Brough to stop production

Well Enobarbus all this is relative and I think the UK aircraft industry has been in decline for more than 50 years- read Nicholas Comfort’s new book Surrender- How British Industry gave Up the Ghost 1952 t0 2012. UK manufacturing now accounts for only 2.9 % of world manufactured exports by value compared with 25.4% in 1952. Look back at aircraft deliveries in 1986 to see what we were doing before the Warton mafia came to dominate the BAe boardroom- 231 aircraft delivered inc. 27 125s, 25 146s, 46 Jetstream31s & 29 Tornados etc.

Nonsense? Well if you say so.

So please explain to me why many area’s in the Midlands, the North West and the North East are having all these problems? Maybe because there is nothing to do? No jobs, no income?

There are many people who are in total denial about the loss of industry because it is shameful.

Brough/Cadderton/Woodford are the perfect example why so much has gone, because they simply stopped developing products. What other country in the world would consider to still be building a 1950’s airliner (which had problems), with a modified wing in 2010? Where is the replacement Hawk? Nowhere! Everything has been milked to death.

There are a few surviving healthy companies (RR, JCB, Airbus Uk, etc.) but it is nothing compared to what was.

There is a huge service sector, a big financial sector, but that can not compensate for the mass employement and the healthy income from a large industry.

They did a survey to see what happened to the many staff at Rover in Longbridge after factory closure, many ended up with lower payed and lower skilled jobs.

Just look what happened to all the old aviation factories: Housing, storage, etc. How is that supposed to make money and provide employment?

Listing numbers and make it all look good on paper is one thing, reality is sometimes different.

Comparing the run down of Bae Systems with Rolls Royce. They employ 22,000 at Derby and have an order book full to 2018. I believe BAe employ more abroad than they do in the UK now.
mmitch.

springbok,

Nonsense!

The remaining THOUSANDS of this once mighty industrial nations factories are still churning out first class products for sale around the world, and are doing so to such an extent that we are still the sixth largest manufacturing nation on the planet and have the SECOND LARGEST aerospace industry in the world.

160 of the 200 BAE staff at Chadderton are moving to Samlesbury and the site has not been a manufacturing facility for years.

455 staff remain in place at Brough, what on earth were the remaining 899 who are leaving to do? There are no outstanding Hawk orders and if any materialise in the future then the work can be done at Warton where all the jigs and tooling is being shipped. Final assembly in India also remains an option..

Some perspective is needed in all this I think.

The last few factories of this once mighty industrial nation are going!

BAE Chadderton, birthplace of Lancaster bomber, closes

And from this evening’s local news…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-17234626 🙁

They were building Hawks at Dunsfold until it closed. Then it moved to Brough. I suppose now it will move to McDonnell Douglas?
mmitch.

Tony,
That is a very noble idea, but what exactly are they supposed to build, given that they have no orders!
I have every sympathy with the workers at Brough, but I suspect if BAE had made a truly commercial decision everything would have moved to Warton years ago.
Andy

It’s alright closing all these plants but once gone and the skill base and knowledge is dispersed and lost you become reliant on totally foreign built aircraft and we may be cosy with the USA now, but as our history shows 250 years ago we were shooting them, so you cannot guarantee we won’t again.