Does anyone know of an aeroplane factory in sheffield during WW2?
mY NAN WORK THERE WE THINK IT MAY HAVE BEEN ON EYRE STREET, but not sure if anyone has photos or maps or anything I would be interested, thanks for looking xxx

I don't think that there was any factory building aircraft but there were plenty building components for aircraft around the city, for example Shardlows built crankshafts for aero engines.

Parts for Spitfire engines were made in Sheffield.

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/archive/index.php/t-86368.html

thanks for that, the company I have been told was ------ and wreakes. Dont know anything else at the mo xxx

Wrenkin & Wreakes? (?)

Thanks, anyone got any idea whereabouts they were?

Not a Plane building factory but Bramahs now out at Halfway made and still do make many components for aircraft bodies and engines (particularly RR engines). A lot of parts that make aircraft work efficiently are made in Sheffield. The new A380 Airbus Giant was launched with RR engines, you can bet many of the parts in those engines were made in good old Sheffield.

Sheffield Simplex had a play around with a Zeppelin during the First World War - turned the thing on and blew down one end of the factory!

Parts for Spitfire engines were made in Sheffield.

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/archive/index.php/t-86368.html
When I was a little lad in the 1940's my dad used to take me to Owlerton to see "Wednesday" play..as I got off the bus opposite the ground I remember a scrap yard, and amongst all the scrap cars and such I remember the tail of an old Aeroplane sticking up pointing to the sky ..It was there for quite along time and I always used to look out for it when I went down that way.

Sheffield Simplex had a play around with a Zeppelin during the First World War - turned the thing on and blew down one end of the factory!
Do you know any more about this? JT

The company on Eyre Street I think may have been called ASME (Aircraft and sheet metal engineers).They were there up to the 1970's.

Crankshafts for the Rolls Royce Merlin engines were made, I was led to believe by a company called Ambrose Shardlow, somewhere near Meadowbank Road

It was Roper and .Wreaks i think.

Laycocks Engineering produced aero engine parts during the war. My mother was a turret lathe operator at that time.

My uncle worked at Cravens during the war and told me they made wings for Lysanders among other things.

It was Roper and .Wreaks i think.

A pre-war directory shows "Roper & Wreaks Ltd., engineers" at 112 Arundel Street (on the corner with Matilda Street). The building is now the Gatecrasher - a quick bit of Googling brought up this photo (http://www.flickr.com/photos/harryhalibut/177826722/).

My uncle worked at Cravens during the war and told me they made wings for Lysanders among other things.

Lysanders? Cool, not many of 'em left these days

Painted Fabrics @ Meadowhead had some input to aeroplane wings

Painted Fabrics @ Meadowhead had some input to aeroplane wings

It was Fairey Aviation. Cannot for the life of me think where they were, but they certainly had a factory in Sheffield before, during and after the war. Certainly, Sheffield Libarary local history department will be able to turn up a few photographs. There might have been two, the other being De Havilland.

roper and wreakes i thimk have a place off neepsend lane,as you go up to the sky slope still going i think.

Think the joinery firm at the time Rothervale made a few gliders

People tell me Spitfire crankshafts were forged somewhere in Tinsley. If my father-in-law was still alive he could have given us the full story as he was a drop-stamper at Firth Derrion. He said if the Luftwaffe had hit the plant then we would have been in deep trouble as the skills and equipment necessary to carry out such tasks were in short supply.

"Bone" Cravens had something to do with aircraft. My late mother used to push a trolley up from Tempered Springs during the war with springs for them.

Roper and Wreakes was on Arundel st i believe and aircraft and sheet metal were on Milton Street, Broomhall.
The building has just been knocked down to make way for, guess what, student accomodation.
I used to work for George Turton platts on meadowhall road, i used to inspect Rolls-Royce turbo prop mainshafts prior to final machining in the 70s.
During the war many,many places made parts for aircraft but not actual full aircraft assembly.
Many sites for assembly were underground i believe, to protect from bombing.
It would have been silly to have permenant sites as they would be constant bombing targets.
Also mant many companys made engines under licence from Rolls-Royce,Ford at halewood being one of the biggest, during the whole of the war they only lost one days production despite constant bombing, dont think we would have thet today, health and safety bods would have a fit.....

People tell me Spitfire crankshafts were forged somewhere in Tinsley. If my father-in-law was still alive he could have given us the full story as he was a drop-stamper at Firth Derrion. He said if the Luftwaffe had hit the plant then we would have been in deep trouble as the skills and equipment necessary to carry out such tasks were in short supply.

That would probably have been at a firm called Ambrose Shardlows, I reckon, what remains of it now is under Italian ownership and is called Bifrangi UK, I think :thumbsup:

That would probably have been at a firm called Ambrose Shardlows, I reckon, what remains of it now is under Italian ownership and is called Bifrangi UK, I think :thumbsup:

my uncle worked for bramahs on the corner of devonshire street and eldon street in the early 40s i think they made wing parts, not all that sure. i do know that my ex son in law's grand father worked in southampton during the war building spitfire's he told me once they were building one per day.

The company on Eyre Street I think may have been called ASME (Aircraft and sheet metal engineers).They were there up to the 1970's.

Crankshafts for the Rolls Royce Merlin engines were made, I was led to believe by a company called Ambrose Shardlow, somewhere near Meadowbank Road

I used to work at Ambrose Shardlow in the forge drawing office working on designing the dies which stamped out the crankshafts in the Forge Shop. Yes the crankshafts for the Rolls Royce Merlin engine which powered the Spitfire and the Large R101 air ships were all stamped and machined at Shardlows.
I always remember being in the old drawing office store room and digging through the drawings and finding some drawings for the carnkshafts.
And the Mitchell Shackle-ton bomber cranks were made there as well.