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Mr Jones and others discuss the work being carried out.
Burnley workers are playing an important part in the development of the Anglo-French Supersonic Concord airliner, a project which could bring in a total of £3,000 million for Britain and France. This was disclosed when the Borough Member, Mr Dan Jones toured the Lucas Hargher Clough factory where research and development into the aircraft's combustion system is taking place. Lucas's are working on the flame tubes and discharge nozzle assembly of the combustion system. This works in a similar way to the cylinder in the engine of a car, fuel and air are fed into the system where they burn to produce a mass of hot air which expands to push the aircraft along. Eight tubes will be used in each of Concord's four engines.
Mr Jones is a member of a small party from the Aviation Group in the House of Commons who travelled to Toulouse yesterday to inspect the Concord assemble area. He said on Friday, "I'm absolutely delighted that the Burnley part of Lucas's are involved in the development of such an important part of such an important plane. Now I shall be able to talk on a technical basis when I visit France. I shall come back to Lucas's as soon as I return from France to discuss my trip. I hope to be able to come back and say the Concord project is definitely going on. It will mean a great boost to Anglo French relations".
At present the Hargher Clough factory is working on a major contract for Rolls Royce, manufacturing Spey reheat jet pipes for use with the MacDonald Phantom Jet Fighter which is on order for the Royal Navy and the RAF. The factory is the only one in the world doing work on this engine, and the whole development of the aircraft depends upon the Hargher Clough factory. A spokesman for the Lucas factory said, "where we are with the Spey engine today, we hope to be with the Concord in the 1970's". Added Mr Jones, (who was awarded the B.E.M for his war time service to the aviation industry), "I get terribly disturbed when people tell me Burnley is only a cotton town. The town has been in the forefront of engineering for a long time".