Spood

Nice bits of kit, beautiful job on the naval gun.

According to The Simsons American IBM's have "Point Away From Face" written on the side of them. :cool2:

Would this be you in Normandy 2009

Impressive, but it does appear to have attracted a very large bluebottle :-D

In September 1940 3 people were killed in an explosion and 3 were injured, I cannot find how this happened but it is the first incident that I can find a record of. A year later a machine that mixed ammonium nitrate and TNT caused an explosion that killed 3 more people and injured 6.

On July 27th 1942 the factory was bombed by a single plane. This occured at 06.00am just as the night shift was leaving and the day shift was taking over. Apparently due to it being a dull morning the blackout curtains had been taken down earlier than usual so the factory stood out from the surroundings quite a bit. Strangely the factory had virtually nothing in the way of defence against attack, instead relying on camouflage for protection. Apparently the factory site looked like a large lake from the air. The only defence was a machine gun platform, usually manned all the time but not that morning as the sole Lewis gun was being repaired. The plane was a Dornier 17 which was by all accounts flying very low. It dropped two 250kg bombs, the first hitting a transit shed and killing 17 people and injuring 24, the second bounced off the concrete over the factory perimeter and hit the factory police superintendents house killing five of his family. The bomber was shot down by Spitfires from Tern Hill and crashed in Gloucestershire apparently.

In Oct 1942 an explosion in a filling shed killed 2 and injured 4 but the worst accident happened in 1944. It was May 30th in the sea mine section with mines waiting for transport to distribution depots. It was a very hot day and the sun was shining through the window onto one particular mine that began to smoke. The alarm was raised and three workers tried to put out the mine with water and sand, but to no avail as the mine eventually exploded in the early evening. Astonishingly only one of the men was killed, the fire that was caused set off other ordenance in the vicinity and eventually the whole building collapsed injuring a lot of people. Surprisingly the fires were under control by 8pm. It was estimated that around 30 mines and 2000lbs of bombs had gone off during the incident. This was the last accident recorded before the end of the war.

I will post up any snippets I find out, when or if, I do find anything else, I believe there is a book about the factory so I will have to see if I can obtain a copy from somewhere.

Don

do you have any more details of the location for this please as i'm from worcester & would like to have a look around this.

thanks,

Allan

Yes Allan, you have to cross the Wye bridge, go straight over the roundabout at the far end by Asda, carry on for about quarter of a mile to the traffic lights and turn left towards Holme Lacy, follow this road going straight over the mini roundabout, under the railway bridge and you are there, the road goes straight through the middle of the site.

I will be adding some more info soon.

Don

Yes excellent, I had a couple of friends involved on M20's, brilliant sight and sound.

Got to be worth extra time in bed and a day off, father in law has crashed both his vehicles in the last week, one with me in it at the time, ouch :wow:, so not going to risk going out.

Thanks spood. Do you know what the factory's head stamp was?

Sorry Tony not at the moment, still trying to find stuff out.

Looks like standard thick walls and thin roofs. Where about is it located, and what's the history?

The site is on the outskirts of Hereford. It was aquired by the ministry after the outbreak of WW1 and building work started in July 1915, by 1917 they were making 70,000 shells per week. When the war was over the factory was used to dismantle unused ammunition and staff levels were dramatically reduced.

In 1932 the site was reactivated as some thought that another war was possible. At this time it was used as a filling factory for Woolwich Arsenal and went through a major modernisation programme, Woolwich eventually closing leaving Rotherwas as one of the main munitions factories in the country. Staff levels were also increased and the site employed around 4,500 people, this resulted in the building of new housing estates around the site to accomodate them.To start the factory produced 3.7in anti aircraft shells and later went on to 25-pounder shells. later in the war they were also making torpedoes and sea mines.

Again at the end of the war the site was used to dismantle unused ammo, finally closing for good on 29th Sept 1945. After this a part of the factory was taken over by the Ministry of Supply to break up tanks and bren carriers.

The railway carriage was, I think, preserved some years ago but could now do with another stint in the workshop.

I'm getting a few facts together about a German bomber attack and also some in house explosions which I will put on over the next couple of days hopefully.

Just tried to post a reply in the archeaology section and it tells me I am not logged in when I press the submit button which means I loose all my work. I wouldn't mind but it was quite a long reply:computerrage:

Has anyone mentioned Bacon Grill yet?

QUOTE]

 

According to theory we must, I presume, look for a tin labelled "BALL" :-D

One more for now, one of the original rail carriages used for transporting ordanance. I've got a couple more I'll put up if anyone is interested.

Trying to find a few things out from my mum as she worked there for a while in the war packing stuff, stencilling crates and taking full trollies to the railway pick up point, but her memory is a bit hazy now she is getting on in years. I will persevere though and hopefully come up with a bit of interesting stuff.

Hope this works, a few pics from Rotherwas Munitions factory in Hereford or some of the bits that are left, which is still quite a bit though hard to get decent photos of some of it.

According to the Spam website the spiced ham theory is, "speculation", but they give no clue as to the real reason it is named thus. :???

What an excellent thread, I think most will agree. Some very interesting stuff, thanks all. :thumbsup:

as the laws now are harder than we like

 

 

probably a bloody law now says you carnt

Laws to stop you having fun and enjoying yourself..........are you sure your not from England :stop:

Sorry I didn't buy you a tea Jack but as mentioned my £3 pocket money went on a jacket, hopefully I will have saved another £3 by next year so keep your cup handy. Oh yes nice to meet you too Mark.

Spent a whole £3 on a jacket, last of the big spenders me. Did get to meet some bloke called Jack, luckily that was free. I usually find it's a bit of a social event where you meet friends you don't see too often, with the bonus of having some interesting things to look at.

I'd go along with that.

If you want top riffs look no further than AC/DC that is all you need to know

Yeh I'm on

Been there all weekend, a good time spent with friends but in general the show was slightly disappointing. Heard a rumour of a different venue next time, another airfield apparently, don't know where though. Personally don't think airfields are the best bet, unless you have a WW2 windsock display.

Three of my friends all have one each. (Now I want one)

Just renewed with FMJ, more than happy.