Product Code Database
British shadow factories were the outcome of the Shadow Scheme, a plan devised in 1935 and developed by the British government in the buildup to World War II to try to meet the urgent need for more aircraft using technology transfer from the motor industry to implement additional manufacturing capacity.
The term 'shadow' was not intended to mean secrecy, but rather the protected environment they would receive by being staffed by all levels of skilled motor industry people alongside (in the shadow of) their own similar civilian motor industry operations.
A directorate of Aeronautical Production was formed in March 1936 with responsibility for the manufacture of airframes as well as engines, associated equipment and armaments. The project was headed by Herbert Austin and developed by the Air Ministry under the internal project name of the Shadow Scheme. Kingsley Wood took responsibility for the scheme in May 1938, on his appointment as Secretary of State for Air in place of Lord Swinton.
Many more factories were built as part of the dispersal scheme designed to reduce the risk of a total collapse of production if what would otherwise be a major facility were bombed, though these were not shadow factories.
The first motor manufacturers chosen for engine shadows were: Austin, Daimler Company, Humber Limited (Rootes Securities), Singer Motors, Standard, Rover Company and Wolseley Motors.Nutland, 2012 p65 In the event Lord Nuffield took Wolseley out of the arrangement and Singer proved to be in serious financial difficulty.
The buildings were sheds up to long lit either by glazed roofs or "Saw-tooth roof". Office accommodation was brick, and wherever possible faced a main road. These buildings were extremely adaptable and would remain part of the British industrial landscape for more than 50 years. One of the largest was Austin's Cofton Hackett, beside their Longbridge plant, started in August 1936. long and wide, the structure covered . Later a airframe factory was added, then a flight shed by was attached to the airframe factory.Nutland, 2012 p66
The new factory buildings were models of efficient factory layout. They had wide, clear gangways and good lighting, and they were free of shafting and belt drives.Nutland, 2012 p97 The five shadow factories in Coventry were all in production by the end of October 1937 and they were all making parts of the Bristol Mercury engine. By January 1938 two of those shadow factories were producing complete airframes. In July 1938 the first bomber completely built in a shadow factory (Austin's) was flown in front of Sir Kingsley Wood, Secretary of State for Air. It was said eight shadow factories constructing aircraft components were in production in or near Coventry in February 1940.
As the scheme progressed, and after the death of Austin in 1941, the Directorate of Air Ministry Factories, under the auspices of the Ministry of Aircraft Production (MAP), gradually took charge of the construction of the buildings required for aircraft production. In early 1943 the functions of the directorate of Air Ministry Factories were transferred to the Ministry of Works.
The major activity of the group was the production of Handley Page Halifax bombers for the Royal Air Force, ammunition, gun parts, armoured vehicles and spare parts for vehicles. The group was led by London Transport from its works at Chiswick Works and Aldenham Works and the new De Havilland factory at Leavesden, Hertfordshire, which had a large purpose-built factory and airfield (construction of both was authorised on 10 January 1940) for production, assembly and flight testing of completed Halifax bombers.
The following list of eight members of the London Aircraft Production Group was published in March 1945: This includes LAPG members with factories at Preston, Speke and Stockport.
At peak the group involved 41 factories and dispersal units, 660 subcontractors and more than 51,000 employees,
Ultimately output rose to 200 Halifaxes a month and the group provided something like 40 per cent of the nation's heavy bomber output. Halifax bombers dropped more than 200,000 tons of bombs.
Sir Frederick Handley Page's "thank you" to these "daughter" firms was a luncheon at The Dorchester at which the head of each firm received a silver model of a Halifax bomber and representative workmen received scrolls of commendation.
Due to the high priority placed on aircraft production, large numbers of workers were drafted with little experience or training in aircraft production, with over half the workforce eventually being female. At its peak the LAPG included 41 factories or sites, 600 sub-contractors and 51,000 employees, producing one aircraft an hour. The first Halifax from the LAPG was delivered in 1941 and the last, named London Pride, in April 1945.
In February 1944 the Minister for Production, stated in Parliament that there were "in round figures" 175 firms managing agency schemes or shadow factories.
The buildings
Wood handed the overall project implementation to the Directorate of Air Ministry Factories, appointing Herbert Austin to lead the initiative (most of the facilities to be developed were alongside existing motor vehicle factories), and the technical liaison with the aircraft industry to Charles Bruce-Gardner. He also handed the delivery of the key new factory in Castle Bromwich, that was contracted to deliver 1,000 new Supermarine Spitfires to the RAF by the end of 1940, to Lord Nuffield, though in May 1940 the responsibility had to be taken from Nuffield and given to Vickers.
There were three waves of construction of shadow factories and only the third and smallest reached Scotland in the shape of the factory at Hillington producing Rolls-Royce's Merlin engines. Ferranti's factory in Crewe Toll, Edinburgh will have been secret.
Similar plans were introduced in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
List of shadow factories
Redeveloped as housing Handed over to Rolls-Royce in 1943 Harry Ferguson then Massey Ferguson tractors.
