Castle Bromwich is at War!
By Idris Aslam
Aircraft factory
In 1938, the current Jaguar factory produced 1,298 Spitfires by the end of 1941.
During World War II, Castle Bromwich aircraft factory, made Spitfires and components for Lancaster
bombers, at its peak turning out 320 Spitfires and 20 four-engine Lancaster Bombers each month.
Production continued until 1945, the test flight of the last Spitfire to be produced there, PK614, taking
place on 30th November 1945.
The factory was a target of enemy bombers and was hit by more than 200 bombs during the war,
which killed 11 workers and injured 55.
After the war, the aircraft factory became a car body factory, first owned by Fisher & Ludlow and most
recently by Jaguar.
Working conditions during the war.
Building spitfires for the Battle of Britain
The Spitfire

The Spitfire was the most famous fighter aircraft of World War II. It was the only British fighter
plane to be in continuous production throughout the war.

RJ Mitchell, an engineer at Super marine Aviation, designed the Spitfire originally to be a high
performance, short range plane. The first planes were mass produced in 1938.

The name Spitfire was taken from an old English word meaning someone of strong or fiery
character. The names Snipe and Shrew were also considered for the plane.

The plane weighed almost 2,400 kilograms and had a top speed of 582 km per hr, although
could dive at faster speeds. It was able to climb to a height of almost 7,000 metres in just over
9 minutes.
Lancaster Bomber

The Lancaster Bomber was one of the most famous aircraft of World War II. It first saw
service in 1941 and became the RAF’s main bomber during the war.

The first prototype Lancaster flew in January, 1941. A total of 7,377 Lancasters’ were made,
after the first one rolled off the production line in October, 1941.

It carried a crew of 7 and could fly at about 454 km per hr. The plane was just over 21 metres
long, had a wingspan of 31 metres and a flying range of 4,000 km.

The Lancaster was normally armed with 8 Browning machine guns, as well as bombs. Some
planes were modified so they could carry the so called Grand Slam bomb, weighing
10,000kg.

During World War II, Lancaster’s flew over 156,000 missions, or raids. They dropped over 50
million incendiary bombs and over 608,000 tons of explosive bombs.
Evacuations
What is evacuation?
Evacuation means leaving a place. During the Second World War, many children living in big cities
and towns were moved temporarily from their homes to places considered safer, usually out in the
countryside.
When did evacuations take place in Britain?
The British evacuation began on Friday 1 September 1939. It was called 'Operation Pied Piper'.
Between 1939 - 1945 there were three major evacuations in preparation of the German Luftwaffe
bombing Britain.
The first official evacuations began on September 1 1939, two days before the declaration of war. By
January 1940 almost 60% had returned to their homes.
A second evacuation effort was started after the Germans had taken over most of France. From June
13 to June 18, 1940, around 100,000 children were evacuated (in many cases re-evacuated).
When the Blitz began on 7 September 1940, children who had returned home or had not been
evacuated were evacuated.
By the end of 1941, city centres, especially London, became safer.
From June 1944, the Germans attacked again by firing V1 rockets on Britain, followed later by also V2
rockets. 1,000,000 women, children, elderly and disabled people were evacuated from London.
This new way of attacking Britain carried on until the end of the war in Europe in May 1945.
Sir John Anderson (a member of the House of Commons and placed in charge of Air Raid
Precautions or ARP) divided the UK into three areas:
1. Evacuation – areas where heavy bombing was expected.
2. Neutral – areas that would not need to send or receive evacuees.
3. Reception – rural areas where evacuees would be sent.
When did Evacuation end?
World War Two ended in September 1945, however evacuation did not officially end until March 1946
when it was felt that Britain was no longer under threat from invasion. Surprisingly, even 6 months
after the war had ended, there were still 5,200 evacuees living in rural areas with their host families.
Many evacuees' had returned home long before March 1946.
In April 1945, the Government began to make travel arrangements to return the evacuees to their
homes when the war was over.
By 12th July 1945, more than 100 trains had brought 54,317 evacuees home to London.
Rationing
During World War II all sorts of essential and non-essential foods were rationed, as well as clothing,
furniture and petrol.
Why was rationing introduced?
To make the British weak, the Germans tried to cut off supplies of food and other goods. German
submarines attacked many of the ships that brought food to Britain.
Rationing was introduced to make sure that everyone had a fair share of the items that were hard to
get hold of during the war.
When was rationing introduced?
Rationing was introduced at the beginning of 1940.
On National Registration Day on 29 September 1939, every householder had to fill in a form giving
details of the people who lived in their house.
How did rationing work?
Using the information gathered on National Registration Day, the government issued every one with
an identity card and ration book. The books contained coupons that had to be handed to or signed by
the shopkeeper every time rationed goods were bought. This meant that people could only buy the
amount they were allowed.
Ration books
What were ration books?
They were books which contained coupons that shopkeepers cut out or signed when people bought
food and other items.
People still had to pay for the goods with money.
Why did they issue ration books?
To make sure that everybody got a fair share. The government was worried that as food and other
items became scarcer, prices would rise and poorer people might not be able to afford things. There
was also a danger that some people might hoard items, leaving none for others.
Was rationing fair?
Some people considered food rationing to be very unfair. Eggs, butter and meat could be obtained
fairly easily without coupons in rural areas.
By the summer of 1941 greengrocers in the towns were taking their lorries into the country to buy
vegetables direct from growers.
When did food rationing stop?
Fourteen years of food rationing in Britain ended at midnight on 4 July 1954, when restrictions on the
sale and purchase of meat and bacon were lifted. This happened nine years after the end of the war.
Time Line