0:00:10 > 0:00:14On an overcast evening at this aircraft factory in North Wales,
0:00:14 > 0:00:21a few survivors of World War II will gather to reflect on their contribution to that war.
0:00:22 > 0:00:28Early in the 1940s, a group of workers here set out to break a world record.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31They would try to build a bomber as fast as they could.
0:00:31 > 0:00:38Faster than the Americans who, in their factory in California, had taken 48 hours from start to finish.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41We started on the Saturday morning.
0:00:41 > 0:00:46We just got cracking. We were all like busy bees, all busy...
0:00:46 > 0:00:48Hoping to do the best.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51Did you think you could do it right from the very start?
0:00:51 > 0:00:53It seemed impossible.
0:00:53 > 0:00:55I remember all the bustle.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58Oh, gosh, it was like a beehive!
0:00:58 > 0:01:03Did you know that the Americans had set a world record for building a bomber?
0:01:03 > 0:01:06It was fine, we always want to beat the Americans, don't we?
0:01:06 > 0:01:11The plane they chose to build was a Wellington bomber.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15The Wellington was, for many years, the RAF's main strike bomber.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19Apart from the Spitfire and the Hurricane,
0:01:19 > 0:01:23more Wellingtons were built during World War II than any other British aircraft.
0:01:23 > 0:01:30Aircrew love a plane that they feel that if they do their bit, the plane will do its bit.
0:01:30 > 0:01:33And with the Wellington -
0:01:33 > 0:01:38fantastically strong, very robust, totally reliable - crews always knew
0:01:38 > 0:01:43that even if you've been shot up on a mission, if you lost one engine,
0:01:43 > 0:01:49all sorts of disasters of one kind or another, you had a very good chance that the plane would get you home.
0:01:49 > 0:01:53It was a lovely aeroplane to fly. It was just built
0:01:53 > 0:01:58so you could shoot hunks of it out if you had the misfortune to be hit
0:01:58 > 0:02:02and it more or less shrugged its shoulders and pressed on regardless.
0:02:04 > 0:02:10The designer of the Wellington was Dr Barnes Wallis, who would also design the bouncing bomb
0:02:10 > 0:02:16that would breach the Mohne Dam and make legends of the Dambusters, the air crews who delivered them.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22Max Hastings has written a definitive work on Bomber Command.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26Barnes Wallis said he was almost prouder of having created the Wellington
0:02:26 > 0:02:30than he was of having created the bouncing bomb.
0:02:30 > 0:02:34It was a brilliantly inspired piece of construction.
0:02:38 > 0:02:43You can't design and build an aircraft in five minutes, it takes years to do.
0:02:43 > 0:02:48But in the mid-1930s, Barnes Wallis produced this inspired design.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52This extraordinary geodetic construction gave it this strength
0:02:52 > 0:02:55that enabled it to withstand a terrific amount of punishment.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58And of course the hydraulic turrets.
0:02:58 > 0:03:03The RAF was enormously proud of those - these were revolutionary technology in 1939.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07Better than anything the Germans or the Americans had.
0:03:07 > 0:03:13By the time that war came up, the Wellington was in full production.
0:03:13 > 0:03:17This sophisticated aircraft was designed less than 30 years
0:03:17 > 0:03:21after the Wright brothers had made the world's first powered flight.
0:03:21 > 0:03:26Britain got an enormous amount wrong in the 1930s about its own defences.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30When the war came, it didn't have anything like enough of anything -
0:03:30 > 0:03:34fighters, bombers, soldiers, rifles, machine guns - anything.
0:03:34 > 0:03:40But some terrific design decisions and production decisions were made.
0:03:40 > 0:03:45It was undoubtedly one of the great aeroplanes of the war.
0:03:48 > 0:03:54But Britain had also taken a number of acute political decisions in the 1930s.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58The Chamberlain Government, while negotiating to avoid a war with Hitler's Germany,
0:03:58 > 0:04:04had also drawn up plans to put Britain's industry on a war footing.
0:04:04 > 0:04:10Manufacturing skills were pooled and the potential to build weapons of war were assessed.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18Shadow factories were built where tanks, guns, planes could be assembled.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22Broughton was one of them.
0:04:22 > 0:04:27Hilda Dodd was one of the first women to work at the Broughton factory.
0:04:27 > 0:04:32I went for an interview and they asked me what I could do.
0:04:32 > 0:04:36I said I could use a machine. They said, "What sort?"
0:04:36 > 0:04:40I said, "A sewing machine, my mother had a treadle." "Oh."
0:04:40 > 0:04:42So they put me down for machine work.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45Can you remember your first sight of the factory?
0:04:45 > 0:04:47Oh, it was a mess.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50Muddy, wasn't much there.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52There was like a hangar
0:04:52 > 0:04:56and that's where I went to, into this hangar.
0:04:56 > 0:05:02There were men working on parts of it, putting it together like a Meccano.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06At its peak during World War II, the Broughton production line
0:05:06 > 0:05:09was turning out 28 Wellington bombers a week.
