大象传媒

Merlin Engines

Ford UK apparently had a large 'Manchester' factory producing Rolls Royce Merlin engines in WW2. [see below].

Does anyone have any info on exactly where this factory was located? [see conclusion at the end].

Any references to additional info would be welcome.

the following may be of interest .
[ECCLES is next to Salford, a few miles west of Manchester centre]

From

A1095879

"Many Manchester firms were involved in war work, from Fairey Aviation at Ringway to Ferranti, the future computing pioneer, in Hollinwood. The Manchester bomber and its more celebrated successor, the Lancaster, were designed and built by Metropolitan Vickers in Trafford Park and AV Roe (Avro) in Chadderton. Ford ran a factory in Eccles building Rolls Royce Merlin engines, the engine used by the Lancaster and the Mosquito fighter. By 1944 the factory was employing 17,000 people and producing 900 engines a month. "

From

^{About links}

One major factor in its success was Trafford Park Industrial Estate.This large park through which the canal passes directly, is so strategically placed on the south-western approaches to the Cities of Salford and Manchester, that it has seen many companies locating, or relocating their industries in Trafford, due in no small part to the canal, its direct accessibility to the sea, and thereafter to the whole world. Apart from the predictable textile companies, Trafford Park saw the arrival of food production, vehicle manufacture, electronics and brewing companies.
The British Westinghouse Electric Company bought up a huge tract of the park to establish the largest engineering works in the UK; the Co-operative Wholesale Society (the CWS) located its distribution warehouses in the estate; a Ford Motor Car factory was situated there from 1910 and for many years before relocating to Dagenham; Kelloggs (of Corn Flakes fame) still have a major processing plant in Trafford; Hovis Bread and Brook Bond Tea is still produced there. Engineering works included the manufacture of the Manchester Bomber, and later over 1000 Lancaster Bombers in World War Two, as well as the Rolls Royce Merlin engines which powered fighter planes like the Spitfire. The Ship Canal and the Manchester Docks had become vital components in the success of Manchester commerce and industry.

From

^{About links}

"The British company鈥檚 contribution to the war effort was remarkable; Dagenham built over 13,000 tracked Universal Carriers, more than 250,000 V8 engines and over 185,000 military vehicles, while a specially-built factory in Manchester manufactured well over 30,000 supercharged 27-litre Rolls-Royce Merlin V12 engines for such famous British warplanes as the Hurricane, Mosquito and Lancaster. "

Conclusion.
I think that I now know exactly where the FORD factory was.
It was where the huge new Trafford Centre [shopping centre] is.
Post Code M17 8AA OS grid SJ 770 965.
I worked near there at Barton Dock Road with AEI on advance turbine development, structures section, in 1965/1967.

The evidence for this conclusion is in

A4228959

"I worked at ford Airo factory at Davyhulme where the Trafford Centre is now. I was a working engineer. There were 22,000 people making Merlin Spitefire engines for Rolls Royce."

Also from the book 'FORD AT WAR' by Hilary S.George Saunders, a book 'published' by FORD UK, just after WW2:
page 60 "New shadow factory.
It consisted of 118 acres of flat land at Urmston, near Trafford Park, and was close to the original English home of the Ford Company, which first set up their works on this spot in 1911."
page 70 "Altogether more than 34,000 Merlin engines were constructed by March 23rd, 1946, when the factory closed."
page 78 "Now that the last engine has been delivered from Eccles" which is a quote from 9 April 1946 letter from Minister of Supply, London WC2 addressed to
Sir A. Rowland Smith
Ford Motor Co. Ltd.,
Redclyffe Road,
Eccles, Lancs.
[Redclyffe Road [B5214] crosses Barton Dock Rd, and is now renamed 'Trafford Boulevard'.
I now feel pretty confident that these separate sources have located the FORD factory.

I would like to offer thanks to all those who worked hard and long in that factory, making a great contribution to victory.
The autobiography of Sir Stanley Hooker 'Not much of an Engineer' ISBN 1 85310 285 7, pages 58/59 states:
"....once the great Ford factory at Manchester started production, Merlins came out like shelling peas at the rate of 400 per week.
And very good engines they were too, yet never have I seen mention of this massive contribution which the British Ford company made to the build-up of our air forces."
Heartfelt thanks for what you achieved.

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