The War Years 1914-18 &
1939-45
World War
I
Suddenly, motoring or what used to be called pleasure motoring,
receded into the background. The Austin Motor Company found itself,
like many other firms, confronted with new problems, which included
not merely those usually associated with the motor industry, but
problems new to the engineering world generally because of the
shear volume of production needed. No precedents were available,
they had a well equipped motor works with a work force of about
2,800, and were in the act of calmly preparing for the November
Motor Show with their new models. But all that was about to change
as war contracts became the order of the day. There was an
immediate and insistent demand for cars, lorries, aeroplanes, aero
engines, guns, shells and munitions generally on a colossal
scale.
The scale of deliveries of
munitions, vehicles, planes etc is staggering. (See end of
article)
Doubling the original size
of the works was, however, only the commencement of the growth. The
need for armaments grew by leaps and bounds, and the response of
Austin grew with it. So it was necessary at the end of 1914 to
enlarge South Works to build a new shop to make the 18lb shells
along with the 9.2in shells. Starting in April 1916 this big shell
shop in two months had reached an output of 2,000 shell per week.
This output was slowly increase over the following months so that
by March 1917 the output had reached 5,000 shell per week. More new
buildings comprising of a forge, stamp shop, two more machine shops
(No 2 & No 3) along with a bond room and various erecting
shops.
North Works
1914-8
The following year a large
building was constructed and called Block No 9. Because the land
was sloping, a large amount of earth had to be removed, in fact
150,000 cubic yards. Further building Block No 6 was finished in
1917 which comprised aeroplane erecting shops, dope and sewing
room. Further on the South side was a aero engine machining and
assemble shop along with testing facilities.
1914-8 North Works, Thomas
Seabright Superintendent
(Seated 4th from Left second row)
ARMOURED CARS
Austin decided that with
the wealth of experience in building motor vehicles, they could
design an armoured car with some unique features. The name given to
this vehicle was ‘Dreadnought’ It was capable of traveling at 50
MPH on a good road. With a complement of six men, the vehicle had a
couple of machine guns and searchlights. It’s main role was to get
men to the front line as quick as possible, and to return for more.
You could say that it was a miniature fort with it’s two
shrapnel-proof / bullet-proof turrets which housed the machine
guns. It had the unique ability to be driven and steered from
either end. The driver had a pair of Periscopes front and back to
see where he was going and should the outside glass get broken a
new one could be easily replaced.
Armoured Cars
at 'K' Gate
Notice the different tyre
tread patterns
Austin Armoured
Car
Note the Larger
Rear Wheels on this Version
AEROPLANES
(link
for more information)
Aeroplanes were produced,
the first government contract was given for the RE 7 plane with
production commencing September 1915. Fifty two planes were
delivered, a revised version called RE 8 was developed and a order
for 300 placed. In 1918 a order was placed for 350 SE 5 planes, the
order was revised several times, ending with a total of 1550. At
the start of this contract the delivery schedule was one plane per
day (24hrs). With the larger numbers required, production rose
steadily to an average of 30 per week. From Monday 3 June to
Saturday in six days they turned out sixty three planes. Aeroplanes
construction in those days was very much like aero modeling. The
body of a plane contained thousands of separate and accurately made
pieces of wood which were then assembled together. One of the grey
arts was the ‘doping’ of the canvas, because if not done correctly
the canvas skin would be too tight and so was libel to tare, if
loose it was not very aerodynamic and would also tare. The Austin
dope-room was regarded as the best in the country because it was
fully ventilated along with a controlled temperature. At this time
all this experimental work and production need skilled men who
could manufacture the aircraft, At the time Longbridge had about
130 aircraft carpenters and about 200 riggers and fitters.
Attached to South Works was a hill called Cofton Hill this was
levelled off giving an area of seventy three acres. The airfield
was laid out like spokes of a wheel, with runways pointing in
different directions connected by a perimeter road. This was a
brilliant design as planes were able to take off what ever the wind
direction
Aeroplane Production in the
Wood Shop
SE 5a
Biplane Production South Works
.July 1916 work on North
Works commenced for a huge shop measuring 850ft x 270ft together
with a long building to house the new forge, running along side
with a machine shop. By Christmas the buildings had been completed
and by March 1917 the forge was producing its first blanks.
