Figure 1.--

The electrolytic process developed to produce aluminum required large amounts of cheap electricity (1880s). And in Britain this was only available in Scottish Highlands. The first British aluminum ingots were produced at Foyers in the Highlands (1895). The first first hydro-electric powered smelter opening (1896). It was followed by two more, at Kinlochleven (1909) and Lochaber (1929). They were all entirely dependent on bauxite imports, primarily from France. There was an unsuccessful attempt to mine bauxite in Northern Ireland. And the production was still relatively small compared to that of Germany. The British were in a worse situation than Germany which could simply have the Reichbahn deliver bauxite by rail from neighboring and World War I ally Hungary. That was not of great cincern in thev 1920s, but the rise of a new aggressuive NAZI Germany titally changed the situation (1933). The British acquired a controlling interest in Union des Bauxites of Southern France. the Pittsburgh Reduction Company (to become the Aluminum Company of America -- (Alcoa). Britain's lack of both domestic bauxite sources and abundant hydro-power was an uncomfortable position as aviation began to move into the all-metal role. Britain had access to bauxite deposits in France which was assumed would continue even in time of war as France had held up in World War I. The fall of France changed this unexpectedly (June 1940). The British could source bauxite within its Empire in Brutish Guiana (modern Guyana) and the Gold Coast (modern Ghana) as well as aluminum manufactures in America and Canada as long as the Royal Navy could keep the sea lanes open. Bauxite was discovered in Jamaica, another British colony at the time, but not mined during the War. Mass recycling programs were launched. The carcasses of Luftwaffe planes shot down were a welcomed bonus of the Battle of Britain providing some aluminum. Fortunately for Britain, the Hawker Hurricane which played such an important role in the Battle of Britain was not an all metal aircraft, unlike the more celebrated Spitfire. And it is no accident that one of the Royal Air Force's (RAF's) most successful planes of the War was the Mosquito--the 'plywood miracle'. Britain launched a crash effort to expand aircraft production which meant that important new supplies were needed. They and other countries collected household aluminum utensils. [Thorsheim, pp. 66–69.] The Minister of Aircraft Production directly appealed to the public to turn in household aluminum for the aircraft industry. Recycled aluminum was especially valuable because in required only about 5 percent of the electrical energy needed to produce aluminum from bauxite. In many cases these collection drives were more public relations than all that valuable. The need for aluminum was very real. But shipping bauxite from Africa and South America to Britain was not the answer. For one it required large amounts of shipping which was the Allies primary constraint throughout the war. And shipping through the same dangerous waters he German U-boats came close to blocking in World War I. And two Britain did not have the unlimited electrical generating capacity needed to produce the aluminum.. The answer of course was America and Canada. The benefit g=here was that shipping refined aluminum requited a lot less shipping than the bauxite ore needed to produce it. . America would expand aluminum production on its own. Britain would help Canada. Britain wold not begin to act as quickly as NAZI Germany, but it did act. England decided to use Aluminium Ltd. of Canada as a major supplier and began placing orders requiring a substantial expansion. [Smith] Britain would need far more aluminum that what was used to build the limited number of small fighters and two-engine bombers used at the onset of the War. Britain decided to base its war effort on strategic bombing and half the British industrial economy was focused on the air war. And for that heavy bombers like the four-engine all-metal Avro Lancaster was needed and this would require enormous quantities of aluminum--far more than the world was producing in the 1930s.

Sources

Smith, George David. "From Monopoly to Competition, The Transformations of Alcoa, 1888-1986," (1988).

Thorsheim, Peter. Waste into Weapons: Recycling in Britain during the Second World War (Cambridge University Press, 2015). 

Created: 11:44 PM 12/14/2022
Last updated: 12:25 PM 12/17/2022