Six technologies that helped win the Second World War

The Engineer has a detailed archive of stories serving up a rich seam of fascinating content from engineering’s past. One of the most interesting veins is The Engineer’s investigation of some of the key technologies that helped win the Second World War for the Allied forces. The conflict marked a new stage in the mechanisation of warfare, which meant that engineers and their inventions were critical factors in the eventual Allied victory.

The Engineer was invited by Rolls-Royce Ltd in December 1942 to inspect an example of the firm’s new Merlin 61 supercharged aero-engine, which was being fitted by the RAF to an improved Spitfire then operating with Fighter Command.

The article was able to position such a development as part of a continuous wartime process. It recalled that at the beginning of the war and during the Battle of Britain, every RAF first-line fighter was fitted with the previously mentioned Merlin III engine, and, striking a more patriotic note, “the complete defeat of the Luftwaffe in August and September 1940 definitely established the technical superiority of British machines. The superiority was not obtained by chance, but every move of the enemy had been anticipated and a definite counter-move worked out”.