Production steadily rose with the forge producing 20,000 blanks per
week with the machine shop at 15,000 shells per week. There were
two immense bays devoted to the machining of 4.5in howitzer
guns.
18lb SHELLS
The total production of 18
lb shells during the war period was amounted to six and a half
million, to produce his quantity you needed 80,000 tons of steel
bar. It is difficult to envisaged what 6.5 million shells look
like. Somebody worked out that if you put them end to end they
would stretch from Lands End to John o Groat’s and half way back a
distance of 867 miles. At the height of the production, 1,200 tons
of steel bar was used every week, which meant two train loads each
day. Production of the shells was so prolific that they were
running out of storage space. In one week they dispatched no less
than 150,000 shells and a daily rate for a nine and a half hours
was running at 13,000.
Machine Shop 18
Pounders
In December 1916 the demand
for munitions was still rising, so work commenced on the land
opposite the Bristol Road which became known as West Works. It was
an exceptionally hard winter, so building work was particularly
difficult, but by working continually day and night with flares
used to help at night, the building was ready for fitting out in
June 1917. Large foundation were made to accommodate the heavy
machinery that was to be installed including presses which could
exert a pressure of 750 tons. A large machine shop measuring 660ft
x 330ft was soon machining 100,000. 18lb shells per
week.
Aero
Engines
USAF Museum
x x x xXXX X X X X X X x
x RAF 1a
V8 Aero Engine
Such was the demand for
aero engines that British manufactures were having difficulty in
supplying, so other firms were given contracts to supply. At the
time there were two engines that the Austin was awarded contracts
for. One was for the RAF 1A which was a air cooled V8 and produced
about 90 HP, this was a very successful engine and the Longbridge
plant made about 2,400. The second engine called the Arab had been
designed by the Sunbeam Company, this was also a V8 which had a
power output of just over 200 HP. Austin was awarded an order but
from the outset there was a major design fault so in the end only
about 100 were actually built.
Aero Engine
Production South works
Ambulances Lorries
etc
Making vehicles for war
situations is not the same as in peace time, and initially some
components would fail under these tough conditions. But a lot of
knowledge was gained on the stress and strains that components were
subjected to. A specially strengthened 20hp chassis was used for a
variety of jobs. This was the backbone for the various bodies that
were mounted including Ambulances, X-Ray apparatus, Field kitchens
and General stores.
Delivered by the Austin
Motor Co to HM Government and Allied Governments from October 1914
to the end of contracts in 1918.
Shells:
13 : 25,000
15 : 100,000
8.0in : 980,000
210mm : 60,000
9.2in shells 350,000
18-pounders 6,500,000
Guns 650
Lorries 2,000
Ambulances
148
Aeroplanes 2,000
Trace Troughs 34
Electric Motors 25
Armoured Cars
480
Night Tracers 506,399
Pumping Equipment 40
Shrapnel Heads 47,768
Percussion Tubes 682,808
Burster Containers 167,791
Working Trailer Wagons 3,405
Electric Generating Sets 4,762
Touring Cars, Light Vans etc. 750
Switchboards and Resistances 4,423
Aeroplane Engines (various kinds) 2,500
Along with large quantities of spare parts for lorries, aeroplanes
etc.
______________
World War II
Its a fact that many people
suppose that, during the war, Car Manufacturers merely continued
the business of producing automobiles, supplying them solely to the
Government for the Fighting Services. This was so far from the
truth, motor vehicles were still been produced in the war, in fact
nearly 100,000 came of the production lines in this period.
It was a very difficult time as output for peace had to continue,
but the possibilities, at least, of war production began to unfold
and the country had to be ready. As it became clearer that war was
only just around the corner the first phase was the building of the
Flight Shed at the corner of Lowhill Lane and Grovelly Lane.
