Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

Hello everyone,


My name is Mike, I was born in Rawtenstall and lived in Woodside Road, Accrington during my childhood. I have a query about where my late mother worked during the war.
My mother would often tell me about working at a factory that made Wellington Bombers at a local factory that was converted for the work. She told me that the factory was called Howard & Butlers but I cannot find any information on either that factory or Wellington Bomber production in Accrington. Can anyone please help me to progress this query?


Best Wishes


Mike

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

It was Howard and Bulloughs mate not Butlers, aint sure about the spelling but definately that was it.

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

http://www.accringtonweb.com/forum/f...ugh-17881.html theres a thread on it here.

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

Hi Nohras Lad,

Howard & Bulloughs is the correct name. My Grandfather worked there from approx. 1910 until approx. 1950. He was the supervisor in the moulding shop. His name was Albert (Dick) Swain.
I do know that during the war years they produced Aircraft Parts for various aircraft manufacturers, but never whole aircrafts.
What I can tell you about the Wellington Bomber is as follows:
It was designed and produced by Vickers Aircraft Company, but with the event of the second world war coming, more and more aircraft were demanded. This meant that other factories (so called Shadow Factories) such as, Gloster Aircraft Co. and Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft, were also producing the aircraft. See link below for more information.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_Wellington

A small anecdote:
I served my apprenticeship at the English Electric in Clayton-le-Moors from 1958 until 1963. At the beginning we were still producing the Canberra Bomber, later the Lightning and at the end the prototype(s) of the TSR (another sad story).
My departmental head in the Spar Milling dept. was Bill Leeming, who told me that during the war so and so many parts and aircraft were being produced per day (or week not sure now) which to me was a fantastic amount. I've forgotten which type of aircraft he meant, but with the information above on "Shadow Factories" it could well have been Wellingtons.
Not forgetting that there were "Work Buses" bringing employees to and from the Factory from all over the area.

Cheers
Philip Kenyon
Late Belfield Road

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

Thanks Cashman and Philip. The information about the bus service is interesting as I had wondered how people got to these factories, not all could have afforded the daily commute.
Cheers

Mike

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_Wellington

If you want to see a Wellington being constructed have a hunt around for the film referred to in the link. I have not checked but its almost certainly available on YouTube or the BFI site.

RE Shadow Factories: In general there were two types those that produced components i.e. hoses, tyres, instruments etc. and those that produced sub-assemblies i.e. wings, fuselarge sections etc. It was organised as a sort of pyramid with the components being made in literally hundreds of (often small) workshops. Sub-assemblies in larger works with final assembly in airfields such as (in the case of Wellingtons) Broughton Nr. Chester.

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

You got me reading about the TSR-2, ironic that a Labour government cancelled it causing much redundancy, caused many skilled design engineers to move to America and put the UK years behind the USA in aircraft development

TSR-2: The Plane That Barely Flew

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

I did about a month driving buses for Accrington Council. A job I hated and soon left.
That was around 1966 and the English Electric factory at Clayton le moors which made parts for planes still had a small bus park by the left of the main gates. Just before shifts finished there would be a lot of buses waiting to take the workers to different destinations around the Borough.
I don't know what they made then though.

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

I know we’re getting off the original request from Norahs Lad, but the fact that the Labour government scrapped the TSR2 needs to be enlightened on:

Just a couple of months before the then general election, labour party officials were standing outside the entrance gates and handing out leaflets which where it stated very clearly "That if a labour government were to be elected, then the TSR2 would NOT be scrapped"

Incidentally a very good link.

Cheers

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

Many many years ago, my paternal Grandfather worked at what was later the English Electric site, but it is interesting to note the he told me that the company he worked for was called The Bristol Aircraft Company.
I cannot tell you if this was before WWII...or whether it was during the war years.
He always referred to the place as 'Bristol Aircraft' even after it became English Electric.
That is the only light I can throw onto this subject....I cannot tell you if the manufactured the whole aircraft...or whether it was just parts.

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

Hi Margaret,
The factory being "Bristol Aircraft" before English Electric seeme very logical, see text below taken from Wikipedia:

"In 1959, Bristol was forced by Government policy to merge its aircraft interests with English Electric, Hunting Aircraft, and Vickers-Armstrongs to form the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Bristol formed a holding company which held a 20 per cent share of BAC, while English Electric and Vickers held 40 per cent each."

Cheers
Philip Kenyon

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

Thank you for that Philip...I was beginning to wonder if I had dreamed it.
No-one I know can remember it being that.

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

My mother often used to call it the Bristol rather than the English Electric.

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

I dont recall it at all, but i can honestly recall being told about it many years back.

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

My Grandad never called that site English Electric...even when it was English Electric.
My husband worked at English Electric....later known as GEC....he says that he can't remember it being Bristol, but he does remember being shown a shed and told that they used to make wings in there for fighter planes.
He thought someone was yanking his chain...but it looks like it was true after all.

