Castle Bromwich Spitfire factory ??

Resurrecting this old thread….I was delighted to get a part of the cast hopper too….this was rescued after the 1992 hangar demolition and can be seen on the LHS side of the spit hangar in the photo of Alex Henshaw and Winston Churchill

CBAF

(bumped as I have just read P.Seymour, Wolseley Radial Aero-Engines, Tempus, 2006. This is mistitled as it deals also with the Nuffield Organisation into the War. Ch.9 addresses CBAF. I had recently put this up, obscurely on a Napier thread: )

“There is contradiction/agendas in the early story of CBAF. Lord Nuffield had fallen out with Air Minister Swinton, 1936, on the structure of auto-industry re-entry to aero-engine manufacture, and on Wolseley as designer/parent. Morris got into light tanks instead. New Minister Kingsley Wood sat with him, 5/38. Morris entered Tiger Moths, on an assembly line basis. Wood invited Nuffield to run a green fields airframe assembly site and gave him the job of selecting one. He chose Castle Bromwich quite precisely in Herbert Austin’s Longbridge backyard. Wood bought a fabulous range of Czech, German, US machine tools: remember, in mid-1938 – after Austrian Anschluss, before Munich – it was entirely possible that the balloon would not go up, sanity would prevail, and all that Rearmament plant/tooling would become available at scrap prices for civil auto use. (added by ak 3/11/11: JC above, 15/11/04: cost of CBAF, excluding the aerodrome: £4,422,133. The only shadow site I know costing more was the Corsham/Centaurus underground plant).

Wood assigned Battle to CBAF. AM Freeman shifted that to Austin and put in Whirlwind; on 12/4/39 he ordered 1,000 CBAF Spitfire Mk.IIA.
My Confusion No.1: Q: as well as Whirlwind? or instead? Swinton had been dismissed in May,1938: his Memoirs, P119: “this decision (I think: to order Mk.IIA from rotten Nuffield) cost (at) least 1,000 Spitfires which should have been in reserve (?if built by a Vickers plant) when the Battle of Britain started”.

My Confusion No.2: E.B.Morgan/E.Shacklady,S’fire,Key,1987, P51: an A.M. memo of 11/7/39: Spit. had been “in danger of being eliminated from the re-armament programme (Its) future was assured (due to the) stubbornness of 1 man (Nuffield, insisting) on producing (all of all) 1,000 (at CBAF, so Whirlwind was) squeezed out”’. What then happened was that the new Minister of Aircraft Production squeezed Nuffield out of CBAF, put Vickers-Armstrongs in…and the first “CBAF” delivery magically occurred within days: Shacklady tells us it was a Supermarine-built machine trucked up. (added by ak 3/11/11: but the received wisdom is that Nuffield, far from saving Spitfire, damaged it. Seymour,P.125 has CBAF diverting 386K “parts and a quantity of main planes to (VS’) factories and to Service (because) the completion of semi-finished planes at the (VS) works…ranked above the production schedule of (CBAF, whose management accepted this position, so) were prepared to give (VS) whatever parts they wanted”).

Nuffield was, ah, a positive personality: when Beaverbrook fired him 17/5/40 he averred: “the last Air Minister who defied me (Swinton: 4/36, shadow engines) got the sack. If you defy me (on CBAF, so will you)”. Nuffield went to the PM and reminded him of donations to the Party, but was told “I cannot interfere in the manufacture of a/c” P.Howard,Beaverbrook,,Hutchinson,64,P127; M.Adeney Nuffield – a Biography,Hale,93,P154.

I welcome input on all this. I am not satisfied I know the actual factual.”

(added by ak 3/11/11: So, were Nuffield and Beaver deceived by V-A’s Chairman Sir Charles Craven, seconded as Air Force Board Civil Member for Devt&Prodn, then Industrial Adviser to MAP Beaverbrook? Was Nuffield’s prize auto-line site stolen just as it came on stream?

