What was accrington like during the war?

[mani]

ok just reading about the canary island munitions factory in accrington i never wud've thought that anything like that wud've been made in accrington.

so hence my question - during the 2nd world war - did accrington play any role in the war effort?

[Ber999T]

Accrington like most towns turned some factories over to munation production.
GEC at Clayton built airplane engines and parts.
Howard and Bulloughs (Platts) did some ammunition works

Thats all I can think of at this time in the morning LOL

[jimmi5bellies]

Probably a lot cleaner than what its like now

[WillowTheWhisp]

There was a house in Whalley Rd that got bombed. That's all I know.

[talentedbutslow]

Dad worked at Howard and Bulloughs through the war ...making shells...and he was on firewatching duties at night for incendaries.....when he was home....mum and him used to shelter in the coal cellar when the bombers went over.....heard tell they hit clayton once or twice

[steve]

think GEC was then called ENGLISH ELECTRIC.

[Neil]

They chopped the iron railings from everyones walls.

[Tealeaf]

I think the moors immeadiatly south of Ossy was one of the last places in the UK to be struck by a V1 flying bomb, at the very end of WW2. Why they were aiming for Ossy, I do not know...it could be it was regarded as a place of vital strategic importance, or maybe it could have been done on the direct orders of Hitler. Maybe he knew something that no one else knew, or still knows.....

[mani]

i was gonna say

did the germans ever target anywhere near accrington?

[Neil]

Originally Posted by Tealeaf

Why they were aiming for Ossy, I do not know...

Was he trying to hit the eyeties?

[Tealeaf]

The V1 was pretty much a speculative weapon which had no GPS or preplanned flight programme like the modern cruise missile, it was simply aimed in the direction of the target and came down when it ran out of fuel. The Ossy one was probably aimed at Manchester and veered off and overshot.

The Eye-Tye camp, was of course also home to a large number of Krout POW's and the interesting thing was there was a number of AA guns around the perimeter, ostensibly to defend Accy/Blackburn. These tended to be set in serious concrete bases. While there is little trace of the old camp to be seen, I suspect that the concrete emplacements are still buried there, only a few inches under the soil.

[mani]

its a shame that they tell u about the accy pals from ww1 but they really dont mention much of accrington during the ww2 and its war effort

[talentedbutslow]

Originally Posted by Tealeaf
Why they were aiming for Ossy, I do not know...


Probably aiming for Gayles place............

[Retlaw]

The factory at Clayton le Moors, was Bristol Aircraft Works, they made Radial Engines. It later became G.E.C. Howard and Bulloughs made shells, bomb casings and other munitions. Lang Bridges in Exchange St made shells. No explosives were made round here, the nearest place for explosives was at Exton nr Chorley. No deliberate attacks were made on any properties in this area, the houses bombed in Clayton were a result of jerry clearing his bomb racks on the way home. They flew from Germany to Ireland, then across the Irish Sea to Liverpool, some stayed and bombed Liverpool, the rest flew on to bomb Manchester. As to a VI, or Buzzbomb, they didnt have enough fuel to reach Ossy.

Walter

[steeljack]

. They flew from Germany to Ireland, then across the Irish Sea to Liverpool,
why did they fly to Ireland from Germany to get to Liverpool ?, There were no German bases in Ireland .......thats like saying you went to Accy to get to Ossie from Church