0:05:09 > 0:05:15These workers were in the front line as much as the men who would fly the aircraft they would build.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18Easy aircraft to build.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22They had good, long range and they were very economical.
0:05:22 > 0:05:26But they were produced quickly, that was the main thing.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28Instead of 1, you'd get 100.
0:05:28 > 0:05:33The target these workers set themselves that weekend so many years ago
0:05:33 > 0:05:36was to build a Wellington bomber in 30 hours.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39Did you think you could beat that record?
0:05:39 > 0:05:41We had an idea we could.
0:05:45 > 0:05:50And so this evening, Bob Wilson joins old friends in the audience for a unique film show.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59- NEWSREEL:- 'This is a bomber factory in Britain...'
0:05:59 > 0:06:06They started to build Wellington LN514 early one Saturday morning, all those years ago.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11And because they wanted to tell the world how efficient were the British production lines,
0:06:11 > 0:06:15the British made a propaganda film about the record-breaking attempt.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19'We had our cameras in position when the workers arrived at the factory.'
0:06:19 > 0:06:24They put a North American voice on the soundtrack to show America not only that Britons could take it,
0:06:24 > 0:06:28as they had during the long years of the Blitz, but that they could dish it out as well.
0:06:28 > 0:06:34Many of the men and women who built this Wellington are seeing this film for the first time.
0:06:34 > 0:06:39'The clock strikes nine and the record-breaking attempt begins.
0:06:39 > 0:06:40'Two sections of the fuselage are carried in.
0:06:40 > 0:06:46'The dark girl with the riveter is Eileen Daphne who used to work in a rayon factory.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49'One of her brothers was killed in a naval action...'
0:06:49 > 0:06:55Women filled the places on the production lines left vacant by the men who had gone to war.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58Betty Weaver was working on the counter
0:06:58 > 0:07:02in the local Co-operative store when she was conscripted go to Broughton.
0:07:02 > 0:07:07Living in a mining area, the men were either in the army or working down the pit.
0:07:07 > 0:07:11- Is that why they needed women to do the job?- Yes.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14What did you feel about that - did you mind?
0:07:14 > 0:07:17Not at all, it was something completely different.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20I felt as if I was doing something useful for a change.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23My father was in the Army, my husband was in the Army.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26I felt as if I was supporting them.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29Can you remember your first impressions of the factory
0:07:29 > 0:07:32- when you saw it?- I was horrified!
0:07:32 > 0:07:37I was issued with a big, white boiler suit that fit where it touched.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41'The fuselage parts are assembled in big frames they call jigs.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44'You can get some idea now of the size of the bomber.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47'It's almost 65ft long.'
0:07:47 > 0:07:50Women were of course absolutely vital.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54First to the war effort as a whole, and secondly in aircraft production.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57A lot of them proved very good at what they did.
0:07:57 > 0:08:04Britain mobilised women arguably more effectively than any other wartime nation except possibly the Russians.
0:08:04 > 0:08:09The main assembly at Broughton Aircraft, it was a huge space without any columns.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12Were you good at electrics?
0:08:12 > 0:08:17I didn't know one end of a screwdriver from the other when I got there!
0:08:17 > 0:08:18No.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20I am now.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22What was the training like?
0:08:22 > 0:08:25For the first three weeks, I never slept.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27Then all of a sudden, it all slotted into place.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31- Did you have to pass a test at the end of it?- Oh, yes.
0:08:31 > 0:08:35Everything was inspected and, if it wasn't right, you had to go back and do it again.
0:08:35 > 0:08:41'Here is Evelyn Coates, an inspectress who used to work in a draper's shop.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45'She told me at this point that she had found no faults at all.'
0:08:45 > 0:08:48Boys as young as 14 worked on the production line.
0:08:48 > 0:08:54Bill Anderson, who worked at Broughton until he was 64, first came here when he was 14.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58War seemed nothing to fear, simply a new experience.
0:08:58 > 0:09:03My father was an ARP warden. When they started dropping incendiaries,
0:09:03 > 0:09:08we used to go for a bucket of sand to extinguish the incendiaries.
0:09:08 > 0:09:13I think we were charging 6p for buckets of sand and they were quite grateful for it, really.
0:09:13 > 0:09:17We used to go potato picking, you'd get let off from school.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19Then of a weekend, you'd go collecting rosehips.
0:09:19 > 0:09:25- They were used for rosehip syrups, that was for babies. - All helping the war effort?
0:09:25 > 0:09:28It was all helping the war, but it was a game to us.
0:09:28 > 0:09:34'These volunteer workers are giving the bonus they are earning today to the Red Cross Aid to Russia Fund.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37'They're out to break that 30-hour record they've set themselves.'
0:09:37 > 0:09:39I started here straight from school.
0:09:39 > 0:09:41There were a lot of women here.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45They mothered you, if you like.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48What was the job that you were first shown how to do?
0:09:48 > 0:09:51The main wing spar was in two pieces.
0:09:51 > 0:09:57We had to join them together - they didn't use bolts, they had a type of long pins.