My take today: Ministers wobbled, 7/38-mid-39, from Battle, to Whirlwind, to Spitfire II (and to “bombers”: not later Lancs, but 1939 plans: “for the production of particular class (sic) of bomber, only to be discarded in favour of construction of some other type” Seymour,P.124, quoting Andrews & Brunner, Life of Lord N.) Nuffield cut through all this, to do the 1,000 Spitfires ordered 4/39, dismissing A.M Mod. Committee and any other interference. He upset folk. Craven took full advantage, to cause a fine asset to be taken into Vickers control. Before he left MAP, 7/42, he was to do the same at S.Marston, causing V-A to take over the Short/AWA site, 9/42.

(CBAF output: I have seen 300 and 305 Lancasters, and I have seen 11,694, 11,939 and 11,964 Spitfires (?inc. Seafires, inc completions at Cosford/Desford). Who has the actual factual?)

CBAF

(bumped as I have just read P.Seymour, Wolseley Radial Aero-Engines, Tempus, 2006. This is mistitled as it deals also with the Nuffield Organisation into the War. Ch.9 addresses CBAF. I had recently put this up, obscurely on a Napier thread: )

“There is contradiction/agendas in the early story of CBAF. Lord Nuffield had fallen out with Air Minister Swinton, 1936, on the structure of auto-industry re-entry to aero-engine manufacture, and on Wolseley as designer/parent. Morris got into light tanks instead. New Minister Kingsley Wood sat with him, 5/38. Morris entered Tiger Moths, on an assembly line basis. Wood invited Nuffield to run a green fields airframe assembly site and gave him the job of selecting one. He chose Castle Bromwich quite precisely in Herbert Austin’s Longbridge backyard. Wood bought a fabulous range of Czech, German, US machine tools: remember, in mid-1938 – after Austrian Anschluss, before Munich – it was entirely possible that the balloon would not go up, sanity would prevail, and all that Rearmament plant/tooling would become available at scrap prices for civil auto use. (added by ak 3/11/11: JC above, 15/11/04: cost of CBAF, excluding the aerodrome: £4,422,133. The only shadow site I know costing more was the Corsham/Centaurus underground plant).

Wood assigned Battle to CBAF. AM Freeman shifted that to Austin and put in Whirlwind; on 12/4/39 he ordered 1,000 CBAF Spitfire Mk.IIA.
My Confusion No.1: Q: as well as Whirlwind? or instead? Swinton had been dismissed in May,1938: his Memoirs, P119: “this decision (I think: to order Mk.IIA from rotten Nuffield) cost (at) least 1,000 Spitfires which should have been in reserve (?if built by a Vickers plant) when the Battle of Britain started”.

My Confusion No.2: E.B.Morgan/E.Shacklady,S’fire,Key,1987, P51: an A.M. memo of 11/7/39: Spit. had been “in danger of being eliminated from the re-armament programme (Its) future was assured (due to the) stubbornness of 1 man (Nuffield, insisting) on producing (all of all) 1,000 (at CBAF, so Whirlwind was) squeezed out”’. What then happened was that the new Minister of Aircraft Production squeezed Nuffield out of CBAF, put Vickers-Armstrongs in…and the first “CBAF” delivery magically occurred within days: Shacklady tells us it was a Supermarine-built machine trucked up. (added by ak 3/11/11: but the received wisdom is that Nuffield, far from saving Spitfire, damaged it. Seymour,P.125 has CBAF diverting 386K “parts and a quantity of main planes to (VS’) factories and to Service (because) the completion of semi-finished planes at the (VS) works…ranked above the production schedule of (CBAF, whose management accepted this position, so) were prepared to give (VS) whatever parts they wanted”).

Nuffield was, ah, a positive personality: when Beaverbrook fired him 17/5/40 he averred: “the last Air Minister who defied me (Swinton: 4/36, shadow engines) got the sack. If you defy me (on CBAF, so will you)”. Nuffield went to the PM and reminded him of donations to the Party, but was told “I cannot interfere in the manufacture of a/c” P.Howard,Beaverbrook,,Hutchinson,64,P127; M.Adeney Nuffield – a Biography,Hale,93,P154.

I welcome input on all this. I am not satisfied I know the actual factual.”

(added by ak 3/11/11: So, were Nuffield and Beaver deceived by V-A’s Chairman Sir Charles Craven, seconded as Air Force Board Civil Member for Devt&Prodn, then Industrial Adviser to MAP Beaverbrook? Was Nuffield’s prize auto-line site stolen just as it came on stream?

