Hawker & Gloster Aircraft, D-Day, built by Foresters (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Tuesday, June 10, 2014, 14:03 (3607 days ago) @ Jefff

When writing about the Hawker Typhoon flown so effectively over the D-Day landings seventy years ago this week, I was remiss by not mentioning the considerable efforts of a great many Foresters who helped build these aircraft.

Despite retaining it's name the Gloster Aircraft Company at Hucclecote had been taken-over by Hawker Aircraft Ltd in 1934. Under threat of War the Government realised they had to plan for significantly increased armaments production, so several new "shadow" factories were built around the UK at extreme range from enemy bombers. This included one next to GAC's factory & airfield at Hucclecote aka Brockworth, the first turf was cut in August 1938. The first really important contract for the enlarged GAC was the RAF's first "modern" fighter the Hawker Hurricane. From October 1939 to March 1942 Glosters built 2,750 Hurricanes, the mainstay of Fighter Command during the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain. GAC's main efforts then shifted to developing & building the Typhoon as flown by F/O Ackers. The first production "Tiffy" flew May 1941, by the War's end all but a handful of the 3,330 total were made at Hucclecote/Brockworth peaking at 5 per day.

This photo shows just how massive the Tiffy was compared to the men & ladies who built & flew it. http://www.sungreen.co.uk/Elton/Gloster_aircraft.html
Here's another at their Hucclecote airfield.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/27862259@N02/6004160311/

GAC used a few airfields in the area during & post WW2, including the RAF field at Moreton Valence 5 miles south of Brockworth. The Gloster Javelin jet was introduced in 1952, in final build trim it was too heavy to take-off from the short Brockworth runaway, so they were part-built there before "hopping" to Moreton Valence for final assembly at GAC's small factory. They also did mid-life upgrading of Javelins until their withdrawal from RAF service and the end of the Gloster brandname in 1968. The long Moreton Valence runway became part of the M5 motorway.
http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?a=0&hob_id=1406485
http://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/234743-brockworth-airfield.html

Britain's first-ever jet aircraft, the "Top Secret" Gloster E28/39 designed and built by GAC using Sir Frank Whittle's engine, first left the ground at Hucclecote in April 1941. This led to GAC building the Allies' first service jet, the twin-engined Gloster Meteor, which entered RAF service in 1944 and served around the world for many years afterwards, as did it's successor the advanced "all weather" Javelin.
http://glostransporthistory.visit-gloucestershire.co.uk/JetAgeRMC_GAC90.htm

During the War large numbers of Forester's, including "retired" miners & many women, worked at the various armaments factories between Gloucester & Cheltenham, such as Dowty, Rotol and Smiths Industries as well as GAC. (2016 UPDATE, by curious coincidence the Dowty propellor factory has recently relocated to the old Ranks site t Mitcheldean, possibly for 3+ years, following a fire at their Gloucester plant.)
http://glostransporthistory.visit-gloucestershire.co.uk/GlosProp.htm

My Dad's first job was a Saturday boy for Edwards Buses by his Joys Green home, near Lydbrook, he joined fulltime on leaving school at the outbreak of WW2. During the war Edwards, like many other local firms, were very busy ferrying workers from the Forest to the expanding Gloucester factories who were soon working 24/7 shift patterns. They also operated a fleet of heavy goods lorries. Edwards' bus fleet alone quickly grew to around twenty vehicles, my sixteen year old Dad was soon working as a conductor on these routes. It was while employed as such that he drove his first bus on the public highway, relieving the tired driver of a double decker returning from the Gloucester factories during the middle of the night. Maybe he was underage so technically illegal, but "there was a War on !". I'm pleased to say this was the first of a lifetime of driving & managing service buses around the Forest, and to my knowledge he was a 100% safe, accident-free & popular driver, respected as-such by all who met him. It was lovely to see representatives of many local bus companies at Dad's funeral, such as Grindles, Beards, Bennetts, Bevans and Cottrells.

"One of Edwards’s Bedford buses was machine-gunned in a lunchtime raid at Brockworth and an elderly passenger killed. The bus lived to fight another day but for some macabre reason the fatal bullet was never removed from the Bedford’s upholstery... Other buses of the Edwards fleet also suffered War damage and were normally sent to coachbuilder Praills of Hereford for repair."
Thanks to this great article which kindly mentions Dad (Bill) during his later years as manager at Edwards'.
http://www.sungreen.co.uk/Lydbrook/Edwards_story.html

More firsthand WW2 experiences of Abenhall man Jim Wyatt at GAC here;
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/35/a3913535.shtml

The main GAC site at Hucclecote aka Brockworth was sold off in 1964. The original factory became the Gloster Trading Estate. The wartime "shadow" or No 2 factory a few yards further up Ermine Street towards Cooper's Hill, and the other side of the main Glosters airfield, had already become British Nylon Spinners aka ICI Fibres then Dupont. These new companies employed many ex-GAC staff so the Forest bus runs continued for many years.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/domesday/dblock/GB-388000-216000/page/4

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As a kid in the mid 70s I visited the small but significant Skyfame Museum at Staverton Airport. I learnt of this while attending the annual Staverton Air Shows, I still recall my excitement first reading about this show in James' newsagents window, Cinderford. Not only did our family attend the show and see a real-live Hurricane flying, for example (my first of many such displays), but to my utter joy my Dad actually accompanyed me on a short helicopter joyride, a huge expense for us at the time, our first flight !!. After many years of hard work & fundraising I'm very pleased this collection has found a permanent and deserving home at the Jet Age Museum which has appropriately opened this very year.

https://jetagemuseum.org/
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Thanks to all those Foresters who worked so hard, and were bombed and even died for their efforts, during WW2.