1917 – 1947
Rochester: 1917 - 1947
Rochester 1917 - 1918
It was to the end of the First World War, in 1917, that Horace died at Eastchurch and Oswald, the youngest of the three brothers took over the management of the company and revealed himself to have sound judgement and the ability to exercise skilful direction of affairs.
In 1918 the chaotic state of the aircraft industry after the war, was the result of the lack of need for new aircraft and caused many manufacturers to go out of business.
Oswald’s survival solution was to diversify and the skilled design team turned their attention to barges, motor boats, bus bodies and even a carpet sweeper.
This approach kept the much-respected workforce and design team together. At the time when the sheds were full of bus bodies, using the same techniques as they had used on the aircraft, the Company, to their credit, had the same number of employees on the payroll as they had on Armistice Day in 1918.