My take today: Ministers wobbled, 7/38-mid-39, from Battle, to Whirlwind, to Spitfire II (and to “bombers”: not later Lancs, but 1939 plans: “for the production of particular class (sic) of bomber, only to be discarded in favour of construction of some other type” Seymour,P.124, quoting Andrews & Brunner, Life of Lord N.) Nuffield cut through all this, to do the 1,000 Spitfires ordered 4/39, dismissing A.M Mod. Committee and any other interference. He upset folk. Craven took full advantage, to cause a fine asset to be taken into Vickers control. Before he left MAP, 7/42, he was to do the same at S.Marston, causing V-A to take over the Short/AWA site, 9/42.

(CBAF output: I have seen 300 and 305 Lancasters, and I have seen 11,694, 11,939 and 11,964 Spitfires (?inc. Seafires, inc completions at Cosford/Desford). Who has the actual factual?)

Just to add that if you had been at the TFC open evening on Sunday, not only would you have heard Mr Henshaws recollections of his time at C/B but his references to the urban grime ethat polluted the clouds above the “black country” and the steam from the power station that guided him home. Truly amazing recollections……….

I have a book called ‘605’ by Ian Piper which has some shots of 605 Sqn at Castle Bromwich 1920’s/30’s. They aren’t very good quality but I could scan some in if you are interested.

I’ve heard it so many times since I’ve worked at Jaguar, it’s either true or urban legend.

JC

Don’t you just love those stories about Spitfire wings being used for roof repairs etc.? Would be even more nice to hear that this is not a rumour :rolleyes:

Cheers

Cees

Thanks for all the info fellas 🙂 🙂

Never realised how big the factory was until seeing those airial pics! its bloody huge! neary as big as the housing estate opposite. Shame no pictures have turned up though. But i never imagined to find out as much as i have 🙂

Just been speaking to a Brummie (Walsall, actually but close) in the local and apparently Hams Hall is still there, but is now gas-fired.

Had a quick flick through Sigh for a Merlin and the original plan was for runways (plural at least) and perimeter track. Ended up with “tarmac roadway and 400 to 500 yards of runway”.

Castle Bromwich Spitfire and Lanc production

This site certainly fits the bill 🙂 – The Facts, History and capabilities of Spitfire Production during 1939-1945 – http://www.angelfire.com/sd2/spitfirefactory/ “This web site will take you through the many aspects of World War 2 Spitfire Production including Production ,Testing,Dispersals and known flying aircraft still in the air today to be built at Castle Bromwich.With the Aircraft still flying today it is no wonder why it is the nations favourite” – enough info for Daz to drool over 🙂 cheers – Allan 🙂

It’s been years since i’ve read the book but was it Alex or Jeffrey Quill that said in bad weather they could still find their base because the thermals emitted from a chimney disturbed the clouds and gave an indication of where they were.
Sorry if it’s slightly off topic but i did wonder if this was there,Ta 😮

Alex Henshaw – Sigh for a Merlin. Hams Hall power station, IIRC.

It’s been a while since I read it, too, but I suspect there was never much to see in the way of airfield structures. They wanted to build huge runways for Lancaster testing, at great expense and inconvenience. At Alex Henshaw’s suggestion, they ended up with only one 400 yard runway.

Jaguar bodies have been built at Castle Bromwich for some considerable time. Certainly all of the XJ series car bodies from 1968 were built there, and then shipped to Browns Lane. I believe that the company at the time was Pressed Steel Fisher, but will have to check later. Jaguar completely revamped the building for production of the S-Type. With the closure of Browns Lane, the XJ and the new XK will be moving there as well.

Am I right in thinking that the flight sheds are still there. Down from the main plant, and in the shadow both of the M6 and of Fort Dunlop?

Cheers

Bruce

It’s been years since i’ve read the book but was it Alex or Jeffrey Quill that said in bad weather they could still find their base because the thermals emitted from a chimney disturbed the clouds and gave an indication of where they were.
Sorry if it’s slightly off topic but i did wonder if this was there,Ta 😮

A bit more info! Looks like Jaguar inherited the plant from British Leyland, as it was building Austins from the end of the War. Taken from the Jaguar Intranet.

