WW2 War Effort Production in Nottingham

[firbeck 859]

I was just reading up on the Nottingham Blitz on the 8th to 9th of May 1941 and wondered why it was the only large scale raid carried out on the city. Although there was damage and many casualties, it doesn't have appeared to caused problems to factories in war production or industries vital to this, I can only assume that the Luftwaffe had poor intelligence. Thinking about it, there were highly important manufacturing plants in the city, for a start the Royal Ordnance Factory in Lenton which at the time was producing artillery, anti-tank guns, anti-aircraft guns and Bofors, it was said to be the second biggest manufacturer of artillery in the country. Ruddington was starting to manufacture 500 and 1000lb bombs for the RAF, Chilwell was one of the biggest military supply stores in the country, tank and vehicle spares, etc, etc. Raleigh had switched to manufacturing fuses for bombs and shells becoming the biggest supplier of fuses in the country. Rolls Royce had an engine testing plant hidden away near Balloon Woods, it's still there, it got attacked by a lone raider once but didn't get hit. Of course there was Rolls Royce at Hucknall which brought together the Merlin and the Mustang to develop a long distance world beating fighter. There were smaller but still important industries in the hosiery sector, my mother worked for Cussons? in the Lace Market making mosquito nets, other companies produced parachutes and uniforms. I don't know what Players produced but the 'Tommy' couldn't do without his fag, so they were still important. Then there was Boots, producing medicines and probably field dressings, I know the old factory got hit but I assume most of the production was probably in Beeston by then anyway. My fathers old print works Walter Blacks produced propaganda leaflets to drop on Germany (I published some on here a while ago), then what about some of the soap works, did they refine chemicals for explosives manufacture.

Then there were the vital support industries, the coal mines in more or less a ring around the city, Wilford power station, even Stoke Bardolph sewage works and the water pumping stations to the north. I think the most obvious target must have been Stanton Ironworks, it must have glowed for miles, without looking it up, I don't think it was seriously attacked.

Are there any other vital war industries in the Nottingham area that anyone can think of or any reasons why the Luftwaffe didn't come back and bomb again.

[Cliff Ton 10,458]

I found this information a couple of years ago, but forgot I had it and never got round to posting it, so here goes.......

In the early 1940s, land in Far Street, Bradmore (south of Ruddington) was requisitioned by the government for manufacturing parts for incendiary bombs (although the official line was that it was for milling magnesium). It was built on what was then known as Smedley’s Orchard and was disguised as farm buildings. Its use ended when the war finished. Local Bradmore people worked there, and there was also bus which brought workers from Ruddington.

New housing now occupies the site, but part of the factory wall is still there, and an old office and canteen building have survived as ruins if you know where to look (and can be seen on Strreetview).

[DAVIDW 1,681]

Just happened on this story of how Britain was carrying on through the war . According to the article, scenes were shot in a major Nottingham factory.



Not sure if there were a series of them made , as it mentions army navy etc and it's a bit limiting searching on my tablet but is this a Nottingham factory ?

Actually there are more films in the Britain Carries On series , on the Pathe site but my tablet won't play them . Maybe the Nottingham scenes were in another film ?

http://www.britishpathe.com

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

I know it is a little farther north but there was what was termed Nottinghamshire's best kept secret. I am referring of course to the oil wells at Eakring near Ollerton. The existing small oil wells there were developed by American oil workers who were brought in because of their expertise. The oil was piped to the mid Notts railway at Bilsthorpe and loaded onto trains to be transported to refinery. It was apparently excellent grade oil for refining into high octane aviation spirit essential for the war effort. And very few people knew of the existence of these wells. The Americans lodged at Kelham Hall. Although there are still wells in north Notts and west Lincolnshire, there is no longer any oil produced at Eakring, many of the Nodding Donkeys are still extant, and there is a small museum in a wooden hut on the site at Duke's Wood. A very interesting place to visit.

[DAVIDW 1,681]

This is another film in the "Britain Carries On" films on Pathe News from 1940 .

This features a bombed sweet factory . A bit boring unless your Mum worked in the sweet factory but could this be Nottingham ?

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/britain-carries-on-1940/query/britain+carries+on

Short film under 2 mins and right at the end are these two location shots . Look familiar ?

[plantfit 7,580]

Bilbraborn, I visited there a couple of years ago and I think I posted some pics on this site, as you say a very interesting place to visit, there is also an old air raid shelter there in a wooded area and a statue/memorial to the American oil men.can't remember which topic I posted the pics in though, suppose someone will come up with it in a bit

Rog

[firbeck 859]

David W;- The sweet factory from the outside shots appears to be built of stonework, I may be wrong, but I can't think of any stone built factory buildings in Nottingham, they were mostly of brick, a cheaper local product. I suspect it's somewhere in Yorkshire, possibly Sheffield, along with the steel plate rolling mill in the other film, that reminds me of some of the industrial buildings that existed up Attercliffe Road where there were many foundries and engineering companies.

