Wolverhampton and World War II

Men and Women Fighting for Britain

Wolverhampton men and women served in their thousands - on the front line, in factories, and in other elements of war work. Here are two examples: a man who spent time at the front line, and a woman who raised her family and worked in a factory.

Flying Officer Harry Smith RAFVR

Harry Smith was born in Hull, Yorkshire on 17th November 1923. His family moved to Tettenhall in 1935.

Harry Smith winning the over-15 high jump intermediate school sports

Express and Star, 30th June 1939, F/O Harry Smith (left) and F/O Peter Fry
One of our Aircraft is Missing (L92SMI)

When Harry left school he wanted to join the Royal Navy but his father, who had fought in the First World War, refused to let him. Instead Harry found a job working in Wolverhampton Borough Treasurers Department at the Town Hall.

When he was 18 Harry joined the RAF as an Officer Cadet, spending time in Manchester and Canada during his training.

On his return to England, Harry (nicknamed "Junior") was posted to 157 Squadron based at Swannington, Norfolk, flying Mosquito fighter-bombers.

On 29th September 1944 Harry was navigator on Mosquito MM. The aircraft was detailed to a Low Level Intruder Patrol over Achmer, Verden and Hesepe in Germany. At 3.00am in the morning the plane flew low over a house and crash-landed in a field.

The crash occured at Nieuwlande, near Oosterhesselen in the Netherlands, a few miles from the Dutch-German border.

Two bodies were removed from the wreckage and were laid to rest in the cemetery at Geesbrug in the Netherlands.

Extract from Express and Star, 29th June 1946

Later an identity disc bearing Harry 's name was found at the site of the crash. A cigarette case was also found, engraved with the initials of the pilot, Peter Fry. Harry Smith was just twenty years old.

Mrs MG Nicklin

Extract from The Family Goes to War produced by Guy Motors in the 1940s (L6292p)

Mrs Nicklin had eleven children, eight of whom were still living. She also worked fifty-five hours a week at the Guy Motors factory. Described as a five foot high, seven stone forty-three year old, Mrs Nicklin still had time to cook, wash, clean and mend for her family on Sundays! She also returned home during her lunch break to 'tidy and clean up and get food ready for cooking a dinner at night'. She was rightly described by the Express and Star at the time as Wolverhampton's hardest worker!