大象传媒

This story has been submitted to the site by Alison Tebbutt, Derby CSV Action Desk, on behalf of Kenneth Morford Mannion. The author has given his permission and fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

Part One of this story can be found at A4456019

On the 1st of April 1942 at the age of 14 years old I left school. Of all the pupils who left Allenton School on that day I was the only one who didn't have an ambition to work at Rolls Royce. Why I didn't I do not know. I had an interview with a manufacturer of Heat Exchangers who had a facotry at the side of the Railway statin on Osmaston Park Road. For some obscure reason, I wanted to be an electrician, but was offered a job as office boy in their drawing office starting on April 8th, 1942. The manufacturer's name was The Spiral Tube and Componants Ltd. It was a family business which started in Honeypot Lane, Stanmore, Middlesex in 1903. In 1942 when I joined the company, Honeypot Lane was the Head Office with only a small workshop. The Derby works was built in the early 1930's to provide the main manufacturing base. In 1935 I remember standing on the Railway bridge on Osmaston Park Road and watched the workshops burn to the ground (not knowing then that I would one day work in the rebuilt workshops.) My first job in the office was to file drawings into drawers in numerical order, print copies of drawings for the use of the engineering workers and make cups of tea for the Draughtsmen. After 9 months I became a junior Draughtsman and my job then was to produce detail drawings of all the parts required for the works to produce the complete heat exchanges. The skills I developed at school using sums (which I found were called mathematics in industry) and the drawing skills I found in the woodwork classes were now proving very useful and I quickly appreciated the efforts of my teachers.
In 1944 at the age of 16, I joined the ACT (Air Training Corp) attached to Derby Technical College. The Squadron No. was 2067 and my number was 2067111. The Squadron would meet several times a week, in the evenings. We were taught target shooting with air rifles, receiving and sending morse code messages, aircraft identification and the dreaded marching etc.
On one occasion we were taken to Cosford RAF station for a weeks training. We were up before it was barely daylight, marching on their parade ground under the control of an RAF sergeant, what a wake up. On another occasion, we were on parade and the sergeant shouted 'all non swimmers one pace forward.' I could not swim then and still can't now. So one pace forward. The sergeant then said, the remainder would go swimming and the non-swimmers would watch some training films. The non-swimmers including myself were quite pleased with the arrangements. The next day the same situation occured and the non-swimmers were again happy, untill the sergeant said 'All non-swimmers assemble at the swimming baths while the rest will play football. The non-swimmers, some with a fear of water, like myself, assembled in the shallow end of the bath hanging grim faced onto the hand rail. The sergeant then informed us that we were going to bend oue knees and get our faces under the water while he counted up to 30. If any of us surfaced before he had finished, we would do it all again. After being submerged several times we managed to complete the task. We all wondered how the sergeant expected us to hear his count with our heads under water, but no-one dare ask.
On another day we all assembled at the firing range, we were allocated a target, a Lee Enfield bolt loading 303 rifle and 5 rounds of ammunition. On instruction I lay prone on the grass, put the butt of the rifle firmly to my right shoulder, pulled the bolt back and loaded my first round. Very carefully I sited the target and pulled the trigger. The recoil of the rifle kicked back and nearly broke the bones in my shoulder, the rifle was pointing skyward and my ears were deaf with the exploding bullet. I missed the target. By the time I had fired all five rounds all I could hear was continuous ringing of bells. During the same week all the cadets, two at a time, were taken for a 15 minute flight in a twin engined Avro Anson aircraft.
Some months later we each had a flight from Burnaston Airfield (later Derby Airport) situated half way between Derby and Burton-On-Trent on what is now the A38. The flight was in a twin seat Gypsy Moth, fabric covered and twin wings. The flight was only a circuit at 1000 feet around the airfield but part way around the circuit we were allowed to take control of the aircraft but under the watchful eye of the pilot. On the 11th June 1946 I was told by the Ministry of Labour and National Service to attend a medical board at the old Assembly Rooms at Derby Market Place. There were dozens of other lads of my age and we all had a physical examination and an eye test. We were told that we would receive notification of the results, in a few days, by post. When the results arrived I had passed A1 and fit for military service. My boss at work had also been advised of the result but he decided to apply to the Ministry for me to be excluded from military service because of the war work we were involved in. In due course the Ministry agreed to grant me a reserved occupation status. This status meant that I would not be called for military service just because of my age but I could be drafted at any time in the future if there was an urgent need to increse the armed forces. My war work involved designing and drawing steam powered heating equipment, which was installed on the decks of cargo ships. These ships carried munitions across the arctic circle to Russia and due to the extreme weather conditions, the sea water thrown over the ships was freezing on the decks and rigging and making the ships so top heavy with ice, they were turning over and sinking. Our heaters, working with steam from the ship boilers, kept the deck temperature high enough to stop the sea spray from freezing and so saved many ships from sinking and allowed them to deliver their cargo to Russia. We also produced heaters to keep the oil in the gun mechanisms on Navy Frigates at operating temperature so that the guns were ready for use at all times whether the Frigates were operating in arctic or tropical areas. In addition we supplied equipment to Power Generating Stations, coal mines, the railways for use on diesel locomotive, heating and ventilating equipment for industry and submarines.
After the war we entered the export market and became known worldwide for our quality and reliability. The winter of 1946/47 was exceptionally cold and in February 1947 there was a very heavy snowfall with all roads covered to a depth of 14 inches. All traffic came to a standstill and the country roads at the bottom of Sinfin lane were filled to the top of the hedges with drifts of up to 10 feet deep. Italain and German prisoners of war helped to clear to the roads and railways of snow and ice. The heavy snowfall extended north into the Peak District where it completely blocked the Derby to Manchester railway line.

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