0:09:57 > 0:10:02The basic tool in those days was a copper hammer with a hide end
0:10:02 > 0:10:07that we used to knock these pins in. Then they were inspected.
0:10:07 > 0:10:12'In the wing assembly, there is more activity under the eagle eyes of the inspectors.
0:10:12 > 0:10:17'Though you may not think they're working fast, the progress they are making speaks for itself.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21'It's only 10 o'clock - one hour from the starting time.
0:10:21 > 0:10:25'Grace Whalley and Hilda Dodd are doing a man's job of work,
0:10:25 > 0:10:26'assembling the bomber's cabin heater.'
0:10:26 > 0:10:32Hilda Dodd's peacetime job was in the local photographic shop.
0:10:32 > 0:10:37I was taught how to make the fuselage and bomb floors.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39Was the factory ever bombed?
0:10:39 > 0:10:42We had two lights up in the ceiling.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44One was amber and one red.
0:10:44 > 0:10:48Then one night, the red light came up.
0:10:48 > 0:10:50Everything went dark.
0:10:51 > 0:10:56We were told to all link hands and go outside, and there were some air raid shelters.
0:10:56 > 0:11:01And as we were going down, I happened to look to the left
0:11:01 > 0:11:03and I could see some planes on fire.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06They'd dropped some incendiaries.
0:11:06 > 0:11:11Well, I was frightened. Well, I think the majority of us were scared.
0:11:11 > 0:11:13But we were all right down in the shelters.
0:11:13 > 0:11:20There was just, like, wooden seats and you could all sit around and talk and sing.
0:11:20 > 0:11:22What sort of stuff did you sing?
0:11:22 > 0:11:25Oh, the old stuff, Gracie Fields.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28# Sing as we go and let the world go by
0:11:28 > 0:11:33# Singing a song We march along the highway... #
0:11:33 > 0:11:38'Back in the main assembly, the wooden floor is fitted to the fuselage.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41'Notice how everything fits with precision.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45'There's no bullying the parts together - one fits willingly with the other.
0:11:45 > 0:11:49'The forward bulkhead frame goes in, and then the pilot's seat,
0:11:49 > 0:11:51'control column and the cockpit floor, all in one unit.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54'And how's the time going?
0:11:54 > 0:11:58'Well, they've been working 1 hour and 17 minutes.'
0:11:58 > 0:12:00- You were working long hours? - Oh, yes, 12 hours.
0:12:00 > 0:12:078 till 8. It was dark when we went out of a morning and dark when you got home at night.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10When I didn't go on the work's bus,
0:12:10 > 0:12:14sometimes I used to have a lift with a chappie from Greasby,
0:12:14 > 0:12:19and we used to call at a farm on the way back,
0:12:19 > 0:12:24and he used to get a few dozen eggs, because we only had one a week then.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27And he used to break three and swallow them whole.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31But they must've been black-market eggs, mustn't they?
0:12:31 > 0:12:34There was rationing at that time, of course. Did you...?
0:12:34 > 0:12:36Rationing...
0:12:36 > 0:12:40All I can remember of the canteen were the chips and the rice pudding.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44It was all right until we went in the canteen early one night
0:12:44 > 0:12:48and all the chips were all ready to be finished, you know?
0:12:48 > 0:12:53And there was a cat sleeping on the top of them, so we took a dislike to the chips after that.
0:12:53 > 0:12:58'Testing the flaps on the wings is Eva Williams, a nurse by profession,
0:12:58 > 0:13:01'testing fractures in tubes instead of in bones.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04'The short dark girl assembling the ailerons
0:13:04 > 0:13:07'is 23-year-old Evelyn Homewood, whose husband is in the Royal Air Force.'
0:13:07 > 0:13:13In a way, it was a job, but we were working for the boys.
0:13:13 > 0:13:15You were patriotic.
0:13:15 > 0:13:17Well, I was, for one, anyway.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21Well, they were fighting for a cause. And that makes a difference.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24Everybody had somebody in the war.
0:13:24 > 0:13:30They had somebody in the forces, so it was worth fighting for, to see them home again.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33Unfortunately, a lot didn't come home.
0:13:33 > 0:13:38Hilda Dodd's husband Percy was in the Royal Navy on minesweepers.
0:13:38 > 0:13:40Tell me about how you met him.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43Through a friend that worked in the factory.
0:13:43 > 0:13:49We went to a dance and she introduced us and she said, "He can't dance."
0:13:49 > 0:13:53I said, "I'll ignore him." So I ignored him all night.
0:13:53 > 0:13:55But we made up after.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57Did you dance with him eventually?
0:13:57 > 0:14:01Well... Well, you couldn't call it dancing.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04It was like taking a wheelbarrow round a room.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08And then I found out after he was going for dancing lessons.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11He got called up to go in the Navy.
0:14:11 > 0:14:18It was all done in a rush and he said, "I haven't time to go and buy the ring with you."
