The Giant's Eye: the Optical Munitions Exhibition
http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/exhib/omp/

Published by ASAP on ASAPWeb, 30 April 1997
E-Mail: bsparcs@asap.unimelb.edu.au
Prepared by Denise Sutherland and Elissa Tenkate


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Main Exhibition

Introduction
Magic Eyes of War and Peace
Don't call us, we'll call you
The Crisis
The Optical Munitions Panel
A Formidable Task
Optical Glass
A Romance of Science and Industry
The People
The Results
Afterwards...


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The Giant's Eye - Introduction

'I sincerely believe this optical panel and its work and all those who were connected with it virtually won the war for us.' - Sir Laurence Hartnett, 'Recollections of the Optical Munitions Panel in Australia', Australian Physicist, vol. 22, May 1985, pp. 158-60.

Science in war is more than just a source of 'winning weapons'.

We've all heard about radar and the atomic bomb, but what about malarial research, the manufacture of drugs, tropic proofing and optical munitions? Scientists contributed to the war effort in many ways. While winning weapons might grab the headlines, victory in the laboratory, as on the battlefield, comes inch by inch.

This exhibition tells the story of the Optical Munitions Panel. Facing a crisis in the production of Australian-made weapons, Australia's physicists worked with government and industry to achieve some remarkable successes.


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The Giant's Eye - Magic Eyes of War and Peace
http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/exhib/omp/main/magiceyes.htm


'The glass lens is the magic eye of science; but it is also the giant's eye of modern mechanised war, without which armies would be practially blind.' - H.C. McKay, 'Magic eyes of war and peace', Smith's Weekly, 18 November 1939, p. 13.

You had to be able to see the enemy.

Despite the development of radar during the Second World War, quality optical instruments were still as important as guns and tanks. High-powered weapons were of little use unless you could aim them accurately. Range finders, predictors, sighting telescopes, periscopes, sextants, and directors were all essential pieces of equipment.

In November 1939, the journalist H.C. McKay pointed out that Australia was totally dependent on Britain and the USA for 'these vital supplies'. What would happen if the imports were blocked? McKay had no doubt that Australian technical expertise could fill the gap:

'The Australian worker ... can grasp a method quicker than anyone else in the world. If you want to make lenses, he'll make them - or optical glass for that matter - if you show him how.'

McKay's confidence was soon put to the test.


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The Giant's Eye - Don't call us, we'll call you
http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/exhib/omp/main/dontcall.htm


'... while foreseen developments were well provided for, new developments might arise at any moment ...' - Quoted in D.P. Mellor, Australia in the War of 1939-1945: The Role of Science and Industry, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1958, p. 247.

Australia's physicists were keen to offer their services to the nation.

In August 1939 (just before the declaration of war with Germany), the Australian Branch of the British Institute of Physics wrote to Prime Minister Menzies about mobilising the country's physics resources. T.H. Laby, the inaugural president, and A.D. Ross, the secretary, suggested that a committee of physicists be established to advise the Government in the coming war.

But what could the physicists actually do? There were few specific suggestions and a meeting between Laby, Ross, and members of the Departments of Supply and Defence brought a 'don't call us, we'll call you' type of response. Laby, a temperamental man, bided his time grumpily, critical of the Government's lack of foresight.


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The Giant's Eye - The Crisis
http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/exhib/omp/main/crisis.htm

'You want physicists? We've got half a dozen of them, roaring around, dying to do something to help, but no one's been able to use them.' - Quoted in Laurence Hartnett, Big Wheels and Little Wheels, 3rd edition, Wildgrass Books, Boronia (Victoria), p. 143.

Australian weapons were rolling off the assembly line, but where were the gunsights?

Australia's armed forces needed weapons. To manufacture them, coordination of the country's industrial resources was essential.

Laurence Hartnett, the Manager of General Motors Holden (Australia), was appointed to lead this effort. But even as the first Australian-made guns were rolling off the production line, Hartnett faced a crisis - they had guns, but no gunsights!

British supplies of optical munitions were no longer available. Australia had to develop its own - but how? Who would have the necessary knowledge - physicists perhaps? Hartnett sought expert advice and learnt of Laby's impatient enthusiasm.

Finally, there was a job for him to do.


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The Giant's Eye - The Optical Munitions Panel
http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/exhib/omp/main/theomp.htm


'It is essential ... that you co-opt the very best men and brains that are to be found within the country.' - L. Hartnett to T.H. Laby, 9 July 1940, Australian Archives, MP 730/11 16.

Australia's leading physicists were gathered to work on the problem.

Hartnett met with Laby and other senior physicists in Melbourne on 26 June 1940. This meeting led to the formation of the Optical Munitions Panel, with Laby as Chairman.

The OMP brought university-based scientists together with representatives from government laboratories and the armed services. The Panel's main task was to advise Hartnett and to offer assistance to organisations and industries involved in the optical munitions effort. However, many of its members became directly involved in the production process - designing, building and testing instruments.

The scale of the OMP's task quickly became apparent. The armed services submitted a list of twelve urgently required instruments - over 15,000 items were needed, at an estimated cost of £750,000. And this in a country where hardly a single such instrument had ever been produced!


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The Giant's Eye - A formidable task
http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/exhib/omp/main/formidable.htm

No optical glass, no skilled workers - how could they proceed?

Where to begin? There was a serious shortage of both personnel and materials. The OMP summarised the 'exceptional difficulties' which stood in the way of its success:

* No supplies of optical glass were available. Optical glass was essential for the production of high-quality lenses and prisms. All previous supplies had been imported.

