Desmond King-Hele: The destruction of the Royal Aircraft establishment

[@vicibox]

Tell me about it. I was a Surface Scientist at AERE Harwell and Privatised by Thatcher. Invited to Farnborough to develop a Surface Science Lab, moved to Management (end of my Science career), Privatised by Blair, moved to lowly post at MoD Bristol to escape and took early retirement before they thought of Privatising me again. Recently revisited Harwell and it broke my heart seeing the old buildings under demolition. Britain really couldnt afford to destroy its Science base; the prosperity of this country was assured by our Scientific leadership. Committees of academics can never compete; they are not professional scientists; they have a day job teaching students - sigh ;-)

[@bostonbikebits6539]

I was an apprentice at RAE Farnborough from 1980-84, then a craftsman until Jan 85. Every time I go past the place now I have nothing but sadness that such a great institution had met such a sad ending. Having said that there used to be a joke which was : how many people work at the RAE? Answer: about 1/3 of them. It was sadly true. The place was full of enterprising individuals running watch repair businesses, dolls house making, getting stuff out of stores and selling it and 101 other things. One old craftsman I met boasted that he hadn't done a day's actual work in 20 years!! I, myself was called in on overtime to look at the seat heaters in somebody's car. It was a hugely valuable asset none the less and letting it die rather than reforming it was a massive mistake.

[@davidelit]

This would perhaps have been more effective if the interviewee had been more careful and rambled less. Leaving aside the vagueness about dates (the Islamist attacks on the World Trade Center, the construction of the RAE admin building (Q101)) and the misnaming of the Defence Research Agency as the Defence Research Establishment, plus the reliance on hearsay about Thatcher's wish to "gradually wipe that out", perhaps coloured by the author's own dislike of her, the fundamental point remains that the Conservative administration did ruin the RAE (and the sister establishments such as RARDE). It did this by turning them into commercial enterprises while keeping salaries at civil service levels, which destroyed morale among those scientists who had made a conscious decision to join the RAE rather than go into the better paid private sector. I was one of many who watched in horror as a wonderful job at a prestigious organization (yes, prefaced with "Royal") turned into a nightmare of "cost centres" and form-filling, which meant that anybody above a certain grade did no science at all, but spent all their time charging other departments for time while trying to get money from the MOD customer who was increasingly being tempted by competing offers from the private sector. Now, the UK has no independent military research expertise - I'm glad I got out when I did, but will always treasure my first few years at RAE Farnborough. I haven't found a job since that I have enjoyed more...

[@984francis]

Yes David, a concise and to the point account.

[@preseli6975]

Having worked at the RAE for many years during the 70's and 80's I can say I came across many people who maybe would be categorised as boffins, immensely intelligent, clever, resourceful and dedicated but not blessed with the life skills that our modern HR departments require. We dont have to look too far in any direction in today's world to see the dramatic downward spiral in standards and results that have been achieved by what we are told is progress, diversity and inclusion. So fortunate that the majority of my life has been lived.

[@j.jasonwentworth723]

Dr. Desmond King-Hele made an important point, which all governments would do well to heed. As an American, I had always liked Prime Minister Thatcher, particularly for her steadfast opposition to the Soviet Union. I also agreed with-and still do-her statement that (I’m paraphrasing here), “The problem with socialism is that sooner or later, you run out of other people’s money”). I have always hated socialism, having personally seen-including in my own family-the societal and moral rot that it encourages and feeds on. I also hate it because of the erosion of liberty that it causes, by making people dependent on the government and extinguishing their belief in their own abilities to live life on their own terms; they become just like formerly wild and free animals who become tamed (and timidly dependent) by humans giving them food. But something that Dr. King-Hele said highlighted a very short-sighted aspect of Prime Minister Thatcher’s economic philosophy. He mentioned how she had asked, “How much money does the RAE make?” When the civil servant she’d asked this replied, “Well, it doesn’t make money-it’s [involved in] scientific research,” she determined to get rid of it. Now: I have never been opposed to government-funded basic scientific research, because-although it doesn’t make money itself-it has an enormous “economic multiplier effect” by generating knowledge that private industry, which could never afford to do research on such a scale itself, can and does use to create great wealth, which raises the standard of living via multiple pathways (jobs, greater efficiencies which benefit other economic sectors, etc.). (A perfect example-the U.S. equivalent of the RAE, in fact-was the N.A.C.A. [National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, founded in 1915, which became NASA in 1958]; the N.A.C.A. undertook basic research on airfoil, airframe, control surface, control system, instrument, and engine design for airplanes [most aircraft designers still use the N.A.C.A.-developed airfoils for their wings today, and the classic “flush” N.A.C.A. air inlet is even used on cars]. The aircraft companies simply could not have afforded to conduct such research themselves, but the N.A.C.A.’s data, which was made freely available to everyone, resulted in the rapid development of military and civilian aircraft. Rocket and satellite research were also undertaken before the N.A.C.A. became NASA, which does aeronautical as well as space research.) Also: The taxpayer’s money that went to the N.A.C.A.-and today, to NASA-has produced a many-fold economic return, and so did the RAE’s funding. Prime Minister Thatcher’s attitude toward institutions that don’t create wealth themselves-but which *do* facilitate the creation of wealth by means of the knowledge that they generate and then disseminate to industry-was shockingly short-sighted! I’m sure she treated all such not-immediately-profitable things that way, and I’m hard-pressed to think of a better example of the old saying, “Penny (or pence) wise, but pound foolish.” (She would have made a lousy vineyard owner, because their first profits don’t appear for several years! :-) ) Interestingly, G. Harry Stine (the rocket engineer who was the co-founder of model rocketry) wrote about “non-immediate profit-driven free markets,” where patience on the part of CEOs and investors regarding new technologies will often result in greater profits than insisting on “making money the next quarter, or else it’s not worth doing”-all farmers can relate to this mindset.

