Category: West Midlands TV
Date: 25.04.2005
Printable version
People's War - Wings and Prayers, 大象传媒 ONE (West Midlands),
Thursday 5 May,
7.00-7.30pm
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Sixty years ago Britain celebrated the Allied victory over Germany on what became known as VE - Victory in Europe - Day.
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Wings and Prayers is part of the 大象传媒's V45 series of programmes looking back at the war and those who lived through it.
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The programme focuses on the former Vickers-Armstrong factory at Castle Bromwich, which produced more than 11,000 Spitfires during the Second World War, but VE day signalled the end of the plant which had been specially built to support the war effort.
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The site is now a housing estate and with the help of the 大象传媒 People's War website (bbc.co.uk/ww2) three children from the local secondary school go in search of workers employed at the factory.
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The youngsters from Castle Vale School trace Catherine Degregorio, who worked on the production line; Edna Storr, who worked on a nearby anti-aircraft gun battery; and Alex Henshaw, the Spitfire chief test pilot.
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The children hear the story of this remarkable joint endeavour as experienced by these three veterans.
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The programme includes interviews with others who experienced the Second World War in the West Midlands.
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They tell how their homes were threatened by air raids on the region's munitions factories and of parties held to celebrate the end of the war.
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Wings and Prayers is a Red Admiral Production.
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Notes to Editors
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bbc.co.uk/ww2 is the biggest ever archive of personal accounts of war; the site already contains 14,000 personal stories, and hopes to attract a total of 80,000.
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This ambitious interactive project will become a lasting legacy and resource to the nation.
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Programme contributors
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Catherine Degregorio was a munitions worker at the former Vickers-Armstrong factory at Castle Bromwich, which made Spitfires and Lancasters during the Second World War.
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Originally from Ireland she came to the UK to join her older sister. When she arrived here she discovered her sister had been conscripted to war work at the factory so she joined her there.
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One of her jobs was to work on the aircraft's instrument panels and she tells how the girls used to write good luck inside - even though it was strictly forbidden.
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They even had a visit at the factory from one pilot who said he could not believe women were making such complicated and vital pieces of equipment!
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Catherine says the biggest problem for some of the girls was being homesick: "They'd been conscripted from all over Britain and some of them were crying. They just wanted to go home but of course they couldn't, they had a job to do."
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Catherine lives in Burntwood in Staffordshire.
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Edna Storr was 17 when she became a member of the ATS - Auxiliary Territorial Service (later became the WRACS) and she worked with the anti-aircraft units (ack-ack guns).
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Her unit was 460 Mixed Ack-Ack (AA) Battery 134 Regiment. Her job was height finder and plotter.
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Women like Edna had the job of tracking the German bombers and giving the co-ordinates to the men firing the ack-ack guns.
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They would often be in the thick of the bombing with no shelter as enemy aircraft flew overhead.
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Based in South Yardley she was with the crews who helped defend Birmingham.
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Edna remembers when they brought one aircraft down the people of South Yardley brought her crew a barrel of beer.
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She also tells the story of being on duty the night of one of the longest bombing raids over Birmingham - 13 hours.
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Edna says: "We didn't know much longer it was going to go on for and we didn't know if we would survive."
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Edna is a member of the Royal Artillery Veterans Association and attends many events and memorials throughout the year.
She now lives in Selby.
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Alex Henshaw was the Spitfire chief test pilot at Castle Bromwich during the Second World War.
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He had already made a name for himself as a world-class aviator and still holds the record for a solo return flight to Cape Town.
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His experience prompted Vickers-Armstrong to offer him a job at the Spitfire factory, which produced more than 11,500 Spitfires and 300 Lancaster bombers - each of which had to be tested by Alex and his team of pilots.
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He talks about the fortitude of the workforce in the factory who lived with the air raids both on the plant and on their homes.
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One day a bomb destroyed the machine shop killing several workers, the next morning the others carried on and within a few days production was back to normal.
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He also speaks highly of the Spitfire saying: "Without the Spitfire we would have lost the Battle of Britain and if we had lost the Battle of Britain we would have lost the war."
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Alex Henshaw now lives in Newmarket.
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These three war veterans told their stories to three teenagers from Castle Vale School, which now stands on the site of the old aerodrome.
