British shadow factories#Background

It was impossible for these facilities to be secret, though they were camouflaged after hostilities began. They were war materiel production facilities built in "the shadow" of motor industry plants to facilitate technology transfer to aircraft construction and run, for a substantial management fee, in parallel under direct control of the motor industry business along with distributed facilities.S E Little and M S Grieco of Oxford University quoted in {{cite book |first=Graham |last=Robson |title=The Book of the Standard Motor Company |publisher=Veloce |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-845843-43-4}} General Erhard Milch, chief administrator of the Luftwaffe, was in Britain in the autumn of 1937 inspecting new shadow factories in Birmingham and Coventry, RAF aeroplanes and airfields.{{cite news |title=General Milch On R.A.F. Progress |work=The Times |date=25 October 1937 |page=21 |issue=47824}}Nutland, 2012 p93

Up until the middle of 1938, the Air Ministry had been headed by Lord Swinton. He had been forced by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to resign his position due to a lack of progress in re-arming the Royal Air Force, the result of obstruction by William Morris, Lord Nuffield.{{Cn|date=March 2024}} Swinton's civil servants approached their new boss, Sir Kingsley Wood, and showed him a series of informal questions that they had asked since 1935 on the subject, such as those posed to Morris Motors with regard to aircraft engine production capability at its Cowley plant in Oxford.{{cite web |url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/displaycataloguedetails.asp?CATLN=6&CATID=586418&SearchInit=4&CATREF=AIR+19%2F1&j=1|title=Shadow Scheme: Morris Motors Ltd|publisher=National Archives|access-date=20 November 2010}} As it turned out, the specialised high-output engines required by the RAF were made by Armstrong Siddeley, Bristol Aeroplane, Napier & Son and Rolls-Royce, all of which employed a high number of sub-contractors. Despite their new factories, protestations by Wolseley Aero Engines (Nuffield) and Alvis were ignored. Their products were not required. Engines were specified primarily by the designers of aircraft though the Air Ministry did sometimes specify the engine to be used.{{cite news |title=Aero-Engines: The Government Policy: White Paper on Shadow Plan |work=The Times |date=29 October 1936 |page=7 |issue=47518 |id=GALE CS117780317}} Nuffield did participate after Wood's appointment, providing the Castle Bromwich Factory and promising a thousand Spitfires by June 1940 but, after two years, management was so poor that when June 1940 arrived not one Spitfire had been produced there. Castle Bromwich was withdrawn from Nuffield by Lord Beaverbrook. the Minister of Aircraft Production, and placed under the wing of Vickers-Supermarine.{{cite book |first=David |last=Owen |title=Dogfight: The Supermarine Spitfire and The Messerschmitt BF 109 |isbn=9781473828063 |location=Barnsley, South Yorkshire |publisher= Pen & Sword |date= 2015}}

The plan had two parts:

• Development of nine new factories. The government would build and equip the factories. Motor car companies would be asked to gain experience in the making of engine parts so, if war broke out, the new factories could immediately go into full production.{{cite news |title=Two Schemes Confused |work=The Times|date=26 October 1936 |page=11}}
• Extensions to existing factory complexes to allow either easier switching to aircraft industry capability, or production capacity expansion.

File:De Havilland Mosquito RS712 at 1990 Oshkosh Air Show Flickr 387872462.jpg bombers was Standard Motor Co, Canley (Coventry) and de Havilland's own sites in Hertfordshire.]]

Under the plan, there was government funding for the building of these new production facilities, in the form of grants and loans. Key to the plan were the products and plans of Rolls-Royce, whose Merlin engine powered many of the key aircraft being developed by the Air Ministry, as well as Bristol Hercules radial engine. Bristol Aeroplane would not allow shadow factories to build complete engines, only components.Nutland, 2012 p45 The exception was Austin.

The first motor manufacturers chosen for engine shadows were: Austin, Daimler, Humber (Rootes Securities), Singer, Standard, Rover and Wolseley.Nutland, 2012 p65 In the event Lord Nuffield took Wolseley out of the arrangement and Singer proved to be in serious financial difficulty.

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.{{cite news |url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/2007/11/how-labour-unrest-nearly-lost-us-the-battle-of-britain/ |title=How labour unrest nearly lost us the Battle of Britain |first=Leo |last=McKinstry |work=The Spectator |date=14 November 2007}}

The buildings were sheds up to {{convert|2000|ft|m}} long lit either by glazed roofs or "north-lit". 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. {{convert|1530|ft|m}} long and {{convert|410|ft|m}} wide, the structure covered {{convert|20|acre|m2|abbr=on}}. Later a {{convert|15|acre|m2|abbr=on}} airframe factory was added, then a flight shed {{convert|500|ft|m}} by {{convert|190|ft|m}} was attached to the airframe factory.Nutland, 2012 p66

File:Bristol Blenheim L6739 (21223877991).jpg light bombers were built at Rootes Blythe Bridge and Speke.]]

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.{{cite news |title=Equipment For The R.A.F. |work=The Times |date=26 October 1937 |page=16 |issue=47825}} By January 1938 two of those shadow factories were producing complete airframes.{{cite news |title=Completing Shadow Factories |work=The Times |date=15 January 1938 |page=7 |issue=47893}} 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.{{cite news |title=News in Brief |work=The Times |date=23 July 1938 |page=9 |issue=48054}} It was said eight shadow factories constructing aircraft components were in production in or near Coventry in February 1940.{{cite news |title=Great Britain In War-Time |work=The Times |date=8 February 1940 |page=5 |issue=48534}}

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.

