Crash put Rolls-Royce on a new flight path to success

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Recent accounts of the day, in February 1971, when Rolls-Royce was forced to call in the receivers have brought back painful memories for many former employees but also a sense of pride in the way the company recovered – as engineer Harry Harvey, of Allestree, recalls here.

The final fitting of an RB211 engine at Rolls-Royce in March 1972

In 1971, the fateful year, I had been in Rolls-Royce engineering for 20 years. I don’t remember what I was doing on the day the crash happened but I know that it was a massive turning point in the evolution of the company.

I remember a colleague who was returning from an assignment in Germany at the time and was between jobs. Caught above the parapet, he was typical of the many casualties of the crash.

I also recall being in the group working with Sir William Cook, who was sent in by the Government to oversee the company after the takeover and who was very successful in restoring confidence so that we could get on with the business.

The Government had little choice but to step in and rescue the company that provided a large proportion of the engines for aircraft used by the RAF and Navy but, fortunately, nationalisation was avoided.

Once restored to private ownership, Rolls-Royce developed into a highly successful international company – and the basis for that has been the RB211. In the 1960s, we were in the civil market with the low bypass ratio Spey engine but it was clear to the visionaries that much higher bypass ratios and more efficient engines would be required for the civil aircraft of the future.

Fortunately for Rolls-Royce, managing director David Huddie shared that vision and was determined to launch the RB211, our first large fan engine. It became a great success in the Lockheed Tristar but Huddie sadly paid the penalty for underestimating the cost of development of an entirely new technology. We owe much of what Rolls-Royce has become to him.

The RB211 was the beginning of a long series of large fan civil engines, the latest of which, the Trent, dwarfs its parent. If you are flying on holiday or on business, you will be in the care of a highly reliable big fan engine, very probably with an RR badge on the cowling. These engines are now the dominant section of the business.

Through the 1970s, Derby was transformed to handle the RB211 and its derivatives and to be dedicated to the civil market. All military projects were moved out to Bristol.

Before the RB211, the business had been predominantly military, mostly for the UK Government. It was typical of such a relationship. While not being irresponsible, if a military project overspent, we would ask for more money and the customer would oblige if he wanted his engine.

With the commitment to civil projects and with the painful memories of 1971 still fresh in the mind, there came a complete change in mindset from top to bottom in Derby.

I believe that virtually everyone in the Derby operation realised that we were selling to customers in competition with Pratt and Whitney and General Electric, customers who wanted a better engine at the right price.

We had to be the best to survive. And it was our money that was at risk. Running an engine project became a challenging experience.

The size of the engineering teams available to support development and research projects was kept deliberately tight so that projects were forced into competition with one another to obtain the support needed to meet their technical and programme objectives within their allocated budget.

Each project had to use all its ingenuity and determination to get the job done with the limited resources available. This led to a highly efficient and economical project management system which contributed greatly to the success of our engineering operations.

There was also another factor at work. All of the engineers in Derby felt quietly, deeply proud of being part of Rolls-Royce. We felt we were the best and would do all we could to remain so. In battling to make a success of any project, I felt I was doing it for Rolls-Royce – something shared by all project leaders. It is remarkable that an organisation can inspire this sort of motivation.

I went on to enjoy 20 more years of doing something that brought great satisfaction and enjoyment. For a young engineer, it was exciting to be involved in the development of the new jet engine and that enthusiasm never waned over 40 years.

The scene was always moving; the changes in the technology of the engine design, of materials and of manufacturing methods are truly amazing.

And Rolls-Royce has developed massively, too. It became the one company that had the power to successfully challenge the American giants, Pratt and Whitney, and General Electric. It is now seriously international. The Royce News is printed in four languages.

I believe that the crash and its cause put Rolls-Royce on a new path from which it has never looked back. For me, I am so glad that I saw that advertisement for Rolls-Royce development engineers very many years ago.

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