0:14:18 > 0:14:21So I went and picked the ring myself.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24And then I never saw him again for three-and a-half years.
0:14:24 > 0:14:29My dad was in the 4th Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers,
0:14:29 > 0:14:32and Harry was called up to the 6th Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35Tell me about the wedding and your honeymoon, then?
0:14:35 > 0:14:38He came home on the Saturday, we went to see the vicar on the Sunday,
0:14:38 > 0:14:44we were married on the Wednesday and he went back on the Sunday and I didn't see him again for two years.
0:14:45 > 0:14:51Percy Dodd blew up the mines that threatened the convoys he was protecting.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54He was up and down the Mediterranean to Malta.
0:14:54 > 0:15:01I used to say my prayers every night and very often during the day when I was working, hoping he was all right.
0:15:01 > 0:15:03I was very lucky he came back.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06I mean, a lot didn't.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09'There's our chief cameraman...'
0:15:09 > 0:15:13It is 80 minutes since the attempt began.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15The Airborne Division went out to North Africa,
0:15:15 > 0:15:19the Glider Pilot Regiment landed on Sicily
0:15:19 > 0:15:23and they came back to this country with some of the Parachute Regiment.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27But the part my husband was in, they went into Italy and then they liberated Greece,
0:15:27 > 0:15:31so that's why I didn't see Harry for two years.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34- You wore a badge? - Oh, my little naval badge.
0:15:34 > 0:15:39He bought me that before he went. No matter where I went, I pinned it on.
0:15:39 > 0:15:41That was part of him.
0:15:41 > 0:15:45- He gave me that, so I always had that with me.- Even at work?
0:15:45 > 0:15:48Oh, yes, I never went without that.
0:15:48 > 0:15:52'At 10.27, the foreman gives the word and into the framework of the aircraft
0:15:52 > 0:15:57'pile the electrical workers armed with the tricks and the tools of their intricate trade.'
0:15:57 > 0:16:03It wasn't hard work, it was fiddling, connecting wires and things up.
0:16:03 > 0:16:04You had to be very careful.
0:16:04 > 0:16:09'Construction went on and the inspectors beamed with satisfaction.'
0:16:09 > 0:16:13Bob Wilson was superintendent of the production line that weekend.
0:16:13 > 0:16:19He recalled elaborate preparations for the record-breaking attempt, a certain amount of pre-assembly.
0:16:19 > 0:16:26The electric wiring and all that was done along the panel before the fuselage was built.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28You just had to drop it in?
0:16:28 > 0:16:30Right.
0:16:30 > 0:16:32Sharp practice was that?
0:16:33 > 0:16:36Exactly.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39Sounds good, that, doesn't it?
0:16:39 > 0:16:42How did you organise the production line?
0:16:42 > 0:16:45You didn't have to, the people knew what to do.
0:16:45 > 0:16:50'At 1.45 in the afternoon, the main fuselage is ready to come out of the jig.
0:16:50 > 0:16:52'In the stitching and doping section,
0:16:52 > 0:16:59'the four great sections which give the bomber its 80ft wingspan are now being covered with fabric.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01'Flashing fingers and winking needles.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05'One wrong move, the needle would hit metal and the point would break.'
0:17:05 > 0:17:10Constance and Ben Mottram were courting during the war and married in 1947.
0:17:10 > 0:17:17Constance sewed linen for the rudders of Wellingtons in what had been a small car factory nearby.
0:17:17 > 0:17:18She worked the night shift.
0:17:18 > 0:17:24My auntie always had breakfast ready when I got in from work the next morning,
0:17:24 > 0:17:29and then afterwards, after I'd had breakfast, I'd brush my teeth,
0:17:29 > 0:17:32wash, freshen, and then I'd spend the rest of the day in bed
0:17:32 > 0:17:34until it was time to go to work.
0:17:34 > 0:17:39It must've been a very long night for them, all the girls, mustn't it?
0:17:39 > 0:17:4212-hour nights, sewing all night long.
0:17:42 > 0:17:49There were a number of mines around the Broughton factory, producing coal to fuel the British war effort.
0:17:49 > 0:17:55Coal miners were exempt from military service, and Ben Mottram worked at the Llay Main Colliery.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59It started mining coal in 1921.
0:17:59 > 0:18:01My father worked there.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04And he was there at the sinking of the pit itself.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06It was the deepest in Europe.
0:18:06 > 0:18:08In Europe. That's deep.
0:18:08 > 0:18:12It was as deep as Snowdon is in height.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15When you're putting an aeroplane together, Connie,
0:18:15 > 0:18:21how did you identify the different screws and that sort of thing?
0:18:21 > 0:18:23When the plane was put together,
0:18:23 > 0:18:28it would be in the flight shed, across another field.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30And where I worked, it was just components.
0:18:30 > 0:18:35They were put on a shelf for us to part number, to engrave,
0:18:35 > 0:18:40and we put the number onto the parts that were going to go onto the aircraft.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44They produced them pretty fast. They used to take them from the factory
0:18:44 > 0:18:48and they'd put one in one place and another in another place.
