Rootes Aircraft Factory Speke WW2

[roy.w]

I am not sure how old this thread is but Rootes became Dunlops after the war making tyres, tennis balls amongst other products. Dunlops eventually closed and the buildings demolished, it is now an industrial site with a number of units operating there.

[Achitophel]

I lived opposite the factory at 95 Hale Rd until I went to uni at 18 in 1961. I could see it clearly from my bedroom.  The factory had a zig zag roof with a camouflage pattern painted on it.  The 2 houses behind ours lost their roofs during araid.  Don't recall my parents mentioning the facory being bombed. My dad worked their build planes.  The paving flags leading tthe airfield were badly cracked - caused by te planes?
I remeber watching the buses go up the road to the facory and turn around at the front gate.  There was a lane tothe left which led to Critchley's? farm.  Fantastic blackberries and a pond at the end where there were millions of tiny frogs one year.  One year 1946/47 I was stung by a bee/wasp and pushed back home in my pushchair by my sister and the local gang of kids!
There was a field to the right of the road with an old shelter/AA gun site? were a local kid was burnt with acid, carelessly left behind.
More damage was caused to properties in Speke when it was expanded to rehouse inner city residents - many of whom did a pretty good job of vandalisng the place far more effectively than the Luftwaffe ever managed to do,

[garstonite]

Bray Road ,Speke starts on one side as number 24
Rycot Road - next to Bray Road has No 25 and next door is 37 - the reason being 2-22 Bray Road and 27 -35 Rycot Road were destroyed by bombs trying to hit the Rootes Factory ...the numbers of these houses which were being built at the time were never returned as it was considered unlucky .
My mum worked in Rootes and told me the womens skin was black with Cobalt and very difficult to get off no matter how you scrubbed .
 

[Heyesie]

On reading this I had to check out the numbers, just out of curiosity,
looking at Bray today, it starts at 19, right on the corner of western, so unless Bray would have originally planned to go right across into Tarbock Rd and not let Western carry onto The boulevard
there really was no place to build any more houses for Bray road.
looking on the 1939 register for Speke, the lowest number at the outbreak of war was 27 Bray road
possible building was stopped during the war years

[garstonite]

this is SO FUNNY ...I live 5 doors away from No19 Bray road - what made me put 24 I will never know ...must have had a little tipple that day ...lol   Monday Club

[Nick Regan]

Hello all, I've just signed up to the page - congratulations on great work.
I've found out my granddad and his wife, who lived on York Way, Garston, worked at Rootes in WW2. He was a 'Store Keeper, Aircraft', according to the 1939 Register. Anyway, in about 1942 my aunt tells me he was transferred to the plant in Stoke. I can't seem to find any reference to a Rootes factory in Stoke - can you help?

[Gibel]

According to Wiki they had a place at Blythe Bridge south east of Stoke on Trent from 1941 to 1943, could that be where your aunt meant?

[Nick Regan]

Ah, it may well be; those dates certainly fit. I'll try to find out more. Thanks Gibel.

[Trishanne]

I see COMEONFRANK hasn't posted on Rootschat since January this year and I have only just found this thread. If anybody is interested here is a link to some photos of Rootes at Speke https://rafww2butler.wordpress.com/speke-photo-gallery/ There are also quite a few more on Google Images, just enter Rootes Aircraft factory.