I've been trawling the internet to find details of damage to industrial buildings in Nottingham and pretty much drawn a blank, it seems that Stanton Ironworks received more damage from a Zeppelin raid in WW1 than in WW2, one particular raid appears to have dropped all it's bombs in surrounding fields apart from one incendiary device. According to what I've read on the net, Stanton produced nearly 1m tons of bomb and shell casings during the war, one suggestion was that Germany didn't bomb the place because the Nazis wanted it intact when they invaded!

One factory I didn't think of when starting this was Ericssons in Beeston, I gather that most of their production was turned over to producing radio equipment for RAF aircraft and airfields. It also seems that they were instrumental in producing telephone equipment at a rapid rate to replace exchanges and phones destroyed in Luftwaffe attacks on airfields and facilities in the South East during the Battle of Britain.

Another mystery is the Rolls Royce Merlin testing plant at Balloon Woods, still more or less intact and now used as an industrial estate. I can't find any photographs of this place either during WW2 or even in more modern times and certainly hardly any facts about it at all, when was it built for instance. My mother, who lived very close on Trowell Road remembered the noise the place used to make, 24 hours a day and recalls having to hide under the hedge when a lone German bomber came flying low down Trowell Road searching for the place, or maybe it was heading for Stanton Ironworks, certainly there were anti-aircraft guns situated at Balloon Woods crossroads which opened up on it.

We managed to get in there when it had been long abandoned back in the late 50's, it was quite a spooky place to us kids at the time, especially in the large (T2?) hangar which is still there. Where the radio masts are now situated was an air raid shelter which was full of boxes that had contained ammunition at one time, I presume the army or Home Guard had a presence up there. What always puzzled us was the pill box in the field on the other side of Trowell Road, it's still there now, but why build it in the middle of a field, it sticks out like a sore thumb, I wouldn't have liked to have been the poor sods trying to use that as a defensive position during an invasion.

[DAVIDW 1,681]

Firbeck, thanks for the reply . You are probably right about most Nott'm factories being brick built and a sweet factory hardly qualifies as a major industry. ! Tried to read the brand name of the sweet bars being produced . Looked a bit like "lion".The second street picture did remind me a bit of Sneinton Dale though .

Probably more films yet to discovered .

Re damage, I found the same when searching for bomb damage reports in the local newspapers of the time. Probably for propaganda purposes many incidents just weren't reported, most of the damage reports are about what the RAF did in Germany

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

7oth Anniversary of Bombing of Dresden today. I was infuriated by the BBCs open contempt for that necessary action. My wife had to switch it off before I threw my cup at the screen.

[Chulla 4,946]

Balloon Woods. Up until World War Two, Rolls-Royce always repaired its aero-engines at its Derby Factory. With the outbreak of the war and the great expansion of production and development facilities, there was not enough room at Derby for expansion - the factory was surrounded by houses. A new site was required for engine repairs and a number of factories in Nottingham were taken over. The main factory was Hollins Mill on Garden Street, Radford (also known as Radford Mill). There were satellite factories at the top of Nottingham Road, New Basford, where now is the Genogli (sp) college, and one at Leen Gate, near the QMC. Only the latter remains.

Because the Derby engine testbeds were fully occupied with the testing of production and development engines, the Garden Street facility had its own testbeds. Eight were built at the Balloon Woods site. The first engine went on test in November 1941. Thousands of engines were tested there.

[bamber 128]

The only part of Nottingham that (to me) looks a bit like the first photo is Alpine Street.

[plantfit 7,580]

Dukes wood,memorial/statue to the American oilmen of WW2

Rog

[plantfit 7,580]

Oil well nodding donkey at Dukes wood Eakring

Rog

[firbeck 859]

Chulla, the former Rolls Royce site at Balloon Woods today is pretty much as it was when it was first built, I think the only missing bit's are where the radio masts have been built which occupy the site of the air raid shelter and I'm sure there was a secure brick store building there as well. The four brick buildings arranged along Coventry Lane were the testing facilities, these were built of 9" common brickwork with, I'm sure, a concrete roof, the one nearest the entrance now has a pitched roof but I'm not sure this was always the case as the buildings were all identical. Inside, accessed by a pair of double doors opposite the hangars, was a large open space with a concrete plinth in the centre, obviously where the engines were positioned for testing, the tests were monitored from a raised mezzanine area with a glazed office adjacent to the plinth. As I recall there were only facilities for testing one engine at a time which would have been positioned right in the centre of the building so should the place been running flat out only four engines could have been tested at once. I seem to remember that internally the walls were just plain brickwork, clearly there was no soundproofing in place, the noise inside and out must have been deafening, I can't imagine what it must have been like for the people working inside. There are a group of enthusiasts that turn up at airshows with a collection of Merlin and Griffon engines mounted on trailers which they run up for the crowds 'entertainment'. These are fitted with cut down propellers to stop the engines running away with themselves, I wonder if they carried out this procedure at Balloon Woods. Even outside, the noise from these brutes is incredible and so is the strength of the prop wash, I can't imagine what it must have been like inside those buildings, the monitoring staff must have all had hearing defects by the end of the war.