0:18:48 > 0:18:53They wouldn't put them all together because if there were raids, they would all have been bombed.
0:18:53 > 0:18:58They also placed decoy lights on the hills above Ben's home
0:18:58 > 0:19:02to divert German bombers looking for the factory.
0:19:02 > 0:19:08They were bombing the mountains over here, which was alight for months and months on end.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11They thought they'd got the factory, but they hadn't.
0:19:11 > 0:19:17'The fabric is bonded to the metal frame by about 8,000 tiny bolts, and stitches tidy up the edges.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21'Eight stitches to the inch, and that's a whole lot of sewing you're looking at.'
0:19:21 > 0:19:27You had to be careful when you were sewing that the stitches didn't alter the tension.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29Eight stitches to the inch.
0:19:29 > 0:19:33On one occasion, I slipped up
0:19:33 > 0:19:36and my stitches had gone bigger,
0:19:36 > 0:19:39and the examiner wouldn't pass it.
0:19:39 > 0:19:46If the wind should get through that, it could start to tear, so that was no good.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49It had to be perfect.
0:19:49 > 0:19:54- So what happened?- I had to have it all back and unpick it.
0:19:54 > 0:19:56I'll never forget that.
0:19:56 > 0:19:58It took such a long while!
0:19:58 > 0:20:04About 6,000 people were working on the Broughton production line, half of them women.
0:20:04 > 0:20:09The immediate boss over the main assembly was a woman, Miss Littler.
0:20:09 > 0:20:14- What was she like?- Rather large... There's a little pub just outside the factory
0:20:14 > 0:20:18where we used to go for a drink, and she used to sit there and drink pints.
0:20:18 > 0:20:24I never saw her in a skirt. She'd always got trousers on. But she was very fair.
0:20:24 > 0:20:30I was given a young girl to train to do my job, and I had her for a month,
0:20:30 > 0:20:34and it was like knocking sense into a wooden door.
0:20:34 > 0:20:38There was nothing there, and she was holding me back.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42So I complained to the foreman and he said I had to put up with it.
0:20:42 > 0:20:44So I went to Miss Littler.
0:20:44 > 0:20:48I won't tell you what she said, because she wasn't very...
0:20:48 > 0:20:51fussy about what language she used!
0:20:51 > 0:20:53Well, give me the blanks, then.
0:20:53 > 0:20:57"Get rid of this so and so girl, she's holding this one back.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00"We can't have things like that, not these days."
0:21:00 > 0:21:03- Because there was a war to win. - There was a war to win.
0:21:03 > 0:21:09'Back at the fuselage out of the tail, Vera Butler and her sister Joan work together all the time.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13'Vera was a lady's companion before she started building bombers two years ago.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17'Here is the process of weatherproofing and strengthening the fabric'.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20They used to go over it with this red dope.
0:21:20 > 0:21:24I think it was about seven coats of dope and camouflage that went on the top.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28When it was finished, it was like a drum.
0:21:28 > 0:21:34Just...strong enough to take the wind and whatever when it was flying.
0:21:34 > 0:21:39There was girls sewing, and there was men spraying them with dope.
0:21:39 > 0:21:43- What did it smell like? - To me, pear drops or nail varnish.
0:21:43 > 0:21:47If you do smell nail varnish, it takes you back.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49AIR-RAID SIREN WAILS
0:21:49 > 0:21:55For Hilda Dodd and the rest, there were often long walks home at the end of a 12-hour shift,
0:21:55 > 0:21:58in the dark and sometimes during an air raid.
0:21:58 > 0:22:00I was with my dad in the street.
0:22:00 > 0:22:06This very bright orange light came slowly down, and the policeman across the road shouted,
0:22:06 > 0:22:11"Frank, get down on the floor!" And my dad said, "Go on."
0:22:11 > 0:22:17I said, "I can't, I've got a new dress on. My mother will go mad." "Get down!"
0:22:17 > 0:22:20And he lay on top of me,
0:22:20 > 0:22:25and this light kept coming and then, all of a sudden, there was a terrific explosion.
0:22:27 > 0:22:32And all that you could hear was glass tinkling everywhere.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36And I can see one dear soul now. She had her corset
0:22:36 > 0:22:42tucked under her arm, covered in soot, and they were crying. They were frightened.
0:22:42 > 0:22:47And we were like, "Come on in," and herding them all in the air raid shelter.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50It was a dreadful night.
0:22:52 > 0:22:57'This is Phyllis Evans, who was in service as a maid before the war.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00'She is one of them fitting the fabric covering over the framework.'
0:23:00 > 0:23:04What did you feel about Germans at that time?
0:23:04 > 0:23:10Well, you wanted to beat them, didn't you? Well, I did.
0:23:10 > 0:23:11My dad used to go mad.
0:23:11 > 0:23:17I used to listen to Lord Haw-Haw, and he used to frighten me to death.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20'The Royal Air Force is too weak.
