Originally Posted by
ZeBedie
If I recall correctly, Bristol's gear expert implored Hooker to use helical gears in the Proteus gearbox, but Hooker refused in favour of cheaper straight gears, leading to Bill Pegg's forced landing of a Britannia in the Severn Estuary?
I'm not sure about that. The Proteus already existed when Hooker arrived at Bristol but it was hopeless.
Unusually, I've got my copy of "Not Much of an Engineer" at the moment, it's often out on loan.
I'll see if I can find the relevant part.