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I was born in 1913 and in 1938; I was working for an engineering firm in Castle Bromwich making ‘ leading edges’ for spitfire wings. My first memory of the whole plane was when we had to motor to Southampton to pick up a completed unit, and on driving back to Castle Bromwich stopped at a pub for a ‘wet’. When we got back outside, the truck was surrounded by people trying to guess what sort of plane it was!

I remember seeing the first spitfire test. The pilot was Mr Henshaw, he was on television last year (2004) being given a flight by a lady who owned the last dual seated machine.

When the bombing started (about 1940) we reported to work in the morning and were told to report to ‘section’, this had just been wrecked by bombing and our group of 25 were told that we could volunteer to work in Leicester, Swindon or Worcester. Well I knew a man called Jack Fenn, who I had met when I went dancing in Castle Bromwich. He was the manager at Worcester — so that’s where I decided to go.

The factory, in Rackstraws Furniture Works, was situated in Castle Street- where the new police station is now. Initially we lived in the old jail next door until some prefabs were built on the site of Worcester College in Albany Park.

I was really surprised to see the Rackstraws factory had been converted into a ‘leading egde section’. All the assembly items were sent down from Castle Bromwich and my job was to fit the skins on the leading edge. We recruited a lot of local labour, mainly women and after a brief period of training my word- weren’t they quick — and good to, particularly at getting the rivets to lie flush.

The hours were very long and after 4 years I had really had enough. I had developed a duodenal ulcer, so I needed a change. So I was sent to drilling the holes in the main spar and the settings for the cannons.

I remember looking up in the sky one evening, facing North East. I saw a great white glow; it was Coventry going up in flames. And then in 1944 (I think) I remember seeing hundreds of Dakotas flying over Worcester, all towing gliders. I think they were going to Arnhem.

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Jacci Phillips of the CSV Action Desk at ´óÏó´«Ã½ Hereford and Worcester on behalf of Alan Wintle and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

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