The Spitfire at Castle Bromwich

(P7350) was the 14th one built at the Castle Bromwich factory, during July 1940, and still flies with the Royal Air Force ‘Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’. It saw combat service in the Battle of Britain, having served with No 266 Squadron at Hornchurch in 1940. It shot down 3 enemy aircraft and still bears the repairs made to bullet holes in the wings.

Prior to becoming a manufacturing site for aircraft, Castle Bromwich was used for treating sewage from the city of Birmingham. Indeed, Charlie Jones, who started work at the factory (then called the Nuffield Factory) in 1938 as a machine fitter recalls that his sister was the landlady at the Tyburn Public House which still overlooks the site today, and his father was a site supervisor who operated the steam driven chain drawn ploughs that turned the filter beds when the site was used to treat sewage.

1940 Completion of most of the buildings, infrastructure and Plant installation ready for full production of the Spitfire MK II. Castle Bromwich was equipped and managed by Morris Motors Limited with the original intention of building the aircraft using the same techniques of jigging all components so they could be built by unskilled labour as was the case in the Motor Industry. However, the Royal Air Force were making so many changes to the design that the intention to make the Spitfire using this technique was never fully realised. The factory was equipped with the most modern machinery available at that time, far superior to anything that the aircraft industry had, and was fully constructed and commissioned at a cost of £4,422,133 excluding the cost of preparation to the adjoining aerodrome land. Charlie remembers that at the time the site wasn’t complete with R block still to be constructed, and F Block still to have its floor laid. Charlie recalls how the blocks were used:

A Block – Used for the Final Assembly of the Lancaster Bomber – Fuselage, Cockpit, Tailfin assembly, plus spray painting, then rolled out via huge doors on the East end of the block for Run-up and Final Inspection. A1/A2 wasn’t built until after the war!

B Block – Used as the Receiving Bay for Sub-assemblies, Electric Looms, Pipe assemblies, Cockpits, Instrument Panel assemblies, and Spitfire and Lancaster sub-assembly build. It received components from 32 “dispersal” factories scatttered around the Midlands.

C Block – Spitfire Final Assembly took place in this block. On the North side was the Wing Assembly area and Spray Booth. The Leading Edge of the wing was constructed across the West end of the block, whilst in the centre was the Fuselage Assembly, Engine Mounting, and Tailfin fitting – together with wiring, pipe work, and wing fitting. On the South side of the block was the Engine fitting. Outside, on the East end of the block, the Final Inspection and Engine Testing was carried out.

D Block – This block was used mainly as a Machine Shop with steel stores at the West end, and a Tool Room at the East end. In the centre of the block was the production area for the Oleo legs used in the under-carriage of both the Spitfire and the Lancaster.

E Block – The East end of the block was the home for the anodising plant, then travelling eastwards you would see the sub-assembly stores, the sewing room (for parachute manufacture) and at the very East end of the block the Dope room.

F Block – At the West end of the block was another steel stores whilst at the East end was another Tool Room and Pattern Shop. The Tool Room was actually on the North side with the Pattern Shop on the South Side. In the middle on the North side was the Press section, and on the South side of the centre were 24 “wheeling” machines that produced the “Hockey Sticks” used to seal the wings to the fuselage. These machines had to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

H Block – This was the Number 2 Boiler house and the site of this building is now part of Heartlands Ford.

I Block – This area was used for the manufacture of Fuel Tanks.

J & V Blocks – Here was the base for the Maintenance Departments, Millwrights, Welders, Blacksmiths, Electricians, Painters, Carpenters, Bricklayers, and Roofers.

L Block – This was another Receiving bay.

R Block – The canteen was based in this building which also doubled as a venue for shows and entertainment.

O Block – The site Hospital was located here with the Mortuary beneath it. A Laboratory was on the East end.

W Block – The site of the plant Fire station.

Z Block – This housed the Engineers stores and the Bore Well water system which was a 360 ft well with a tower to accomodate a water supply holding tank. The tower also played home to the Ack-Ack battery to help ward off attacks be enemy aircraft. Next door was the site of the Number 1 Boiler House.

M Block – The site garage was based in this building.

