#breech ring

This 1943 painting by Laura Knight (1877-1970) depicts 21-year-old Ruby Loftus (2921-2004) working at an industrial lathe cutting the screw of a breech-ring for a Bofors anti-aircraft gun. Ruby became an expert in the production of breech-rings in just seven months – something that usually took years. After the war, Ruby and her husband John Green emigrated to Canada and she never worked in a factory or engineering again.