0:23:20 > 0:23:26'The Royal Navy is too weak. And as yet, the common sense
0:23:26 > 0:23:31'of the British people is too weak to perceive the catastrophic nature
0:23:31 > 0:23:37'of the plight into which they have allowed Churchill to lead them.'
0:23:37 > 0:23:40I used to think, "I wish I could get hold of him.
0:23:40 > 0:23:42"What I would do to him," you know?
0:23:42 > 0:23:45'Germany calling, Germany calling.'
0:23:45 > 0:23:48He was very sarky with it, you know.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51I used to think, "How does he get to know all this?"
0:23:51 > 0:23:55And my dad used to say, "If you don't stop listening to that man..."
0:23:55 > 0:23:59and he'd take the little wireless and switch it off.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01"Wasting good battery."
0:24:01 > 0:24:05On happier thoughts, what did you like on the radio?
0:24:05 > 0:24:08I used to love Arthur Askey.
0:24:08 > 0:24:09Anything with a laugh.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13I used to enjoy Workers' Playtime.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16That came on every day.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19It was bright, and it was dance music.
0:24:19 > 0:24:24And one night, I was lucky to see Tommy Handley in ITMA.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28It's That Man Again. Listening to him on the wireless, I used to love it.
0:24:28 > 0:24:36All right, any more for Ogshot, Bagshot, Beaufort, Hookum, Duckum and Farham?
0:24:36 > 0:24:39Now, now, come, come, don't dilly dally!
0:24:39 > 0:24:42No time for letting off steam.
0:24:45 > 0:24:52To entertain the production line and to improve morale, the BBC broadcast lively dance tunes every day.
0:24:52 > 0:24:56They called it, appropriately, Music While You Work.
0:24:56 > 0:24:58What was your favourite music at that time?
0:24:58 > 0:25:01I liked Ivor Novello and those sort of things.
0:25:01 > 0:25:05And we had a show occasionally in the canteen at lunchtime.
0:25:05 > 0:25:09Different artists used to come and quite a lot of people in the factory
0:25:09 > 0:25:12did singing or dancing or whatever.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15We had these little shows at lunchtime.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18- Did you?- No. I'm too shy.
0:25:18 > 0:25:23'It's a habit in this factory to rather brazenly autograph one's work.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26'So we know that Blondie has had something to do with this bomber.'
0:25:26 > 0:25:29How they ever flew, I never knew,
0:25:29 > 0:25:32because they were only aluminium and linen.
0:25:33 > 0:25:39If you stepped off the catwalk up the middle of the plane, your foot went straight through!
0:25:39 > 0:25:43I never knew how they got off the ground. Dear me.
0:25:43 > 0:25:47'A tiny brunette, Eva Powell, who runs a crane away up there under the roof girders,
0:25:47 > 0:25:52'brings an engine the length of the shop and gently lowers it to what they call the power egg.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55'It looks like an egg, at that.
0:25:55 > 0:25:59'Norman Martin over there was once third officer
0:25:59 > 0:26:00'on the pleasure liner Rawalpindi,
0:26:00 > 0:26:02'before she was converted to a merchant cruiser.
0:26:02 > 0:26:06'Norman has been working on this type of engine for quite a time,
0:26:06 > 0:26:08'and thinks it's the finest in the world.'
0:26:08 > 0:26:11Norman Martin died in 1975.
0:26:11 > 0:26:18His son, Richard, had no idea that his father had worked on this record-breaking Wellington LN514.
0:26:18 > 0:26:22I remember him telling me that the roof cranes in the factory were all driven by women,
0:26:22 > 0:26:27which was unusual for that time, but I suppose that was born out of necessity.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30I remember him telling me that he had a Ford 8
0:26:30 > 0:26:35and, driving there in the blackout one night, he crashed into a cow.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39The cow was all right, but it didn't do the Ford 8 any good.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43- Did he get to work? - Well, one assumes so.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47He was British. So yes, he got to work.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51Did he talk to you about the record attempt?
0:26:51 > 0:26:55To be honest, no, but I did find a newspaper cutting he'd kept about it,
0:26:55 > 0:27:00albeit very tatty, but it is the newspaper cutting about that attempt.
0:27:00 > 0:27:07I'm surprised that he never talked about it, but then I suppose, during the war, you didn't talk about it.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11- What was security like? - It was pretty strict.
0:27:11 > 0:27:18Even when we got our wages, the Home Guard used to stand there with their rifles while you got paid your money.
0:27:18 > 0:27:25Sometimes workers had to be escorted on to the airfield to the aircraft to correct last minute faults.
0:27:25 > 0:27:29They used to take us out with an Alsatian dog, the special police.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31We called them the Gestapo.
0:27:31 > 0:27:37And we used to do our jobs and they used to escort us back, because they were all so secret.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42'The time has come to bring the component parts together.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46'This means that the various departments are delivering their finished sections
0:27:46 > 0:27:50'to the main assembly. Now we'll see it take shape as a bomber.