A contract for the
erection of the Flight Shed, Low Hill Lane, Longbridge, between
Austin Co. acting for the Secretary of State for Air and the
builder Messrs Wilson Lovatt & Sons Ltd was signed early in
1937, work starting immediately. Next came the building of
the Shadow Factory, Cofton Hackett Factory, but called the Aero by
all who worked there. People who worked there were issued with
square enamalled badges which were in deferent colours depending on
which department you were working in, this meant you were not
allowed in any other department. The badge shown below is rather
unique in that it is round. (if anybody can give me a
reason for this, please contact me) Although most people called
it "The Aero" it tended to be called East Works after the War. The
first aeroplane to be built, were the Fairey Battle. It was in
September 1938 that the first plane built, took off from the flying
ground.
Main Door where
the Planes Emerged
Hurricane
taking off from the Longbridge airfield
East Works with
the Sand Bags
But the actual diversity of
products and components was staggering, the Longbridge site
provided anything from a simple machined shaft to a Lancaster
Bomber.
Some of the war time products were large, many were small, but all
were vital to the war effort. In a normal year of peace, Longbridge
would manufacture nearly 100,00 vehicles which would range on the
car side from 8 HP to 28 HP, and commercials would be from small
vans up to 3 ton trucks, also including industrial and marine
engines.
Marine Engine
for Life Boats
It is, therefore, not
surprising to learn that Austin vehicles during the war met a large
part of the transport needs of the British armies, and every week
up to 500 army and other vehicles came off the production lines,
ranging from 8 h.p. utility cars to 3-ton trucks, including four
and six wheelers drive. Army breakdown and fire fighting vehicles.
Along with Ambulances, R.A.F. tenders and troop carriers, Signals
and Workshop units. By the end of the war the total number of such
vehicles was over 120,000.
6 x 4 Austin
Chassis
For the war in the air,
Longbridge has also to its credit a formidable list of aircraft
products. These ranged from balloon cable cutters to Beaufighter
and Miles Master wing and centre.sections and Horsa glider
fuselages, representing in all 5,000 aircraft. Additionally, Austin
production included oil and fuel tanks for four.engined bombers to
the tune of 15,000 incorporating 2,500,000 square feet of light
alloy, and numerous small assemblies ranging from landing gears to
components for Rolls Royce engines and Rotol
propellers.
Oil and Fuel
Tank Production
Also the process of digging
out deep shelter tunnels in 1936 to accommodate up to 15,000
personal. The main tunnels were in the South Works and driven under
the Flying Ground through the sandstone, a task undertake by mining
engineers. As can be seen from the picture below they were larger
enough to accommodate a 3 ton lorry. The ones in South Works were
mainly built to act as a air raid shelter although some machining
etc was also carried out. The ones next to the Shadow Factory were
built for the main purpose of assembling Bristol Aero engines
although it did have a Ambulance Station. So by the time September
1939 had arrived, the main tasks were in place and Longbridge could
take its place promptly and efficiently to produce the items of
War.
One of the Tunnel
Entrances
For months before war was
declared, production was slowly been changing so that it could be
ready to meet the needs of our armed forces. It was a bit of a
balancing act as the needs of peace time had to continue. By
September 1939 the major infrastructure was in place, and
Longbridge was now ready. The first task was the need to camouflage
the factory and although everything had been planned in advance,
this mammoth undertaking was achieved in just three day. So from
the air the factory roofs of 120 acres disappeared into the
countryside. The Lickey Hills is very close to the factory and
people at the time would go and look at the panoramic view of the
factory, were amazed to see how it blended with the countryside
even down to having a road going across the
site.
Aerial Picture
taken by the Germans
As you can see from the
aerial picture East Work and the Flight Shed have blended well with
the countryside around. The Air Field is not so good, but note that
the runways are like the spokes of a wheel, this was a brilliant
idea as aircraft could take off what ever direction the wind was
blowing.