P & Q Blocks – The administration of wages, and personnel took place here, and it also served as the home for the management offices. The site of Q block is now occupied by Heartlands Ford.

T2, C1 and E1 were not built at this time although T block was constructed as a Deep Air raid shelter. It was never used as such for the design was found to be faulty when a similar one was destroyed elsewhere. A further one was started but never completed (T1) and the remains of this excavation were unearthed during the preparation of the site for the S-Type in 1998. The T2 shelter was never started.

Key Dates

1940 (May) With the production problems mentioned earlier, the factory had produced lots of parts but no complete Spitfires. Relations between the Air Ministry and Vickers Armstrong Aircraft Company on the one hand and Morris Motors on the other began to get strained. On May 17th Lord Beaverbrook, who had been Minister of Aircraft production for 3 days, telephoned Lord Nuffield, the Chairman of Morris Motors, to demand an explanation as to why no Spitfires had been produced. Lord Nuffield was very defensive but finished by sarcastically suggesting to Lord Beaverbrook that he might like to take control of the Spitfire factory. Lord Beaverbrook replied immediately that he thought it a very generous offer and accepted on the spot. Before Nuffield could respond the phone went click as Beaverbrook hung up. Nuffield’s ‘resignation’ allowed Beaverbrook to bring in Managers and skilled labour from the Supermarine factory in Southampton which was owned by Vickers Armstrong.

1940 (June) The Plant was tasked with producing 10 complete Spitfires by the end of June, and by shipping some of the major parts in from Southampton, the task was achieved. In the final analysis, the jigs which Nuffield had intended to use for unskilled assembly were used for the operations which were semi-skilled and the skilled labour at the site made the components which could not be made in that way.

1940 June With this mixture of assembly techniques, the Plant got started and 23 aircraft were produced in July, 37 in August and 56 in September. These Spitfires saw action in the closing stages of the Battle of Britain. It is of interest to note that the total cost of a new Spitfire was approximately £5,700.In total, Castle Bromwich was responsible for manufacturing just under 12,000 Spitfires and 50 Seafires between 1940 and 1945 at a peak rate of 320 per month which was the biggest output of any allied factory. In fact one of the Spitfires used by the Royal Air Force – Battle of Britain flight (Registration Number P7350) was constructed at the Castle Bromwich.

The Lancaster at Castle Bromwich

The first Lancaster built at Castle Bromwich Flown by Chief Test pilot, Alex Henshaw on 22nd October 1943. Its was given the airframe number HK535 and was fitted with Merlin 22 engines. Issued to the Royal Australian Air Force, Squadron 463, it was lost on a raid over Lille during the night of 10/11th May 1944.

1943 The first production Lancaster was flown from Castle Bromwich on 22nd October. This was the first one from an order for 200.

1944 Production of Lancasters reached a peak of 25 in December. This was a record for the quantity produced anywhere.

Wow, great shots from the air!
Next time you’re over Lowestoft could you get a shot of my house? 😉

lol

Andy Mc (-=Plane Mad=-)

As Dez says most of the original buildings are still there (and painted – I seem to recall that there are stone RAF Eagles in the parapets as well), although the site has changed considerably.

I’ll add more tomorrow!

JC

some of the Jaguar buildings still carry ‘camo’ paint. The majority of the buildings are the original war time ones…

well i never knew that. I did hear that the main entrance to the jag plant was the original entrance to the old spit factory and that the housing estate opposite was the airstrip? if thats true?

I was under the impression that the jag factory had been built on the site many years later. So John C do you know what stands now of the original factory. 🙂

Castle Bromwich (or C/B as it’s known to us at Jaguar) was a purpose built aircraft factory and was taken over by Jaguar at a later date – I can find out out when tomorrow.

It is a huge site with loads of unused space, very near to the Spitfire sculpture. Try contacting Jaguar directly to see if you can have a tour of the site – last I heard all tours were off due to the current financial worries but that may have changes.

Rumour has it that there is a Spitfire wing in the roof somewhere, either just left there or forming part of a repair.

I shall be spending a bit of time there soon as the XK replacement is going to be built at C/B…

JC

11,694 Spitfires (can you imagine that Daz)

Don’t tease me! :p