Machining before CNC/WW2 tech
I was a Vickers-Armstrong apprentice at South Marston, Swindon starting in 1961 and remember being told that many of the machine tools were WW2 era, (when it was originally Short Brothers). Some of the great British manufacturers of that time were on show, Ward, Dean Smith and Grace and Colchester lathes, Alfred Herbert and Cincinnatti milling machines plus the many other odd machines that made up the two large machine shops turning out at that time, very high quality aeroplane parts. Saw the early implementation of CNC with MilwaukeeMatic and Marwin machines and it was obvious to me that it was going to be that way for the future of production engineering, but never envisaged for one moment the effect computers were going to have in later years.