Closed 2002. Now housingNewman's Footwear, now demolished. Bristol Blenheim, Bristol Beaufort, Beaufighter Jaguar's Browns Lane plant, demolished 2008, now housing and an industrial estate Standard Motor Company demolished after closure in 1980. Now housing Standard Motor Company demolished after closure in 1980. Now housing Dunlop Rubber Research Centre, Fisher & Ludlow — Pressed Steel, Jaguar Cars Housing Mixed retail units Sold to English Electric, now the GEC industrial estate Sold to Lucas Aerospace, now housing Aero engines, Bristol Mercury and Bristol Pegasus radial engines
Aircraft production – Fairey Battle, Short Stirling, Avro Lancaster, Vickers WellingtonsRedeveloped as housing Bentley Crewe Abandoned International Harvester tractors, site now redeveloped. Preserved as former Cold War site Closed 2005, redeveloped as an industrial estate. Vic Hallam prefabricated buildings Used by Rolls-Royce to manufacture helicopter engines, now used as a film studio Used as a lamp factory by AEI which later sold its lighting interests to Thorn Commercial vehicle production post war, site now re-developed Demolished Aerodrome, now housing Thames Tower office block Retail park Car production, now redeveloped redeveloped as housing BAE Systems aircraft factory Solihull plant Dunlop Rubber tyres, footwear, golf and tennis balls, now redeveloped as industrial estate Rotol Gloucester Airport Modern industrial uses Modern industrial uses Housing Seddon Atkinson truck factory, now used as a distribution centre Later sold to Jonas Woodhead and Son, manufacturer of vehicle shock absorbers, site now re-developed for housing
Strategic dispersal
The White Paper on Defence published in February 1937 revealed that steps had been taken to reduce the risk of air attack delivering a knockout blow on sources of essential supplies, even at the cost of some duplication, by building new satellite plants which would also draw labour from congested as well as distressed areas. There were still areas of severe unemployment.
London Aircraft Production Group
In parallel with the Shadow Factory scheme, the London Aircraft Production Group (LAPG) was formed in 1940 by combining management of factories and workshops of Chrysler at Kew, Duple, Express Dairies, Park Royal Coachworks and London Transport.
from May 1941 they took responsibility for final erection followed by the test flight and their first aircraft was airborne before the end of 1941. They were allotted their own aerodromes instead of sending aircraft to the Handley Page aerodrome.
Follow-on initiatives
The shadow factory proposals and implementation, particularly its rigidity when bombed, meant that other key areas of military production prepared their own dispersal factory plans:
When the Birmingham Small Arms plant at Small Heath, the sole producer of Lee-Enfield barrels and main aircraft machine guns, was Birmingham Blitz by the Luftwaffe in August–November 1940, it caused delays in productions, which reportedly worried PM Churchill the most among all the industrial damage during the Blitz. The Government Ministry of Supply and BSA immediately began a process of production dispersal throughout Britain, through the shadow factory scheme. Later in the war BSA controlled 67 factories from its Small Heath office, employing 28,000 people operating 25,000 machine tools, and produced more than half the small arms supplied to Britain's forces during the war.
List of dispersal factories (incomplete)
Abbey Thermosets Carpets Blackpool International Airport Short Brothers Matrix International Airbus Industrie, Broughton Demolished Demolished, replaced by an Asda supermarket Lucite plastics Abandoned Ferranti Redeveloped Demolished and replaced by housing. Airbus Industrie, Broughton Became Central Government War Headquarters, closed 2005 Abandoned under RAF Rudloe Manor Ilminster, Somerset Standard Telephones and Cables Rope Works Radio Valves English Electric then industrial estate Pressed Steel then Hillman Imp Demolished and replaced by housing. Redeveloped Industrial estate Opened 1941, closed 2002 – moved to Poland. Demolished and replaced by housing. Used as a sewing factory, now demolished Housing development Used as an Osram lamp factory, now closed South Marston, Swindon, Wiltshire Phillips & Powis Aircraft Farmland Aircraft production, largely Miles Master, shadowing Woodley factory Panattoni industrial estate; previously Honda car plant Industrial estate Industrial estate Ford Southampton plant Plessey Treforest, South Wales Standard Telephones and Cables Quartz crystals Leeds Bradford Airport
Extent
In June 1939 the response to a question in parliament was: 31 shadow factories were complete or under construction. The Air Ministry was responsible for 16 and, of those 16, 11 were working to full capacity. By that time large numbers of Bristol engines and aircraft were being made in Government owned shadow factories and in the Dominions and other foreign countries.
National Archives catalogue entries
Information concerning the shadow factory plan and shadow factories can be found among the following records and descriptive series list code headings held by The National Archives. For the full set of references (including German shadow factories) see the Catalogue below:
Shadow scheme and factories, 1935–1940 Shadow factories schemes Aircraft production, shadow factories Factories general Shadow factories Insurance of Government property managed or maintained by private contractors; `Shadow' factories Banking: Shadow factories banking accounts
See also
External links
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