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Cold War Britain / United KIngdom post-War erconomic failure new industries
Cold War Britain: Post-War Economic Failure--New Industries
Figure 1.--One of the technologies that emerged from Workld War II, was jet aircraft. And there were obvious commerical opportunities following the War. Here we see some admirung British kids talking to an airline pilot some time in the early-1950s. Thanks to Sir Frank Whittle, Britain had a lead over the Americans. The first commercial airliner was the De Havilland Comet. It proved to be a costly failure when British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) Flight 781 crashed into the sea near Elba Island, off the Italian coast (January 10, 1954). This resulting in Americn companies (Boeing, Lockeed, and McDonnel Douglas) building a near monopoly in the industry for decades. The only other country building commnercisl airliners was the Soviet Union, but the Soviets were unable to make commercial sales because of reliability factors.
The major powers of Europe used their considerable scientific expertise to develop new weapons systems. The Nobel prize awards are a good rought indicator of each nations scientifific capability. Germany was the leading country, but outdisranced bt the Americans and British, not counting the French. The German secret technology gets the most attention in World War II histories because it had the most obvious (jet aircraft and missles), even though they had little impact on the War. It was the Allied secret weapons (radar, cavity magnetron, proximity fuse, and atomic bombs) that had the greatest impact on the War. These were all projects coceived by the British, but improved by American and British scientists and brought to fruition by America's far greater industrial capacity--the fully mobilized Arsenal of Democracy. Prime-Minister Churchill ordered that British secret technology be turned over to the United States even before America entered the War. This meant that after the War, both America and Britain had access to the extrodinary Allied scientific developments in addition to the technology of a defeated NAZI Germany. After the War, almost all of this technology was available to industry. And whole new industries developed from the technology, including, computers, jet engines, microwave ovens, and much more.
Britain made a major start in jet trave--the Dehaviland Comet. The rechnology was basically sound, byt the small mmatter of squarush ratrher rhan ival windows caused diusterous crashes, leading the fiekd wide oopen to the Americans. The security services were even crirucakl because Dehaviland carried the Royal family on early flifgts.
Most of the commercial development came from American companies, not British companies. This was in part because of the greater entrepenurial American spirit. Another factor, however, was that the focus of the Labour Party was on creating the welfare state and preserving jobs in existing industry, nor in providing the resources for creating new industries. Labour 'invested' huge sums in an effort to keep unprofitable coal pits open rather than in proinising new technologies thst could create good paying jobs. Labour like the Demicrats in America tend tonuse the ter ';invest' toi justify all kinds of wasreful spending. Labour policies were more focused on narrowing income differences than in genersting wealh through economic growth. And the results showed that. Economic dispsarities were narrowed, but in the process British living standards fell below that of the other major European countries. The Government in contrast to the booming economies on the Continent, had to continue rationing into the the 1950s. The failure to develop new industries was just one of the ways in which Labour failed.
