RE: Spitfires To Jaguars At Castle Bromwich
Discussion
I used to work at the plant, and it is a fantastic place with a fantastic heritage.
One thing I would be very interested to know is about details of an alleged air raid shelter around 8 storeys deep.
Apparently there was one built elsewhere in England that suffered a direct hit and unfortunately there were an excessive number of casualties. At that point the Castle Brom shelter became decommissioned.
Does anybody have any details on the type of shelter used and whether the incident described is real or one of legend?
One thing I would be very interested to know is about details of an alleged air raid shelter around 8 storeys deep.
Apparently there was one built elsewhere in England that suffered a direct hit and unfortunately there were an excessive number of casualties. At that point the Castle Brom shelter became decommissioned.
Does anybody have any details on the type of shelter used and whether the incident described is real or one of legend?
You can still see the wartime cammy paint on the brickwork on many of the wartime buildings, not many relics of wartime raids still left in Brum except these.
The Spitfire sculpture is marvellous, it was shiny metal when first assembled but is changing colour to a "dirty" stainless steel colour. You could almost think the models were camouflage painted themselves.
I think there may still be a wartime hangar still standing on one of the industrial/trading estates that moved in to Castle Vale after the housing estate was built.
It's been a long time since I drove around in Castle Vale, looking at the chavs
The Spitfire sculpture is marvellous, it was shiny metal when first assembled but is changing colour to a "dirty" stainless steel colour. You could almost think the models were camouflage painted themselves.
I think there may still be a wartime hangar still standing on one of the industrial/trading estates that moved in to Castle Vale after the housing estate was built.
It's been a long time since I drove around in Castle Vale, looking at the chavs
Used to do sub-contract work at that plant and unknown to us at the time, the flooring slopes very slightly from one end of the "old" buildings to the other, to allow them to push the planes along as they became completed (no conveyor belt system).
We only found out after making a number of steel access platforms and found that the ladders were a few inches too long by the time we tried to fit them at the far end !
We only found out after making a number of steel access platforms and found that the ladders were a few inches too long by the time we tried to fit them at the far end !
There's a great account of the factory during the war by Alex Henshaw, who was the Castle Bromwich test pilot, called Sigh for a Merlin.
Includes the story of when demo'ing a Spitfire to the great and the good outside Birmingham Council House and Town Hall by flying it up New St below the height of the buildings...
Includes the story of when demo'ing a Spitfire to the great and the good outside Birmingham Council House and Town Hall by flying it up New St below the height of the buildings...
Edited by 2volvos on Monday 10th May 15:34
2volvos said:
There's a great account of the factory during the war by Alex Henshaw, who was the Castle Bromwich test pilot, called Sigh for a Merlin.
Includes the story of when demo'ing a Spitfire to the great and the good outside Birmingham Council House and Town Hall by flying it up New St below the height of the buildings...
Whilst inverted too!Includes the story of when demo'ing a Spitfire to the great and the good outside Birmingham Council House and Town Hall by flying it up New St below the height of the buildings...
Edited by 2volvos on Monday 10th May 15:34
vintageracer01 said:
Kirioth said:
All we need now is for the two to come together. Although I'm not entirely sure whether roof mounted machine guns would be road legal...
But what's about a Merlin engine in a Jag ?
Love the photo's in the assembly halls, of all the Mk XIV's or anything up to Mk 22's not sure why the numerals were dropped, cannon armed and 1700 - 2200Hp 36 litre V12
And by far the best looking of the lot, many people don't like the higher tail fin and the longer Griffon nose but i think they are perfectly balanced.
And by far the best looking of the lot, many people don't like the higher tail fin and the longer Griffon nose but i think they are perfectly balanced.
Yes, the Castle Bromwich (now Jaguar) factory has a facinating history, being a car enthusiast and having an interest also in WW2 history, there are many many interesting stories from 'war time' castle brom.
The black and white pictures above of the part built Spitfires are in the 'C' block building at castle brom, which is now the 'body in white' production facility for the new XJ.
Many of the buildings are now cladded, but some still show the shadows of camouflage paint from the 1940's and there is still some bullet damage visible from the fighters that escorted bombers during the war.
Some of the stories that I have heared are that during the bombing raids, because the pressures were so high to maximise production, some of the workers would ignore the air raid sirens and carry on producing, a lookout would warn them when he could see the bombers and they would run for shelter in the final minutes.
I'm sure people don't realise how significant castle brom spitfire production was to WW2, as the Supermarine factory was bombed and destroyed in Sept 1940, spitfire production was transfered completely to castle brom, by the end of the war, almost half of the spitfires made came out of Birmingham.
For those that believe, the firemen & security team who work at the factory have many 'spooky' stories from some of their night patrols.
Spitfires to Jaguars....... a piece of history.
The black and white pictures above of the part built Spitfires are in the 'C' block building at castle brom, which is now the 'body in white' production facility for the new XJ.
Many of the buildings are now cladded, but some still show the shadows of camouflage paint from the 1940's and there is still some bullet damage visible from the fighters that escorted bombers during the war.
Some of the stories that I have heared are that during the bombing raids, because the pressures were so high to maximise production, some of the workers would ignore the air raid sirens and carry on producing, a lookout would warn them when he could see the bombers and they would run for shelter in the final minutes.
I'm sure people don't realise how significant castle brom spitfire production was to WW2, as the Supermarine factory was bombed and destroyed in Sept 1940, spitfire production was transfered completely to castle brom, by the end of the war, almost half of the spitfires made came out of Birmingham.
For those that believe, the firemen & security team who work at the factory have many 'spooky' stories from some of their night patrols.
Spitfires to Jaguars....... a piece of history.
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