aircraft manufacturers were forced to make wide-ranging managerialchanges in order to keep their government contracts. Vickers was no exceptionand in October 1938 Vickers merged their armaments division, Vickers-ArmstrongsLtd., with Vickers Aviation Ltd. under the Chairmanship of Sir Charles Craven.Sir Robert McLean retained a seat on the new Board but was soon forced toresign.
As part of thereorganisation, in 1938, Trevor Westbrook was recalled to Weybridge where hetook charge of Production. For several months following Westbrook’s departure Supermarine,now the Vickers-Armstrongs (Aviation) Ltd. Supermarine Works, were left with nodirect management until the appointment of H.B. Pratt as General Manager in1939.
In his role asGeneral Manager Pratt was able to complete the reorganisation andrationalisation of production started by Westbrook and by mid 1939 had broughtSpitfire production back on target. He was also responsible for the initial,partial, dispersal of Spitfire Production but was wounded during the attack onthe Itchen Works on 24th September 1940 and was unable to return towork. By December he had been formally removed from his role, a move Webb believed tobe at least in part orchestrated by Beaverbrook in retaliation for Pratt’srefusal to allow Ministry men into the Supermarine Works before the raidswithout the proper credentials. Pratt, overworked and suffering from depressiontook his own life soon afterwards in a shooting incident.
1940-1946: Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd. Supermarine Works
Chairman:
Sir Charles Craven (Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd.) – More coming soon .
General Manager:
Commander James Bird – More coming soon.
Overview
Following the removal of Pratt, Squadron Commander James “Jimmy” Bird was appointed General Manager at Supermarine, a post in which he stayed until after the War.
Commander Bird had been one of the early directors of Supermarine and, despite having sold his shares in the Company to Vickers in 1928, had remained on the Supermarine Board throughout. Jeffrey Quill said of him“Jimmy Bird was a cheerful and convivial character, a good leader and a good manager and did much to keep the firm’s spirits up in the darkest days.”
Organisational Structure
Supermarine was divided into three main divisions:
The Works
Responsible for the manufacture of production aircraft as well as the provision and support of sites and facilities.
5 Replies to “Organisation”
My Grandmother on my mother’s side, Mable Stallwood, was “in service” as the housekeeper, to Commander Bird, whom I am told had a house that backed onto the Solent.
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Hi Ian,
Thank you for getting in touch. Commander Bird was quite a character and it’s great to be able to add a little more to the story.LikeLike
Thanks for the reply. I don’t know if I am telling this correctly, but my grandmother Mable related a story. One day they heard a German aircraft flying low and fast over the house out into the Solent. Right behind it was a Spitfire. After sometime, and out of view, the Spit flew back and waggled its wings over the house as evidently the pilot knew it was Cmdr Birds indicating he got it. My grandmother related, with others in the household, waved a tablecloth in the garden. I don’t know how true that is, or even if I am remembering it correctly- best Ian Sharp
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Great Story!
There is a memoir of a Norwegian Pilot who was working on rotation as a Test pilot for Supermarine during the war. He had to deliver an aircraft from High Post to Eastleigh, en route he flew over Hursley and did an impromtu display. This thoroughl confused the gentleman editing the memoirs, until it was explain that the aircraft the pilot was flying was design by the team in Hursley Park!
So it’s perfectly possible. Even if he didn’t know it was Cmdr Bird’s I’m sure he would have taken the opportunity to ‘wave’ to those below 😉LikeLike
I have a wool work picture or Commander Birds west Solent class yacht W20 that was done for him by his skipper my Great grandfather that I was always told hung in his office at the works, I’d love to see a photo of the office especially if it shows the picture hung on the wall
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The Supermariners