The Company lost also two departmental chief engineers, D. B. Hoseason of motor and H. L. Guy of mechanical. Hoseason, who had been a trade apprentice and became a chief engineer at the age of twenty-nine, resigned in November 1940; he continued a notable career, first on the board of the Brush Electrical Engineering Co. and then as director of studies at the new Administrative Staff College, till his death in a road accident in 1948. Guy left in 1941 having been chief engineer of the mechanical department for more than twenty years, and in 1942 he was appointed secretary of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers; he was made a C.B.E. in recognition of his services on government committees during the war and was knighted at the beginning of the present year.

Among the many honours received by M-V men during the war a special welcome was given to the New Year's list of 1944, when G. E. Bailey received a knighthood. In the following April he became chairman of the Company, succeeding Sir Felix Pole, who was compelled to relinquish the position owing to failing eyesight. Thus 'G.E.B.', as he is still affectionately known, achieved the highest office in the Company he had served since 1907.

For most of the war and for nearly twenty years previously. Bailey had held the manufacturing reins and had instilled something of his own capacity for getting things done into every unit of the works organization. The starting of a great drive in radar manucture in 1938 originated in his personal energy and his realization of the importance of rapid production. During the same period he was initiating the Manchester defence scheme; his work on this was recognized by the award of the C.B.E. in 1941. He also found time to serve on a number of Government committees and to continue in many public offices including that of president of the Engineering and Allied Employers' National Federation which he held from 1940 to 1943. Later he became deputy chairman of A.E.I., and he holds directorships in many of its constituent companies and in other concerns.

Sir Felix Pole remained for a short time chairman of A.E.I., being succeeded by the Rt. Hon. Oliver Lyttelton in 1945, and he is still deputy chairman of M-V. During more than twelve years of leadership he had seen the Company grow from strength to strength, both in the formative years of A.E.I, and later during its notable contribution to the war effort. At Trafford Park and Sheffield his generosity and benevolent disposition made him the friend of the ordinary man. He was always at call to attend works functions whatever the inconvenience, and the curtailment of his activities was received with genuine regret. There are many in the Company who have a warm place for him in their affections.