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Wolverhampton
and World War II As with the First World War many of the companies in Wolverhampton and the rest of the Black Country changed to the production of "war materials". Some Wolverhampton companies, such as HM Hobson Ltd, J Marston Ltd and Boulton Paul Ltd, had been involved in the rearmament programmes since before the war started. Companies which had played an important part in the war effort in the First World War - Clyno Engineering, Star Engineering, AJS, and the Sunbeam Motor Car Co Ltd - had either gone into liquidation, been taken over or moved away from the area by the time of the Second World War. However HM Hobson Ltd (making control systems for aircraft), Villiers Engineering Co Ltd. and Guy Motors Ltd were still in existence and were now joined in Wolverhampton by the Goodyear Tyre and Rubber Company, Courtaulds (making armoured cars), Boulton Paul (making aircraft) and others. HM Hobson Ltd was established in London in 1903, moving to Wolverhampton in 1911. The company had been involved in war work at its Accuracy Works in Cousin Street, Wolverhampton, during the First World War. In 1939 it purchased some land a few miles north of the town centre at Fordhouses and built a new factory. During the war Hobsons made carburettors for aircraft including the Spitfire, Lancaster and Sunderland Flying Boat. As early as 1923 Guy Motors Ltd was working on military vehicles, and by 1928 the company was making a six-wheeled armoured car for the Indian Government. In the late 1930s Guys was heavily involved in the production of lorries and gun tractors for the British Army. The same year the company produced the first British rear-engined, four-wheeled drive, all-welded armoured car. Guy armoured cars were considered of such quality that they were used for the protection of the Royal Family and the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, during the war. The company's development of armoured plate welding was said to have saved the country one hundred million pounds in tank production costs, since Previously armoured plate had had to be riveted in place, a long and slow process. As well as making military cars Guys also produced cars for civilian use during the war. In order to meet the demand for its products, Guys employed over two hundred women full time and over three hundred part time.
Women
workers, Guy Motors Ltd, 1939 - 1945,
Women
workers, Guy Motors Ltd, 1939 - 1945
Women
workers, Guy Motors Ltd, 1939 - 1945
It was not all work however. Despite the war, Guys still held their annual dinner and dance.
Menu card, Guy Motors Ltd Dinner & Dance, 1940 (L6292) Boulton & Paul Ltd built aeroplanes in Norwich during and after the First World War. In 1936, in order to expand the business, the aircraft division moved to Wolverhampton to take advantage of the skilled labour force in the area. Also, by relocating to the West Midlands, the factory would be in an area considered safer from enemy bombing than if the company remained in East Anglia. During the war Boulton Paul produced 2,198 aircraft including the Defiant, a two-seater fighter, and from 1942, the Barracuda. A total of 692 Barracuda aircraft, 1,060 Defiant aircraft and 105 Blackburn Roc aircraft were built at the Pendeford site. The company also made gun-turrets for aircraft.
Defiant
and Gun Turret fitted to a Halifax Bomber, 1939 - 1945 In 1940 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth were shown around Boulton Paul during a visit to Wolverhampton.
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth visiting Wolverhampton, 19th April 1940 (V1/GEOVI/1) Villiers Engineering Ltd In the First World War Villiers had produced ammunition, in particular fuses for the Vickers 75mm shell. During the Second World War the company manufactured fuses for anti-aircraft, artillery and cannon shells. They also continued to make motorcycle engines and cycle parts for use by the armed forces. The company employed women workers in many of its departments as its male workers were gradually called up to serve in the military. Women worked on the machines, on assembly and inspection. In the engine assembly shop 60% of the workers were female. By the end of the war the company had made:
Goodyear Tyre & Rubber Company The Goodyear Tyre & Rubber Company arrived in Wolverhampton in 1927. The factory was built on the edge the town on the site of a disused enamellers, Macfarlaine and Robinson. In 1939 the company switched to war production. Factory employees worked twenty days on and one day off. Walter Hazlett, the Managing Director, travelled to work by bus and drove an ambulance two nights a week. The company had its own Home Guard Detachment.
Goodyear Home Guard, 1940 (DB-20/F5-13) By the end of 1940 the company was Britain's second largest producer of aircraft tyres. Tyres of five feet in height, 24 inches wide and weighing some 355 pounds were built at the factory. In the spring of 1942, due to the shortage of natural rubber, the company began making plywood panels for pontoon bridges. The company also worked on applications for synthetic rubber in tyres. A "run-flat" tyre was developed and produced for the armed services. Rubber hoses used for pumping water, petrol and oil, and a self-buoyant armoured hose for use in the refuelling of ships, were also produced.
Extract
from Express and Star, 14th March 1945 During the war Christmas cakes were sent from the workers of Goodyear in Canada to the workers at the Wolverhampton factory.
Workers
with parcels of Christmas cake from Canada, 1939-1945 The company also set up a facility for the US forces to repair self-sealing aircraft tanks, wheels and brakes made by Goodyear in the USA. Industrial Designs Ltd One of the lesser-known Wolverhampton companies - Industrial Designs Ltd - undertook the planning, jigging and tooling for companies involved with the production of war supplies. The company's work involved enabling factories to switch production from their normal peacetime products (such as bicycles) to items required to fight the war (such as fuses for shells). They even transformed Scottish factories from making carpets into torpedo production! During the course of the war the company handled over thirty-five thousand war production designs.
Extract from Express and Star, 6th April 1945
© Copyright. Wolverhampton City Council, 2002
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