It was now necessary to
re-plan the tooling and production areas for the change over to
munitions etc. Employment gradually rose, as contracts from the
government came in and production increased so that Longbridge was
employing over 32,000 workers. Even though the factory was well
camouflaged, the Air Ministry was sure that an air raid was on the
cards, as the Luftwaffe planes only had to follow the railway line.
In fact only one daylight attack took place on North Works by the
railway when a few employee was killed. To protect the site from
attack some workers in overtime would be assigned to the Air Raid
Precautions (ARP) and later with the Home
Guard.
Because of the requirement
of the Air Ministry, every new contract given often meant that new
machinery had to be brought in, tooled up and the labour retrained.
this was a ongoing event, which at times must have been soul
destroying.
So what did the Longbridge
plant turn out.
One of the necessities of
war was the service helmets produced by the Austin presses to the
tune of 500,000. The Jerrican which enabled the safe storage of
fuel, and with its ease of pouring should have won a design award.
Most of the 600,000 supplied to the forces were assembled at a
factory in South Wales. The rest were assembled at a factory unit
in Kings Norton, with all the pressings supplied from West Works
Longbridge.
The
Jerrican
Over 110,000 bogey
suspension units and a large number of driving gear units for
Churchill tanks were another ‘sideline’ so to speak. Although most
of the Longbridge production was geared to the Army and Airforce,
parts were also made for the Royal and Merchant Navy. Mine
mechanism plates and depth charge pistols came to a staggering
total of 440,000 units. Magazines for the Navel ‘Oerlikon’ gun
amounted to over 110,000.
The Civil and Nation Fire
Service were equipped with over 5,000 Austin 2 ton lorries of
various body styles. Industrial engines of which about 20,000 were
produced, with nearly half coupled up to drive a fire pump.
K2 Ambulances Finishing
Line
Austin 10hp Tilly taking part in the London victory parade in
1946
Exhaust Ring
Production
Longbridge produced over
122,000 exhaust rings for the Bristol aero
engines.
Although most of the items
produced were fairly large, there were small items made that were
vital, such as tails for 2501b., 1,0001b. and 4,0001b. bombs, some
300,000 Vickers and Hispano machine gun magazines were produced for
aircraft atmament. One of the small items was the humble bilge pump
which was with each airborne Life Boat on every Bomber. This very
simple construction of a semi-rotary pump was designed and produced
at Longbridge. It was self priming and should it draw up debris
into the pump itself, by rotating the cover plate using the metal
strip as shown any obstruction could be easily
removed.
Bilge
Pump
For the land war,
additional to vehicle output' armour.piercing ammunition of
2-pounder, 6-pounder and l0-pounder types were produced to a total
of 1,350,000 rounds ; allied to this was the output of 3,350,000
ammunition boxes. Magazines for machine or tommy guns also loomed
large in the Austin contribution to the Army's needs' as with the
Bren Sten and other magazines, upwards of four millions of these
units were turned out'
Ammunition
Boxes
Bren Gun
MKI
The Bren Gun which was
manufactured in Enfield London was rated as the finest light
machine gun every adopted as it was reliable, robust, simple and
accurate. It was in the West Works that a shop was set up to
produce the magazine that held 30 rounds, with over half-a-million
been made.
Bren Gun
Magazine production West Works
The gun got its name from
the designers (R.
V. Shepard and H. J. Turpin) and the Enfield arsenal where they worked. Although
it was ugly and crude, but been of simple design proved to be very
reliable in the field. It was produced by the Enfield factory and
also the BSA factory in Birmingham. The Sten magazines produced at
Longbridge reached an incredible total of
1,759,000.
Sten Gun
MKIII
Sten submachine
gun magazine production
Vickers Machine
Gun No2 MKI
This gun was originally
supplied to the Royal Air Force as an observers gun. It was later
taken up by the Special Air Service (SAS) often been used mounted
on a Jeep. The early version used a 60 round magazine, with the
later version having a 100 round magazine, which was the one
produced at Longbridge. The total of 100 round Vickers magazines
produced at Longbridge was over 421,000.
100 round Vickers magazine
production