[@lindosland]

Thanks for your interesting observations. Your point about things that disseminate to industry is very relevant. I once worked for the Post Office Research station Dollis Hill, famous for early work on Colossus (computer) and many things, but since I left in 1978 I have seen it renamed and changed into a commercial setup. I greatly mourn the passing of museums into trusts, where they are run only to make money and not to educate the young in a meaningful way. The Derby Silk mill is one such, now closed for renovation (for ten years in total!) though it was at the centre of the industrial revolution, with Erasmus Darwin (hero of Desmond who of course wrote much about him) living just down the road. Nothing about Darwin there!

[@lindosland]

Never mind - bad things often bring new beginnings, and Desmond King Hele went on to become a brilliant author specialising in Erasmus Darwin as well as the Romantic poets. His latest book 'Erasmus Darwin and Evolution' is the result of a huge amount of research, and attempts to restore Charles' grandfather (surely one of the most interesting men ever) to his rightful position as 'the first person to put forward a full evolutionary scenario of life. Erasmus Darwin's final work, 'The Temple of Nature', was originally entitled, 'The Origin of Society', but the name was revised to avoid the publisher going back to jail again for heresy or treason. King-Hele contrasts Darwin's idea of society with Thatcher's statement, 'There's no such thing as society', and rightly sides with Darwin !

[@terrymurphy66]

There is a distinction between writing about something and producing something tangible

[@skarecrow29]

HAving worked at the RAE from 1988 to 1992, I witnessed first hand the change form RAE to DRA and the slow change like a forg in a pan of slowly boiled water nobody realy noticed what was happening until it was to late.

[@MrAvant123]

I worked at RAE from 1978 to 1985 and very much respect (as an engineer) some of the great inventions and developments that came out of RAE. HOWEVER although I am NO fan of Thatcher I have to say that the cost of running RAE must have been huge and Britain was becoming pretty broke even in the 90's. If we British were any good at monetising all of these developments it way have been a different story, instead Bendix, General Dynamics, Raytheon, Honeywell etc etc were good at making cash from some of the things RAE had pioneered.

[@lindosland]

Very interesting. This makes me think of the Post Office Research Station, Dollis Hill, home of so much early discovery including work on Colossus, the early computer used for wartime decripting. I worked there fro, 1968 for ten years. First they moved it to Suffolk, then knocked the buildings down, then renamed it, and now it seems ever more a commercial industrial estate. Museums are another thing, my special interest being Derby Museum and the Silk Mill. Now run by a trust, this has no mention of Erasmus Darwin and the Lunar Society, and nothing about the original silk mill which was the first factory and at the centre of the industrial revolution as Desmond knows so well; being the expert on Erasmus Darwin. My efforts to change this are futile, with not a single scientist on the staff of fifty or so!

[@uncertainitch]

that was eye opening is all i can say

[@rolandedwards2923]

All this was true about RARDE Fort Halstead, Chertsey, human sciences etc etc etc.

[@KerbalRocketry]

the way they destroyed RAE should live in infamy.