;Scotland

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.{{cite news |title=Industrial Scotland |work=The Times |date=23 November 1943 |page=5 |issue=49710}} Ferranti's factory in Crewe Toll, Edinburgh will have been secret.{{Clarify|reason=it should be explained what this means, and why|date=November 2016}}

;Empire

Similar plans were introduced in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.{{cite news |title=Defence Forces and Policy. Cooperation with Britain |work=The Times |date=26 January 1938 |page=54 |issue=47902}}

{{incomplete list|date=March 2024}}

File:Avro Lancaster - Shuttleworth Military Pageant (11644345684).jpg
Cofton Hackett and Castle Bromwich]]

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.{{cite news |title=White Paper On Defence |work=The Times |date=17 February 1937 |page=8 |issue=47611}} There were still areas of severe unemployment.

File:HP Halifax Bomberson dispersal.jpg bombers 5 November 1944]]

In parallel with the Shadow Factory scheme, the London Aircraft Production Group{{cite web |url=http://www.20thcenturylondon.org.uk/london-aircraft-production-l-p |title=London Aircraft Production (L.A.P.) |website=Exploring 20th Century London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180910165107/http://www.20thcenturylondon.org.uk/london-aircraft-production-l-p |archive-date=10 September 2018}}{{cite web |url=http://www.brindale.co.uk/ach/prv_site/external_links/halifax_article.htm |title=Halifax Bomber Production at Park Royal Coachworks |first=David |last=Lang |website=Brindale Engineering}} (LAPG) was formed in 1940 by combining management of factories and workshops of Chrysler at Kew, Duple, Express Motor & Bodyworks, Park Royal Coachworks and London Transport.

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 and Aldenham 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:{{cite news |title=Group Production Of Halifaxes |work=The Times |date=1 March 1945 |page=2 |issue=50097}} This includes LAPG members with factories at Preston, Speke and Stockport.

File:Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. CH7910.jpg.]]

:English Electric in Preston

:London Passenger Transport Board — made the centre section and installed fittings and equipment for the front part of the fuselage

:Rootes Securities in Speke

:Chrysler Motors — rear part of the fuselage

:Express Motor and Body Works — intermediate wings and tail-plane

:Duple Bodies and Motors — the shell and components for the front part of the fuselage

:Park Royal Coachworks — outer wings

:Fairey Aviation Company in Stockport

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.{{cite news |title=R.A.F. Bombers Built By L.P.T.B. |work=The Times |date=7 December 1944 |page=2 |issue=50010}}

At peak the group involved 41 factories and dispersal units, 660 subcontractors and more than 51,000 employees,{{cite book |first=Peter G. |last=Nancy |title=British Aircraft Manufacturers since 1909 |publisher=Fonthill Media |date=2014 |isbn=9781781552292}}

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.

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:

• Alvis had 20 sites in Coventry alone, producing vehicles and munitions.{{cite book|title=Twentieth Century Industrial Archaeology|first1=Michael |last1=Stratton |first2=Barrie Stuart |last2=Trinder|date=2000|publisher=E & FN Spon|isbn=9780419246800|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fD4BB05zviYC|page=74|access-date=8 April 2015}} Soon after the total destruction of the Alvis factory by enemy action in 1940 Alvis were operating eight dispersal factories and thus managed to resume deliveries of their most important products. They were allocated nine further dispersal factories following further enemy attacks and after Pearl Harbor at the end of 1941 Alvis organised, equipped and managed a new shadow factory to make variable pitch propeller hubs.{{cite news |title=Alvis Limited |work=The Times |date=3 January 1946 |page=7 |issue=50340}}
• Rover managed and controlled six shadow factories on behalf of the Government and ran eighteen different dispersal factories of their own.{{cite news |title=The Rover Company |work=The Times |date=4 January 1946 |page=8 |issue=50341}}

When the Birmingham Small Arms plant at Small Heath, the sole producer of service rifle barrels and main aircraft machine guns, was bombed 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.{{cite web | url=https://www.key.aero/article/ww2s-shadow-factory-raids | title=WW2's Shadow factory raids | date=30 March 2021 }} 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.

File:Vickers Wellington production - Royal Air Force 1939-1945 Bomber Command CH5987.jpg

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.{{cite news |title=House Of Commons |work=The Times |date=22 June 1939 |page=8 |issue=48338}} 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.{{cite news |title=Bristol Aeroplane Company |work=The Times |date=21 July 1939 |page=21 |issue=48363}}

In February 1944 the Minister for Production, stated in Parliament that there were "in round figures" 175 firms managing agency schemes or shadow factories.{{cite news |title=Capital Assistance for Industry, House Of Commons |work=The Times |date=10 February 1944 |page=8 |issue=49776}}{{Cite web |last=The Minister of Production (Mr. Lyttelton) |date=9 February 1944 |title=House of Commons Debates; PRODUCTION FIRMS (GOVERN-MENT ASSISTANCE) |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1944/feb/09/production-firms-govern-ment-assistance |access-date=2024-03-18 |website=Historic Hansard vol 396 |at=cc 1764}}

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:

• {{Section link|Supermarine Spitfire|Production dispersal}}

{{reflist|colwidth=35em}}

• {{cite book |first=Martyn |last=Nutland |title=Brick by Brick: The Biography of the Man Who Really Made the Mini – Leonard Lord |publisher=Authorhouse |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-4772-0317-0}}

• [https://www.youtube.com/embed/QGmDiOXbkrs Building Beauforts in Australia]
• [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2965814/?ref_=ttpl_pl_tt The Shadow Scheme] a 1-hour 10 minute documentary released 15 July 2013
• {{citation |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1938/1938%20-%201014.html |journal=Flight |date=14 April 1938 |title=Production – what is wrong?}} – A contemporary critic of the pre-war expansion of UK aircraft production

Category:United Kingdom in World War II

Category:Manufacturing in the United Kingdom