MEMORIES
AND INFORMATION - WARWICKSHIRE, CASTLE BROMWICH
THE
SPITFIRE FACTORY
and
Cpl. GEORGE RONALD BARTON
ALFRED CARTWRIGHT
This
is a page within the STAFFORDSHIRE HOME GUARD website.
To
see full contents, go to SITE
MAP.
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The
"Nuffield Spitfire Factory" was
built shortly before the outbreak of war on land adjacent
to Castle Bromwich airfield. There is information about it and its products on
another page of this website; and on a member of its Home Guard unit,
Edward Johnson. Two further
members of the Works Home Guard unit have been identified.
They are Cpl. George Ronald Barton
and Alfred (Alf) Cartwright.
This page provides what information is known about them and
their service.
This is an image of
many of the members of the Castle Bromwich Spitfire Factory
Home Guard unit, part of the 52nd
Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion.
Click on the image to view a
magnified, higher definition version
George Ronald Barton
(1915-1985) worked
at the Spitfire factory throughout the war and also became a member of factory Home
Guard unit. He joined early when the main weapon of defence was a broom handle; and he subsequently rose to the rank of Corporal. Ron was a small man in stature but possessed the loudest of voices, sufficient to outshout the
Sergeant-Major who had been sent to put some military backbone into this assortment of sloppy - and sometimes stroppy - would-be warriors. He was also man of considerable physical strength: somehow he contrived accidentally to bend the barrel of his rifle, much to his sergeant's ire.
Ron Barton had been a tool designer at the
Austin Motor Company at Longbridge. He worked at Castle Bromwich throughout the war and lived in the neighbouring village with his wife and child. His duties involved inspection and rectification and he would work 9 days on, sleeping at the factory, and 1 day off at particular times. Another duty which he performed was to attempt to teach the theory of flight to Air Cadets. The shortness of his fuse and his inabilty to comprehend how others could be so slow to grasp whatever was so obvious to himself meant that he would not be quickly forgotten by his pupils in the ensuing years!
Cpl. Barton recounted tales of his time at Castle Bromwich to his family, especially concerning the best known and perhaps most colourful employee who served within (and above) that vast complex, the Chief Test Pilot, Alex Henshaw. These memories have been recorded by George's son.
The Chief Test Pilot for the Spitfires was Alex Henshaw, a very brave man who became even more renowned after the war. He would take the freshly built aircraft up and attempt to pull the wings off. Often nuts and bolts or indeed tools would have been left inside during assembly and would sometimes hit Henshaw on the head or legs as he threw the aircraft around. This somewhat annoyed him, so he would climb to a good height and throw the objects out aiming at the factory roofs. By the time they landed they were doing a fair speed and would punch through the roof. Fortunately they usually could be heard coming. He did a fair amount of damage despite being ordered to desist. He was not a man to be told what to do and the Company's difficulty in getting volunteers to test newly built aircraft which he was brave enough to do enabled him to get away with a lot.
He also had a habit of flying over sun bathing workers on the airfield at nought feet, leering out of the cockpit whilst they tried to dig a hole.
He, however went too far one day when the exiled King of Norway came on a official visit to the factory and Henshaw was to give a flying display. At nought feet he flew between two rows of buildings with scant clearance on either side and just cleared the raised dais on which was the King's party. The King passed out and even Henshaw was in trouble. The assembled workforce hadn't laughed so much in years
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The attacks on the factory roofs were not of course confined to the efforts of Alex Henshaw. The Luftwaffe made several attemps to wreck the factory and damage
and loss of life and injury ensued. Ron Barton was caught up in at least one of these raids and he bore the scar on his face for the remainder of his life.
Ron Barton's family and the staffshomeguard website would welcome any recollections of this memorable man from anyone who knew him at the time. Please use
Feedback.
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Jason Stait records memories of his
grandfather, Alf Cartwright
(right). |
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The photo on
this page, above, is similar to one my grandad
gave me in the 1980s.
My grandad was
Alfred (Alf) Cartwright,
he’s on the back row, far right. He worked as a
foreman on the stressed aluminium wings for the
Spitfires at Castle Bromwich throughout the war.
He was actually recruited prior to the start of
the war in 1939 due to his skills as a sheet metal
worker. My understanding is that the photo is of
the Spitfire factory unit. My grandad even
annotated the photo we have with that.
The
unit undertook similar duties as other Home Guard
units, including fire watch duties at the factory.
He told me during the height of the invasion
warnings in 1940 - 1941, one night the unit was
marched in full kit from the factory towards
Warwick on reports that German parachutists had
landed. They were stopped on the journey and told
it was a false alarm. Although they still had to
do their next shift with limited rest.
Luckily he was off duty when "D" block was bombed,
but remembered the aftermath the following
morning. The one thing he always said was the Home
Guard greatcoat was excellent to put over the
bottom of the bed to keep your feet warm.
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FOOTNOTE
The worst air raid on the
Spitfire factory occurred on 13th August 1940 - almost
certainly the one mentioned above - and resulted in the
death of six men and women and injury to others.
Amongst the fatalities was a relative by marriage of the
Webmaster: he was John Guest,
aged 39.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are much indebted to Jon Barton of West Yorkshire for all the above information about his father and for his generous permission for its publication within this website;
similarly to Jason Stait for the information about his
grandfather; and to the McMullin family for providing the
group photograph.
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In Memory of
RON BARTON and
ALF CARTWRIGHT
and all their Comrades in the Spitfire Factory Home Guard
