Flora Lion was a portrait painter who was given access to paint factory scenes in Leeds and Bradford during World War One. Flying boats (designed with a boat-like fuselage for landing and take off from water) were used extensively by the British during World War One, notably for spotting German U-boats by following mathematically constructed search patterns. Although the technology of flight demanded precision design and the use of the aircraft was sophisticated, they are being manufactured using traditional carpentry skills. Workmen at benches, using planes and scrapers, are hand manufacturing the individual components for this most modern machine. Late in the war, Germany developed the first metal-based fuselage and these skills would shortly be made redundant and replaced by the production line. The need to have the latest technologies supporting the development and production of armaments was a crucial lesson from World War One.
Published: 2005-04-04