The brick testing sheds were externally as they are today, just unpainted brick, I don't recall them ever being painted in camouflage colours as many wartime buildings were, they probably relied on the fact that they were positioned next to Balloon Wood for concealment, the large hangar was/is a steel framed building clad in corrugated steel sheet, this and the smaller building were both painted matt black, I think the big building still might be.

If you're up that way with your camera Bilbraborn why not try and use your infinite charm, talk your way in and get some photos, if I'm up that way and the place is open, I'll certainly try it.

[Chulla 4,946]

Firbeck. The four buildings at the Balloon Woods test-site each had two test cells. The dividing wall had the control cabin with windows looking out into the cells. The picture below was taken in one of the cells and shows that a normal-size propeller was used for testing.

I went in one of the cells a few years ago and looked out of the window of one of the control cabins. On the cell floor you can see where the girders of the test-stand structure had bee cut off at ground level. Also, at either end of the cells were louvres to direct air into and out of the cells. Where these had chattered against the walls can clearly be seen.

Apart from testing the repaired engines from Garden Street, it also tested new production engines from Derby when its testbeds could not cope with the volume. The T2-type hangar was for preparing the engines for despatch.

Testers had small earplugs, not the over-ear type that you see nowadays. I feel sure that the buildings were camouflaged during the war. It might have been completely removed when the site was handed over to separate concerns.

[firbeck 859]

Fantastic photo Chulla, have you any more of the place, where did you find it. The prop wash from that full size prop must have been tremendous, I don't know how they could have dealt with that, presumably the front of the engines faced towards the control cabin otherwise the windows might have got blown in. I was sure that there was a monitoring area on a mezzanine to one side, perhaps the building with the pitched roof was adapted later for other purposes and that's the one I remember, mind you it was over 50 years ago since I last went in there. As far as I know the buildings remained untouched from RR vacating them until a storage company moved in which must have been during the late 60's, I can only ever remember it being locked up and abandoned up until then and we used to play in Balloon Woods from the mid 50's onwards. I still don't recall it being painted in camouflage paint, one building I do remember was a foundry building at Stanton Ironworks. If you came towards the site via Stanton Gate station bridge it was the first big building on the right in front of the two big slagheaps and noticeable by the big circular ventilators in the roof. It's gone now, replaced by a modern industrial unit, but it retained it's cammo to the end.

Down here there's a hangar type building next to Stansted airport, it's owned by Kearsley Airways, the front has been turned into modern offices and the rest is used to store aviation materials, the company are famous for supplying undercarriage and hydraulic parts for the Vulcan restoration. Drive along the side of the building and amazingly it's still got it's cammo paint from WW2, you'd think it would have all worn off by now.

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

Thanks Plantfit. My lovely missis took the same photo and cut the poor buggers head off. I got some pics somewhere of the ones near Gainsborough.

[Bubblewrap 3,815]

#12

Did that gentleman have big nuts ?

[Chulla 4,946]

In 1943 a film unit visited most of the Rolls-Royce factories and filmed footage to be later used in a documentary film. Many still photographs were taken at the same time, and the photo, and the one below, were two of them.

The control cabins were in the side walls with a large glass viewing window positioned just ahead of the engine's propeller. I have a photo some where of the control desk, but cannot find it. There were no windows in the test cells. The ends were open to the sky. Air came down the front opening and passed through louvres that turned the air 90 degrees to feed the propeller. At the rear of the cell were another set of louvres that turned the propwash air 90 degrees to exit vertically .

The photograph below was taken inside the Garden Street repair factory, recently demolished. This used to be the old Hollins Mill before the war.

[sandy111 0]

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[Guest]

Boots gymnasium was bombed, my Dad who was a keen fencer; he used it often and told me it was never rebuilt.. where exactly was this gym?

[Michael Booth 7,364]

I was reading a magazine this morning and found an article that was about Nottinghamshire and the WW2 war effort. With all the posts regarding a lack of Nottingham/Shire topics I was quite pleased to have found it. I looked on Nottstalgia for the best place to post it but was then disappointed to find that it had already been mentioned in this thread by Bilbraborn and plantfit. However, there wasn't much detail so below is the full report.

http://aoghs.org/petroleum-in-war/roughnecks-of-sherwood-forest/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/eastmidlands/series11/week4_sherwood_forest_oil.shtml

[Guest]

Very interesting Michael, 3000 barrels a day,great war effort.

[Michael Booth 7,364]

I was amazed to learn the full story as it's a great piece of Nottinghamshire's history.

[.... 23]

From my own visit to Dukes Wood.

https://stuartfrew.wordpress.com/2010/04/01/there-oil-in-them-thar-nottinghamshire-hills/