0:27:50 > 0:27:54'The fuselage is trundled down the factory at 6.15 in the evening,
0:27:54 > 0:27:57'9 hours and 15 minutes after the start.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00'The cranes come lumbering overhead with the power eggs,
0:28:00 > 0:28:04'which are gently and firmly lowered into place and connected up.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06'Next, the tail surfaces,
0:28:06 > 0:28:10'the elevators and tailfin are lowered and connected.
0:28:10 > 0:28:14'Each part is installed by a swiftly moving expert team'.
0:28:14 > 0:28:19We had people bussed from Liverpool, from Warrington, from Wrexham.
0:28:19 > 0:28:22As far as you were concerned, you were doing something
0:28:22 > 0:28:25to throw the bombs back at them, what they'd been throwing at you.
0:28:25 > 0:28:28So there was that comradeship.
0:28:28 > 0:28:31Were there occasions when people simply didn't turn up for work?
0:28:31 > 0:28:35Yes. There was a government department within the factory,
0:28:35 > 0:28:39and you had to fill an excuse form in and say what it was.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42But if people persistently were absent?
0:28:42 > 0:28:46- They used to fine them.- Fine them? - Yeah, prosecute them.
0:28:46 > 0:28:48Some workers in some factories were very brave
0:28:48 > 0:28:51and hard-working, but quite a lot weren't.
0:28:51 > 0:28:54There was an amazing number of strikes.
0:28:54 > 0:28:58It was a hangover from the 1930s and 1920s.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01Industrial relations in Britain had been disastrous.
0:29:01 > 0:29:03Management had been pretty poor too.
0:29:03 > 0:29:07A lot of workers who had suffered through the Depression,
0:29:07 > 0:29:11when the war came and their services were desperately needed,
0:29:11 > 0:29:16they couldn't see why the fact that we were fighting a war should stop them from using their opportunity
0:29:16 > 0:29:19to get higher wages, to impose their demands.
0:29:19 > 0:29:23Churchill was absolutely appalled by a lot of what went on in the factories.
0:29:23 > 0:29:25Newspaper tycoon Lord Beaverbrook,
0:29:25 > 0:29:28as Britain's Minister of Aircraft Production,
0:29:28 > 0:29:32warned Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the winter of 1940,
0:29:32 > 0:29:34as these War Cabinet papers reveal,
0:29:34 > 0:29:40that "the cumulative effect of enemy bombing is making itself felt on our production lines".
0:29:40 > 0:29:42They were becoming "very thin".
0:29:42 > 0:29:47I remember Lord Beaverbrook just walked round the factory and out.
0:29:47 > 0:29:49Usual thing.
0:29:49 > 0:29:53And Churchill was on the phone to the factory all the while.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56Beaverbrook also warned about absenteeism,
0:29:56 > 0:30:01the length of time production line workers spent in air-raid shelters,
0:30:01 > 0:30:04and the morale of the workforce.
0:30:04 > 0:30:09We had some people directed down from Scotland under the Labour Act at the time.
0:30:09 > 0:30:11One or two didn't like it.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14I don't know how they got on, but they weren't there for long.
0:30:14 > 0:30:15They were shifted out.
0:30:15 > 0:30:20Everything was done to keep the men and women at work on the production line.
0:30:20 > 0:30:22To help you stay in the factory,
0:30:22 > 0:30:24we had our own dentist there.
0:30:24 > 0:30:26We even had our own barber there.
0:30:26 > 0:30:29So you could never get a pass out to go and have a haircut.
0:30:29 > 0:30:32We had a good surgery, with a doctor.
0:30:32 > 0:30:36- And that was to keep you on the production line? - Keep you on the production line.
0:30:36 > 0:30:40'This is the bomb beam, like a compact miniature bridge.
0:30:40 > 0:30:44'Look at the speed with which they set the bulletproof petrol tanks into the main plane.'
0:30:44 > 0:30:48They had these special tanks that used to go in. They were bulletproof. Self-sealing, actually.
0:30:48 > 0:30:53'When this is done, the overhead crane picks up the wings and sweeps them into position,
0:30:53 > 0:30:55'where skilful hands guide them into place.
0:30:55 > 0:30:59'Now the bomber is complete, with its 80ft wingspan.
0:30:59 > 0:31:03'It won't be long now before this bomber is loaded with an outward-bound cargo for Germany,
0:31:03 > 0:31:04'at the rate they're going.'
0:31:04 > 0:31:10Tiny Cooling flew 67 missions in Bomber Command, most of them on Wellingtons.
0:31:10 > 0:31:15In the air, that was where it belonged, and where you belonged in it.
0:31:15 > 0:31:18And between you, you revelled in it.
0:31:18 > 0:31:25He flew a Wellington over Dunkirk to protect the retreating British troops in 1940.
0:31:25 > 0:31:28I remember peering down and looking at the battleground underneath.
0:31:28 > 0:31:33You made damn sure to keep well clear of anywhere where our own troops were.
0:31:34 > 0:31:38He flew his Wellington over the occupied Channel ports,
0:31:38 > 0:31:41as the Germans then prepared to invade Britain.
