MINISTRY OF AIRCRAFT PRODUCTION (DISSOLUTION) ORDER, 1946. (Hansard, 19 March 1946)

§ LORD HENDERSON
My Lords, on behalf of my noble friend Viscount Stansgate I beg to move the Motion standing in his name.

§ LORD LLEWELLIN
My Lords, I hope your Lordships will think it fitting that someone should make just a few remarks on this matter, and perhaps I may be allowed to do it as I was one of those who had the honour to be called upon to take part in the foundation of the Ministry of Aircraft Production, and, at a later stage, to take charge of it. That Ministry was called into being at a time when the country's fortunes were at their lowest. Men came from all walks of life. Apart from my noble friend Lord Beaverbrook there were two other members of this House who joined us at the start, and in addition to myself, as Parliamentary Secretary, there were three members of another place. They came from all sections of industry to help in the vital task of providing those great young men in the Royal Air Force and in the Fleet Air Arm with the weapons they must have if we were to win the war. I speak with first-hand experience of what these men did at the Ministry. Most gave up the direction or management of a business of their own. All worked with initiative and drive, and they formed a first-class team which not only I but, I feel, every 192 Minister of Aircraft Production must be proud to have had under him.
The Ministry, working with the aircraft industry and through it, succeeded in getting the extra fighters which were necessary to win the Battle of Britain. It succeeded in producing bombers that could carry the heaviest load of any bomber produced in the world. It saw the Spitfire through all its various transformations, the latest of which I rather doubt whether Mitchell, the inventor, had he still been alive, would have recognized as coming from his original great design. It was responsible for the Mosquitoes, the Lancasters, and the even more modern jet plane. I think the triumphant success of the Ministry and all aircraft and engine designers should be recorded. In the 1914–18 war, as many noble Lords will remember, the Germans had the better design at one moment, and then our Air Force had the better design at the next. Throughout this war, however, we always led the enemy in design, and that gave the chance to our young men of which they made such tremendous use. Now it is right not to continue this Ministry, and to end its life to-day after not quite six years of existence. It may be said of it that it will not grow old as the Ministries that are left grow old; but when history comes to be written, I am quite certain that the years will not condemn the way in which it carried through its great, important and indeed vital task.

§ LORD SHERWOOD
My Lords, I would like to say one word. I agree with what the noble Lord has said about the Ministry of Aircraft production, although I must differ from certain facts he gave because I think they are inaccurate and should always be contradicted. He said that the Spitfire won the Battle of Britain, and not the Hurricane, and he paid a tribute to Mr. Mitchell.

§ LORD LLEWELLIN
I did not say that.

§ LORD SHERWOOD
You implied it, and I think it should be made clear that it was the Hurricane and not the Spitfire which won the Battle of Britain. It is true that we are winding up this Department, of which the noble Lord was Parliamentary Secretary under Lord Beaverbrook. No praise can be too great for what Lord Beaverbrook did in those 193 days when Lord Llewellin was the Parliamentary Secretary. I hope that what may come of the new Department will be development and research. That is what we are asking for.