Birmingham’s Other Contributions To The War Effort
Birmingham made very important contributions to the war effort in the field of scientific achievement. Under Sir Mark Oliphant the University, Professor Jones and a research team perfected the resonant cavity magnetron valve, which greatly increased the power of radar. This was invaluable in detecting both bomb and submarine.
Uranium was first worked in this country at the ICI laboratory at Witton and Sir Mark Oliphant was also a member of the Birmingham research team that solved fundamental problems of making the atomic bomb, taking their knowledge to America. The jet engine benefited greatly from the development of a nickel chromium alloy for the turbine blades, enabling them to withstand the highest temperature involved in their functioning. This was the achievement of the Mond Nickel Research Department, now the Inco Euro Research establishment in Wiggin Street, Ladywood.
One of the dreariest aspects of everyday life during the war was the “blackouts,” which came into force on 1 September 1939. Everybody have to keep their windows covered inside during darkness so that no chink of artificial light would show through. Vehicles had shields over the top of their headlamps. With no street lighting, people use small torches in the streets. Petrol was rationed. Public transport is severely curtailed and the long waiting in darkness for a bus was depressing. Searchlight beams played across the night sky.
There was drabness and difficulty in daytime too. In May 1941 a paratroop invasion was feared, all place name signs on premises were covered over, and signposts were removed. Barrage balloons continually marred an aesthetic appreciation of the Birmingham sky. The sounding of church bells was reserved as a warning that paratroopers were dropping.
All kinds of precautions were thought of. Factories were painted with a design that camouflaged them. Edgbaston Reservoir was drained low, as its reflection in moonlight made it a landmark, and furthermore constituted a flooding threat of its downward broken.
In order to keep food imports to a minimum restrictions were imposed. The manager of the Express Cafe in Moor Street was fined £2 for contravening regulations by supplying bacon and egg-to a food inspector, and a man in Smethwick was fined £5 for wasted food because he threw a hipbone steak at a neighbour’s door.
A typical example of the right humour of the time was a shop window slogan that read, “keep smiling. The Nazis won’t come here. We serve only the best people.” A pointer to the extremes to which the public were exhorted to economise is the following appeared in the Sunday Mercury in November 1942:
“Spare the poker this winter. Anything that makes a fire burn faster than it needs-whether ingrates or boiler-is an act of sabotage against the nation stands effort to save fuel.”
Uranium was first worked in this country at the ICI laboratory at Witton and Sir Mark Oliphant was also a member of the Birmingham research team that solved fundamental problems of making the atomic bomb, taking their knowledge to America. The jet engine benefited greatly from the development of a nickel chromium alloy for the turbine blades, enabling them to withstand the highest temperature involved in their functioning. This was the achievement of the Mond Nickel Research Department, now the Inco Euro Research establishment in Wiggin Street, Ladywood.
One of the dreariest aspects of everyday life during the war was the “blackouts,” which came into force on 1 September 1939. Everybody have to keep their windows covered inside during darkness so that no chink of artificial light would show through. Vehicles had shields over the top of their headlamps. With no street lighting, people use small torches in the streets. Petrol was rationed. Public transport is severely curtailed and the long waiting in darkness for a bus was depressing. Searchlight beams played across the night sky.
There was drabness and difficulty in daytime too. In May 1941 a paratroop invasion was feared, all place name signs on premises were covered over, and signposts were removed. Barrage balloons continually marred an aesthetic appreciation of the Birmingham sky. The sounding of church bells was reserved as a warning that paratroopers were dropping.
All kinds of precautions were thought of. Factories were painted with a design that camouflaged them. Edgbaston Reservoir was drained low, as its reflection in moonlight made it a landmark, and furthermore constituted a flooding threat of its downward broken.
In order to keep food imports to a minimum restrictions were imposed. The manager of the Express Cafe in Moor Street was fined £2 for contravening regulations by supplying bacon and egg-to a food inspector, and a man in Smethwick was fined £5 for wasted food because he threw a hipbone steak at a neighbour’s door.
A typical example of the right humour of the time was a shop window slogan that read, “keep smiling. The Nazis won’t come here. We serve only the best people.” A pointer to the extremes to which the public were exhorted to economise is the following appeared in the Sunday Mercury in November 1942:
“Spare the poker this winter. Anything that makes a fire burn faster than it needs-whether ingrates or boiler-is an act of sabotage against the nation stands effort to save fuel.”