World War II
During WWII Waltham Abbey remained an important cordite production unit and for the first two years of the war was the sole producer of RDX. This was the explosive that was used in the Bouncing Bomb.
Total transfer of RDX production to the west of England, to ROF Bridgwater; and dispersal of cordite production to new propellant factories located: in the west of Scotland, three co-located factories at ROF Bishopton, to Wales, ROF Wrexham, and to the North East, ROF Ranskill, was achieved by 1943. Many Waltham Abbey staff played a vital role in developing the new Explosive Royal Ordnance Factories, training staff and superintending production.
The Royal Gunpowder Mills finally closed on 28 July 1945.
Read more about this topic: Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills
Famous quotes containing the words world and/or war:
“To go to the world below, having a soul which is like a vessel full of injustice, is the last and worst of all the evils.”
—Plato (c. 427–347 B.C.)
“War. Fighting. Men ... every man in the whole realm is in the army.... Every man in uniform ... An economy entirely geared to war ... but there is not much war ... hardly any fighting ... yet every man a soldier from birth till death ... Men ... all men for fighting ... but no war, no wars to fight ... what is it, what does it mean?””
—Doris Lessing (b. 1919)