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

No Margaret, you are not dreaming, I am not quite sure if the Factory was built before or just after the start of the war. I understand it was built by Bristol. I knew a bricklayer who lost an eye whilst working on the building. Bristol also built the flat rooftop brick houses in Gloucester Avenue Accrington which were known locally as the Bristol houses, for their workers. After the war when Bristol moved out of the factory, it was taken over by English Electric. The houses in Gloucester Ave. were taken over by Accrington Corporation and rented out to their clients.

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

Here is the film mentioned on the WIKI page earlier, its well worth a watch:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJV90qVYtig

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

I`ve googled this a few times but can only find one other mention of Wellington Bombers being made in Accrington, on this website - Vickers Wellington - bomber

Part way down there is this reply -
"During WW2 my mother was engaged in production of Wellington Bombers in Accrington, Lancs.
If anyone is interested I have several pictures that I believe are of her and her co-workers taken at the time."

It looks like there are two pages of replies but annoyingly when I click on page two it just reloads page one so don`t know if the photos were ever displayed there, maybe someone else will have better luck with it.

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

No, it does the same when I try it too.
Thank you Accyborn....I do vaguely remember being told that the flat roofed houses were for the workers at Bristol Aircraft.
I am glad I did not imagine it all.

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

The (Bristol) building was built by the Ministry of Aircraft Production (MAP) as a shadow factory for the Bristol Aeroplane Co. Another shadow factory for Bristol was built at Weston Super Mare.

The Clayton factory foundation can be seen in this extract:
Attachment 56953

HTH

Mike

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

Thank you for that information.
It confirms what my Grandad told me.

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

I have a photo of my mum on what I presume is a works outing. Before the war, she worked at the cotton mills before moving to H&B to "rivet Wellingtons" as she would put it. As such, I'm not sure whether it is a Mill outing or an H&B trip; they both must have given the workers some breaks; also I had heard that H&B looked after their workers.

My mum, Honora Maguire at the time, is seated front centre; with her older sister, Margaret, immediately behind
https://i.imgur.com/uipbshU.jpg

Here is another photo of Honora and Margaret (both on the right) which, I believe, was taken near to their house in Plantation Road.
https://i.imgur.com/amGEZqu.jpg

Margaret lived in Huncoat and married a gentleman called Harold but I'm sad to say that I've left it too late to find out anything more about them, except that they moved to Towneley Avenue.

cheers

Mike

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

What a lovely happy picture.

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

Mum looks to be about 23-24 years of age in the top photo and, being born in 1917 would make the year about 1940-41. If my guess is correct then it is more likely to be H&B.

Mike

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

I was just going to ask you when the picture was taken.
I have just done a little search on Ancestry and brought up three members of the Maguire family....Honora, Margaret and Robert, located at Nelson Street in Accrington, but these Maguires would be too old to be the ones in the picture.
Honora from my search was born 1891, Margaret 1914 and Robert 1917.
So no joy there.

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

Hi Margaret,
thank you for doing that search. Amazingly, my mother and siblings were called Robert (1914?), Margaret (1916) and Honora (1917). How much of a coincidence is that?? This is going off-piste though so I'll pm you to take this further, if I may. I have a photo of mum as a tiny little tacker at St Anne's school, possibly 1922-23.

Edit: I've just done another check and my mum's mother was also called Honora and she was born in 1891! Perhaps I have my birthdates wrong for Robert and Margaret; if so then I believe you may have found my family!!

Thanks

Mike

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

Sorry to be off thread.

Mike, I didn't find your Mother Honora....it was her mother I found....born 1891.
I found Margaret, born 1914....and Robert born 1917.
I really would need to find out if the birthdate you have for your Mum is correct before I assumed they were twins.
This has piqued my interest.
I will be in touch.
MP

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

Hello again Margaret,
I would go by the names and dates that you have found in your research. In the photo's I have, I would certainly think that Margaret was the elder, followed by Robert and then my mother. Checking through what I have, I now realise that my mothers birthdate was 7th June 1918 and not 1917, sorry about that.
I have sent you a pm with more details.......... and a big THANK YOU!

All the best

Mike
Accrington Web is a lovely site, with lots of helpful people. Thank you all.

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

Below are a few photos taken during my visit in 2016.
As you can see the factory was 1 Million sq. ft.!
http://www.accringtonweb.com/gallery...493.JPGhttp://
The shot below shows some of the buildings. There were 5 of these production buildings, along with various offices, canteens etc.

http://www.accringtonweb.com/gallery...503.JPGhttp://

Somebody wrote about the buses taking workers to and from destinations around the whole area. The photo below shows where the bus station was, now the grass verge with trees in the background.

http://www.accringtonweb.com/gallery...524.JPGhttp://

Hope you enjoy

Cheers

Phil Kenyon

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

Sorry no pictures. Still having problem with uploading them. In my original post the photos were all shown as a line with IMG etc, but after posting they wern't shown?

Cheers

Phil Kenyon

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

I'll put an alternative method in http://www.accringtonweb.com/forum/f...ite-24482.html

There is sometimes a glitch using the gallery.

