World War Two Ball Bearing Production

[David Dunlop]

A very interesting topic popped up related to this in the Carrier Section recently.

Prior to, and during WW2, Sweden pretty much owned the world ball bearing market. SKF alone, between control of raw material, patents, manufacturing machinery and intellectual knowledge controlled close to 60% of German supplies and close to 30% of Englands.

I recall reading once that at one point during the Battle of Britain, between new production on the lines and aircraft in for repairs, work on around 1,500 aircraft could not be completed in England due to lack of bearings. They are present in nearly everything when you think about it.

As a recognized neutral country, if Sweden wanted to sell bearings to Germany, it could not do so without getting permission from England, and vis versa. Under this surface, however, postwar information has revealed an interesting extent that Sweden went to favouring supplies of ball bearings to England. Both aircraft and ships were used.

The aircraft i believe were all marked BOAC but flown by RAF crews dressed as civilians. There was at least one dedicated airfield in Sweden they operated out of. I do not know what ships were used, but they did not have civilian crews either and also operated out of a dedicated port somewhere in Sweden, and at least one article I have seen implies they were fast and well armed.

Interesting that Carrier wheels designed to work around that ball bearing shortage 80 years ago are still turning up.

David