A Dopey Little Story by Terry Grace

A Dopey Little Story

Information

A Dopey Little Story

Details

Extract taken from Boscombe Down Aviation Collections News Letter.

Training Depot Stations (TDS's). Were aerodromes built all over the country using a standardized form and design in 1917/18. To train pilots for WW1. What became RAF Old Sarum is one of the most intact TDS's around today. Others are Drem in Scotland and Duxford, Cambridge.
The Dope shop was always part of the Woodworking shop on RFC aerodromes of this period.

Boscombe Down Aviation Collection.

South Hangar of BDAC.

North Hangar of BDAC.

A Dopey Little Story

Information

A Dopey Little Story

Details

A Dopey Little Story

Information

A Dopey Little Story
The RFC Doping shop as it is today.

Details

Opposite a pair of historic GS Hangars on Old Sarum Airfield which now houses the Boscombe Down Aviation Collection, is a pair of single-storey white huts which are now used as retail outlets.
The hut nearest to the airfield, which is home to a traditional sweet warehouse and a flower shop, would not really warrant a second glance to the ordinary person in the street or even most aviation enthusiasts but is an important historic building in the history of the site from the earliest days.
The hut dates from ca 1917 and was the Doping Shop for the Royal Flying Corps aeroplane repair section.
Before the introduction of alloy skin to cover aeroplanes, they were all covered with fabric (usually linen) and then treated with a special substance to firstly tighten the material and secondly to make it weather and oil resistant. In the very early days of flight, the wing and fuselage coverings were treated with starch from grain or other sources. This worked well in fine weather but dissolved in the rain making flight impossible.
Later, “dope” was introduced as the preferred treatment and did its job exceedingly well. Traditionally, both the sewing of the fabric onto the wings and the “doping” were carried out by women. The etymology of the term “dope” is a little vague, but possibly comes from the vernacular, simply meaning a liquid?
Dope, although proving superior to other fabric treatments was not without its downside.
There were several types of dope, firstly cellulose acetate dissolved in tetrachloroethane. (known commercially as Cellon)
Secondly, the same material dissolved in non-tetrachloroethane-based solvents (such as acetone, alcohol, or benzine)
Thirdly, Nitrocellulose dissolved in non-tetrachloroethane-based solvents.
As early as December 1914 and most probably earlier, the effects of being subjected to these products were becoming known and court cases regarding hazards of exposure were being reported.

Woodworking shop roof.

Woodworking shop doors.

Woodworking shop heating plant room.

A Dopey Little Story

Information

A Dopey Little Story

Details

The first case at that time was the inquest of Gilbert Moody, 36, who had died in Middlesex Hospital and who was employed as a “Doper” at the Air Craft Factory [sic] at Hendon.
Mr Moody had complained of feeling ill inside and the others were also feeling the effects. The deceased was treated by a doctor for jaundice.
The Medical Officer of Health for Hendon had investigated 13 other cases of jaundice in the factory but only a few worked with dope.
The post-mortem examination of the deceased showed that the liver was shrunken.
The Home Office analyst investigated and found the deceased had died from jaundice brought about by a poison. He analysed the solution (dope) and found it to contain methylated spirits, benzine, tetra chloride of ether and acetone.  In visiting the factory, he was struck with the manner in which the dope hung about even at a considerable distance from where it was being used. Subsequent experiments in which rats were exposed to dope determined without a doubt that dope was a liver poison.
The chemicals are toxic if inhaled and tetrachloroethane becomes extremely hazardous in a fire giving off very harmful products including phosgene and HCl.
Acetone and Benzine are of course hazardous and flammable, benzene is now known to be a carcinogen.
Nitrocellulose is highly flammable. It is irritating to the skin and if inhaled can cause dizziness and loss of consciousness.
Although little in the way of personal protection was provided (contemporary photos as shown below of the Supermarine factory at Woolston, show workers doping the fabric with 6-inch brushes and no masks being worn.), there were efforts made to ventilate these buildings. These various dope concoctions were heavier than air and collected on the floor of the shed thus presenting a significant hazard.
The photo below shows a preserved doping shed with the ventilation stack still present. The shed at Old Sarum would have had a very similar system for extracting the toxic fumes via an electric fan.

DH10 doped wing covering.

The British Emaillite Co., LTD.

Cellon Dope.

A Dopey Little Story

Information

A Dopey Little Story
RAF Duxford.

Details

Preserved Doping shed at Duxford ( note the design similarities of the huts to those at Old Sarum)

A drawing of a similar vent stack is shown below.

Drem's dope shop.

details

Plan.

A Dopey Little Story

Information

A Dopey Little Story

Details

Front face and side section of Dope Shop (Tallaght RFC Training Depot in Ireland).

Large channels in the floor of the sheds were connected to the vent stack as in the drawing of a similar system installed at Tallaght RFC Training Depot in Ireland.
Drawing of vent stack showing the position of the electric fan

Be2 tail.

Original wooden door.

Women doping a wing.

A Dopey Little Story

Information

A Dopey Little Story

Details

Plan showing how the ventilation troughs were arranged in the doping sheds.

The filled in trench in the floor.

In the floor of the shed at Old Sarum, it is still possible to make out where these vent channels were in the floor and this is shown in the picture below:
Although, as in most industries of the time, little regard was paid to safety in the aircraft manufacturing process during its earliest days, it is interesting to see that The RFC was at least making a token effort to address the hazards of working in the doping shops. There seems to be little information on how effective these ventilation systems were at removing the dope vapours but were no doubt a step in the right direction.

 

 

 

A Dopey Little Story

Information

A Dopey Little Story

Details

Women doping at the Graham White factory, possibly Hendon..

 

 

.

A Dopey Little Story

Information

A Dopey Little Story

Details

Bibliography and Resources:

The Supermainers; The men and women who created a legend. Online resource.

Royal Flying Corps Training Manual Part 1    

Hansard: Aircraft (Supply of Dope) Vol. 83; debated on 21st July 1916.

Hamilton, Alice; Dope poisoning in the making of aeroplanes: Monthly review of U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Feb. 1918 Vol. 6. Pp 37-64.

Drew, Richard. Airfield Historian; Personal Communication. Thanks for making me aware of this historic building.

British Newspaper Archives; online resource.

The Great War Forum; Late War RFC/RAF aerodrome plans – Tallaght. Online resource.

Thanks to the owners of the current businesses now occupying the buildings for allowing access and permission to use photographs.


RAF Old Sarum MENU

Wnterslow by Terry Grace.

Airy Something by Terry Grace.

Porton by Terry Grace.

© 2013 Richard Drew