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

The pictures below are as follows:

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

At last I've got the photos in ok, but not my text!
Hope this will clear things up! The photos are from left to right as follows:
1) how big was the factory? As you can see it was at least 1 mil sq, ft.!
2) The 2 buildings which can be seen are 2 from 5 in total, plus the office block, canteen and outbuildings.
3) Someone mentioned that they can remember driving employees to and from the factory. The bus station was behind the wall, where now a grass verge and trees can be seen.

Cheers

Philip
P.S. Less thanks for the tip on uploading the photos.

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

Would the gentleman called Harold and the lady called Margaret have the sirname of Cullan or Cullen, if so then their sons still live in the village
I have lived in Huncoat for 64 years and I am about the same age as the two lads.

Your's. Taddy.

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

Teddy, yes they are called Cullen....and Mike(Norah's Lad) will be delighted to hear that.
Mike is without internet access at present, but when he is back online I am sure you will hear whoops of joy from him.
You are going to be the flavour of the month for that information.

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

Many thanks for that Margaret but I think that your finger may have slipped once again from the,A to the E, button; Ha,Ha, Taddy, not Teddy.

Stay Happy, Your's, Taddy.

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

Sorry about that....predictive text....and i did not spot it until it was too late.

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

Hi Taddy,

I am currently on holiday, hence the limited internet access, and have just popped in as the internet link is quite expensive.
That really is fantastic news and, if my memory serves me correctly, my cousin's names are John and Raymond. Does that match with your information?

All the best

Mike

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

Interesting... I sometimes work in the Junction 7 buildings, was that where they made Wellington Bombers? That will be an interesting conversation next time I'm there.
The place is quite antiquated now, the buildings have fallen into a lot of disrepair (some to the state of being dangerous) but are still used, mainly as warehouses etc.

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

That is exactly right Mike,although I have not seen either of them for a few years I am sure that they still both live on Burnley Lane in the village.
Enloy your holiday, Your's Taddy.

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

When I worked there from 1958 until 1963, the buildings were named as follows:
A-Shop:
Going through the main entrance, this was the first main building on the left. This was the machinery dept. e.g. Milling, turning, drilling etc.
B-Shop:
The first main building on the right (after the office block). This was where the wings, tailfins etc. were being produced for the Canberra and lightning aircraft. Later fuselage skins for the TSR-2. Probably also Wellington Bombers.
C-Shop:
Further on behind A-Shop. Also, aircraft parts for various aircrafts were made here.
D-Shop:
Further on and behind B-Shop. Sorry forgotten what was made here.

Happy memories!

Cheers

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

Norahs lad here’s a bit of info for you. My dad joined the RAF initially as an aircraft electrician but volunteered for aircrew as they got paid more. He trained as an air gunner and flew missions on the Wellington as the tail gunner. The aircraft geodetic framework was designed by Barnes Wallis. It was said because of the framework many Wellingtons got back badly shot up from raids that would have downed other aircraft. My dad once described coming back from a raid in an aircraft made up of holes held together by some fuselage. My uncle Bill was in a reserved occupation and worked at Howard Bulloughs which used to make textile machinery but during the war years did indeed make precision machined parts for a number of military vehicles/ guns/aircraft and as such the place and people who worked there were vital to the war effort.

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

If the buildings at junction 7 have not changed much (and they do not appear to) then making the bombers would have been hard work. It's freezing in the winter and stifling in the summer in those units.

They did have great big gas heaters in the ceiling but they look really inefficient.

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

Hi Joe,
thanks for this, it all helps towards learning what went on way back then.


Mike

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

An interesting little update on this, I do voluntary work at the Helicopter Museum in Weston Super Mare, Somerset. Last Sunday, one of the visitors was a gentleman who was visiting from Blackburn. When I explained that I was from Accrington, and that I was recently querying Wellington Bomber production up there, he said "my dad used to work at Howard and Bulloughs and he worked on Wellingtons". I thought 'what an amazing coincidence' to meet someone like this and so far from Lancashire. However, before I could get to talk to him any further, he got dragged away by family and was gone!

Mike

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

Hello Mike I hope that you received my private message in answer to yours, if not please let me know.
Yours Taddy

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

Glad that you received my pm Mike, I am not very adept with this Bill Gates machine yet.
Yours Taddy

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

Seemingly so... lol

The building the bombers were made in had and still have asbestos roofs.
Worries you a bit when you have to go work there.

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

I was born in 1944 at 79 Plantation St Accrington. My father, Robert Maguire was born in 1917 at 44 Grange Lane Accrington. He was a machinist at a munition works. His mother, Honora Maguire was a cotton weaver.
Is there any connection?

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

Are the couple on the right Joan and Tom Woods?

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

Mike and I have established off-line messaging and I can confirm that Honora and Margaret are (were) his aunts. This also means that he and I are cousins!
Another little dit, which I didn't accomplish, is that Mike, his dad Robert, my Mum Honora and Margaret all lived in the same house togethe; plus our grandmother, another Honora.


Mike

Re: Wellington Bomber production in Accrington?
 

Ah, the magic of Accyweb.
So glad you have gained a new found cousin Mike.
Finding rellies is a long and winding road.....but the views are really interesting.