大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Deena Campbell from WM CSV Actiondesk on behalf of Arthur Musson and has been added to the site with his permission. Mr Musson fully understands the sites terms and conditions.

I later moved to the BSA and started work in their Lancaster Motor Co factory in Montgomery Street, Small Heath. I was employed as a jig and tool draughtsman. For those who are not familiar with this work, it meant that from a hand made component or one from a finished unit or machine we had to devise and design what , pneumatically operated equipment, press tools , die casting , jigs, fixtures, cutters, gauges etc that would be necessary to mass produce these parts. The layout and positioning of machines such as lathes, millers, presses etc on the factory floor was part of our responsibility. We were working on the Swiss designed 20mm quick firing Oerlican Gun. This was to be fitted to merchant ships which were otherwise unarmed.

Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain took place while I was at the BSA. Just after the bombing started the factory was damaged and we were transferred to a new office block at the end of the Armoury Road. It was not very long before this block was hit and we had a further move to the motorcycle drawing office. This office suffered the same fate as the others, one bomb falling a few feet from my drawing board; fortunately this was during the night. I believe this was the night that the corner of the multi storey production blocks was hit with a great loss of life. After one raid I remember walking down Golden Hillock Road where the Queens gravy salt factory had been burnt out. There were 15-18 inch wide steel columns that were bent over like swans necks due to the intense heat. When motor cycling to work after a raid on the previous night, it was frequently necessary to ride over hoses which were still laid across the road and had ramps at either side to enable traffic to pass over them. Firemen were still dampening down the fires.

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