WW2 Subterranean Glider Factory London

I missed where it said the equipment remained. That would seem to leave just the workshops. Hardly seems worth the bother.

It might have been but since the equipment appears to have remained in place it seems unlikely, doesn’t it?

Certainly no complete gliders, nor even big section. It is possible that the workshops associated with the generating station were used for component production. It would also seem that there may have been a period from an uncertain time pre-war to September 1953 or later when there may have been no generation capacity on site, so the generator/turbine/substation hall might have been available for component production during the war too – an interesting idea, but I see no actual evidence for this so far. :apologetic:

And perhaps this clinches it.

www.camden.gov.uk/ccm/cms-service/stream/asset/?asset_id=23597

So no gliders…!! Shame!:apologetic:

Ye gods! You’ve got me researching power stations!! :eagerness:

Apparently the Bull Inn site was CCESCo’s first generating station, originally built by the Gatti brothers, who also owned the Adelphi Theatre and other London properties. They initially supplied their own properties, but soon found a profit in selling their electricity more widely. CCESCo had at least six generating stations, of which the Shorts Gardens property was one. Page 17 of this document refers:
http://www.metadyne.co.uk/pdf_files/electricity.pdf
Fitting in with it’s origins, it seems to have been kept in operation after larger out-of-town plants took over as part of the ‘Theatre Emergency Ring”, to keep the West Ends theatres bright in the event of a general power cut.

I have found a reference to the power station for The Charing Cross Electricity Supply Co being in Bull Inn Court. No where near Shorts Gardens. Are we talking about the same thing?

For the Horsa at least, all the specific metal parts were contracted to Metal Box Co. Ltd in Greenford.

That’d make sense.

planning applications, drawing packs are usually freely available to view on line, if you know where to look.

I mentioned this to my brother, who is an architect with a professional interest in underground London. This is his reply:

“It was the Holborn power station of the Charing Cross Electric Supply Co.

Pre-war it was oil fired (presumably diesels, not oil-fired steam), and post-war seems to have been gas turbine, decommissioned in the 60’s but kept as a substation.

That suggests there might have been a wartime plant-free stage, when you could have used the turbine hall (scarcely “underground”!) for manufacturing. Convenient to have gantry cranes, but how do you get things out??!

The planning application online has the plans but lacks the Design & Access Statement, which you might have thought would tell more of the site history, if the present designers at all know it. It does have the Planning Statement, but that is no use whatever on the subject.

You can see the turbine hall best in section, on pages 13 and 26 in the Existing Plans, or on pages 17, 20 and 21 in the Proposed Plans. (Page 20 in that one is perhaps the easiest to understand.)”

He sent me the plans, but they’re big PDFs, and I suspect if I pulled bits out and posted them I’d be infringing copyright. If anyone’s interested I can ask him where he got them.

We’re all assuming glider parts mean fuselage or wing sections, which even if they were the smaller Hotspur would be awkward to get out of a tight space. However, all the gliders (Hotspur, Hengist, Horsa and Hamilcar) required a fair bit of metalwork to be stamped folded and welded and a production line for such items would be ideal for an inner city location such as this. It would still qualify for the description ‘Glider Factory’.

For the Horsa at least, all the specific metal parts were contracted to Metal Box Co. Ltd in Greenford.

We’re all assuming glider parts mean fuselage or wing sections, which even if they were the smaller Hotspur would be awkward to get out of a tight space. However, all the gliders (Hotspur, Hengist, Horsa and Hamilcar) required a fair bit of metalwork to be stamped folded and welded and a production line for such items would be ideal for an inner city location such as this. It would still qualify for the description ‘Glider Factory’.

So not ruled out definitely then? And WP – thanks for that link. Very interesting indeed. And working round the corner in the 60s I was aware of the Goodge Street facility as someone was in the pub asking about filming there, but I think it was only used by the US Army Signals Corps.

And also the first Caribbean immigrants which is why nearby Brixton became such a hub for the Afro Caribbean community

I know of at least two vast underground storage areas in London. One, underneath Goodge Street Underground station and the other on the edge of Clapham Common opposite Clapham South Underground station. They were huge.

I think that they are both around sixty to one hundred feet deep and were used to provide short stay accommodation for the three services. Perhaps rather than manufacturing, the Covent Garden site mentioned, was used for the same purpose ?

Both were built as deep shelters for civilians during WW2/WWII/WW11. Part of the Goodge Street shelter, which wasn’t actually under the station, was taken over by Eisenhower as his headquarters and is now in use as a privately run security archive. There’s a memorial by the entrance. The Clapham Common shelter was used for troops and also as accommodation during the Olympics in, I think, 1948.

Andy, whether it is correct or not you’ll find it written both ways…..:)

Not in ‘Britain at War’. You won’t find it written as eleven unless I have had a very bad day proof-reading!!! 😉

As long as it is nothing to do with buried Spits under central London.

We’re all assuming glider parts mean fuselage or wing sections, which even if they were the smaller Hotspur would be awkward to get out of a tight space. However, all the gliders (Hotspur, Hengist, Horsa and Hamilcar) required a fair bit of metalwork to be stamped folded and welded and a production line for such items would be ideal for an inner city location such as this. It would still qualify for the description ‘Glider Factory’.

That’s an interesting thought. I have seen the photos, but am unable to post them, but there seems little access for glider sections and there are numerous vertical steel/iron supports which produce relatively small bays. So, I suspect that some misinformation has crept into the description.

So there is no aircraft components, hardware or tooling left down there? No ‘keep calm and carry on’ posters? A basement seems like a tricky place to try and remove glider parts from, so perhaps the estate agent is trying to give a rumour some ‘legs’ in a bid to give their property portfolio a bit of an edge?

There was aircraft production in subterranean factories – but not assembly, obviously. Factories in unfinished tube tunnels in NE London turned out components for a variety of industries…..

http://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2012/04/07/70th-anniversary-of-an-aircraft-factory-hidden-in-a-tube-tunnel/

You wont find it. Wrong war.

World War 11…!

Andy, whether it is correct or not you’ll find it written both ways…..:)

That’s an interesting thought. I have seen the photos, but am unable to post them, but there seems little access for glider sections and there are numerous vertical steel/iron supports which produce relatively small bays. So, I suspect that some misinformation has crept into the description.