HISTORIC NAME

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 August 1941, Page 6

HISTORIC NAME

GIVEN TO NEW BRITISH TANK THE 16 TON “COVENANTER.” ACHIEVEMENTS IN PRODUCTION. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, August 7. In naming the latest 16-ton cruiser type tank the “Covenanter, the ister of Supply, Lord Beaverbrook, recalled that in 1638 the Covenanters were doughty fighters and triumphed in their struggles to secure religious freedom for the Scottish people. A visitor to the factory was told that when the company responsible for the manufacture of the tanks was asked to take on the work a certain period of time was suggested as sufficient. The company replied that _it believed it was capable of producing the tank in a little over half that time. So great was the enthusiasm of the workers, however ,that even this time was halved. Because of the heavy work that is the essential part of the task of the tank in modern warfare every part has to fit with micrometrical exactitude, and there are more than 3000 component parts of each Covenanter. In addition in the base alone 1200 rivets hold the stout armour plating in position. In the tank assembly line many employees have been trained and become proficient in from four to six weeks. Men and women who were doing a variety of peace time jobs a few weeks ago are now working lathes, power presses and punching in rivets like veterans. Among the previous occupations of the workers are commercial travellers, bus conductors, milkmen, butchers, insurance agents, dental mechanics and salesmen. There is also a prison warder -who is storekeeper, and the head lad from a racing stable who is chief test driver when the tanks are taken out for a 70-mile driving test before transportation to the ordnance depot where the guns are fitted. A lion-tamer is now a riveter. All the machines work 24 hours a day seven days a week and the workers have a rota giving them one day or one night off in six.