* There were few optical workers in Australia with experience in manufacture of precision lenses and prisms. Such components required a level of accuracy at least ten times greater than what was acceptable for spectacle lenses.

* There was a shortage of scientific instrument makers. Like the lenses, the mechanical parts of optical munitions had to be made to a high-degree of accuracy. This was work beyond the existing capacity of most engineering firms.

The manufacture of optical munitions was clearly outside the experience of Australian industry. So the scientists had to lead the way.


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The Giant's Eye - Optical Glass
http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/exhib/omp/main/opticalglass.htm

'... the making of optical glass in Australia would be wasteful of war effort as it would probably take four years before a successful production could be achieved and the cost would probably be a million pounds ...' - Cable from the Australian High Commissioner in London, quoted in D.P. Mellor, Australia in the War of 1939-1945: The Role of Science and Industry, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1958, p. 253.

Success! - with little outside assistance, Australia's first optical glass was produced

The production of optical glass required special techniques and materials. Its manufacture had never been attempted before in Australia. The OMP asked Melbourne's Professor of Chemistry, Ernst Hartung, to investigate. He quickly established close collaboration with Australian Consolidated Industries (ACI), Australia's leading glass company.

The OMP also sought assistance from the main British manufacturer, but they were reluctant to jeopardise their potential postwar market by handing over the technology without restrictions. The British authorities were pessimistic about the Australian effort, but the OMP was determined. If they had to go it alone, they would!

Hartung and his team made rapid progress. Local supplies of suitable sands and clays were identified and valuable information was obtained from the US National Bureau of Standards. Finally on 21 September 1941, ACI produced Australia's first large-scale batch of optical glass.


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The Giant's Eye - A romance of science and industry
http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/exhib/omp/main/romance.htm

'Australian scientists... brought into the war picture a veritable romance of industry; a romance out of which grew Australian-made optical instruments' - D.M. Dow, 'Optical Munitions Notes', Australian Archives MP 483/3 58

Australian science and industry collaborated to achieve remarkable results

No centralised optical munitions production facility was established. Instead, the OMP coordinated the efforts of over twenty-five organisations around the country - including universities, government laboratories, and engineering and optical firms.

The design of instruments and the production of prototypes was often undertaken at the University of Melbourne or the Commonwealth Solar Observatory (CSO). After testing and assessment, orders were placed with industrial firms. The results were closely monitored by the Munitions Standards Laboratory (MSL) and the National Standards Laboratory (part of CSIR).

Australian firms were unused to the degree of accuracy required for optical instruments. The government laboratories provided them technical assistance and training, enabling them to meet the necessary standards. The process did not always go smoothly, but the results were remarkable. A totally new industry was established within a few short years.


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The Giant's Eye - The People
http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/exhib/omp/main/thepeople.htm


People from a wide variety of backgrounds contributed to the OMP's success

Physicists like Richard Woolley or Alexander McAuley could quickly master the principles of optical design, but acquiring the necessary skills to actually make high-quality optics was a different matter. The OMP had to recruit widely and creatively to find the necessary staff.

J.J. McNeil at the Munitions Standards Laboratory had valuable overseas experience, and the unparalleled skills and knowledge of Czech-refugee Francis Lord were eagerly grasped. Syd Elwin was an amateur astronomer who ground his own lenses, while, in Tasmania, the talented inventor Eric Waterworth was quickly set to work manufacturing prisms.

Woolley raided the internment camps, finding several internees with optical experience. Women with no scientific or technical experience were trained, becoming skilled optical workers. New training courses were also established at technical colleges. Seemingly from nowhere, a skilled workforce was established.


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The Giant's Eye - The Results
http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/exhib/omp/main/results.htm

'Some of the achievements of the optical munitions branch must necessarily remain secret, but it is understood that what has already been accomplished will become a milestone in the scientific progress of Australia.' - Canberra Times, 24 February 1941, p. 2.

Within a year the OMP had overcome its major obstacles - the crisis was over

By the time Japan had entered the war in December 1941, the work of the Optical Munitions Panel was well advanced. Many of the instruments developed would have been used in the Pacific theatre, defending Australia.

In total, forty-three different types of optical instruments were produced, and the number of items manufactured ran to well over 26,000. Hartnett had even arranged for 7,000 roof prisms to be exported to the USA. In addition the OMP had undertaken valuable work in related areas, such as tropic proofing.

The Optical Munitions Panel, renamed the Scientific Instruments and Optical Panel, was finally disbanded in December 1945. Not only had scientists successfully turned their skills towards the war effort, Australia's youthful manufacturing industries had proved they were capable of meeting the highest standards.


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The Giant's Eye - Afterwards
http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/exhib/omp/main/afterwards.htm

'...it is believed that a valuable peace-time industry will be built upon the wartime development of optical munitions' - Canberra Times, 24 February 1941, p.2.

A new industry had been created, but could it be sustained?

As the end of the war approached, a government committee was established to examine the future of the wartime industries. Members of the OMP submitted a report recommending the continuation of research in optical glass and the support of the fledgling optical industry. Unfortunately it was decided that the economic opportunities for such an industry were too limited, and it was allowed to wither.

Some remnants remained. The MSL filled an order for five hundred microscopes, supplied to Australian universities. In Hobart, Waterworth continued to manufacture lenses, prisms and some instruments, and Francis Lord established his own successful optical company in Sydney.

More generally, the success of the OMP helped demonstrate the practical value of science to government and the military.


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