0:31:41 > 0:31:43They were basically river ports,
0:31:43 > 0:31:47assembly places like Rotterdam, where the barges would assemble.
0:31:47 > 0:31:53And, really, what you were looking down at was an expanse of water in the quasi-moonlight.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57And if there was any movement, you went for that.
0:32:01 > 0:32:06It is 11 hours and 23 minutes since the record-breaking attempt began.
0:32:06 > 0:32:08'The night workers arrive.
0:32:08 > 0:32:13'At the same time, another crew is fitting the starboard propeller.
0:32:13 > 0:32:15'The workers are beginning to make bets.
0:32:15 > 0:32:19'After all, there are still 17 hours and 20 minutes to go
0:32:19 > 0:32:21'in that 30-hour mark they've set themselves'.
0:32:21 > 0:32:24Eileen Lindfield worked the night shift.
0:32:24 > 0:32:30She had unofficial uses for any discarded felt left over from the fuselage covering.
0:32:30 > 0:32:36The Irish linen they covered the planes with, it didn't reach from one end of the plane to the other.
0:32:36 > 0:32:42They just threw it down on the floor, and it was very sought after for curtains and everything.
0:32:42 > 0:32:45We used to make slippers out of it.
0:32:45 > 0:32:47Nobody could buy anything.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50It was all on coupons, and slippers were a luxury.
0:32:50 > 0:32:53When people say they're hard-up now and go without,
0:32:53 > 0:32:57they don't know what the meaning of the word is.
0:32:57 > 0:33:02The hardships people went through in the war - there was no water bottles, no cameras.
0:33:02 > 0:33:07Everything was on coupons. It didn't matter how much money you had, you couldn't buy anything,
0:33:07 > 0:33:10because it was all for the war, you know.
0:33:10 > 0:33:12'Ivy Bennett caught my eye.
0:33:12 > 0:33:16'I noticed her because she was wearing a very sheer pink chiffon blouse.
0:33:16 > 0:33:21'I remarked on it, but Ivy grinned and said she'd come away from a party in a hurry
0:33:21 > 0:33:23'so that she could get on this night shift
0:33:23 > 0:33:26'and help to make this record-breaking bomber.'
0:33:26 > 0:33:31- Do you remember going to dances and that sort of thing? - Yeah, we did in the war, yes.
0:33:31 > 0:33:34If the men were on leave, they were all in their uniform.
0:33:34 > 0:33:40Were there any liaisons that the husbands might have frowned upon?
0:33:40 > 0:33:44Well, I suppose so, but I don't think I got into any mischief.
0:33:44 > 0:33:47We didn't have a lot of time, really.
0:33:47 > 0:33:50We had the Miners Welfare Institute in Llay.
0:33:50 > 0:33:52We had dances at the weekends.
0:33:52 > 0:33:56But I couldn't misbehave, because my mother was always in the kitchen making tea.
0:33:56 > 0:33:58SHE LAUGHS
0:33:58 > 0:34:03She was always there, and I had to come home with her, so I couldn't misbehave if I wanted to.
0:34:03 > 0:34:08- I'm sure you didn't want to. - No, I didn't. No, I didn't. I was a good girl.
0:34:08 > 0:34:10'The rear turret arrives on a portable crane.
0:34:10 > 0:34:13'Robert Davies skilfully guides it into place.'
0:34:13 > 0:34:15There was no idleness.
0:34:15 > 0:34:17You got on with your jobs.
0:34:17 > 0:34:20Even lavatory breaks were strictly rationed.
0:34:20 > 0:34:25There was a lady in charge, and you were allowed six minutes.
0:34:25 > 0:34:29If you were longer than that, she'd come and bang on the door.
0:34:29 > 0:34:31"Come on, your time's up!"
0:34:31 > 0:34:36One time, I wanted to go to a dance, which was not very often,
0:34:36 > 0:34:40and you didn't get your hair set, or anything, then.
0:34:40 > 0:34:42So I thought, "What can I do?"
0:34:42 > 0:34:47So I took a comb and a little mirror in my overall pocket,
0:34:47 > 0:34:51and I flushed the toilet twice to make sure the water was clean,
0:34:51 > 0:34:56and I dipped my comb in, and I was setting my hair.
0:34:56 > 0:34:59So I had to pretend I'd been to the toilet, but I hadn't.
0:34:59 > 0:35:01Did she bang on the door?
0:35:01 > 0:35:06Oh, yes. "Come on, your time's up! Out you come!"
0:35:06 > 0:35:10But she didn't know what I'd been doing. She hadn't twigged.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14'Before our unbelieving eyes, the bomber really looks like an aircraft.
0:35:14 > 0:35:20'Ernest Tootle, who used to be a coach painter, applies the RAF roundel on the fuselage and wing.
0:35:20 > 0:35:24'I don't know where he gets that steady hand at three in the morning,
0:35:24 > 0:35:26'for you'll notice that he does it freehand.
0:35:26 > 0:35:29Ernest Tootle worked on Wellingtons throughout the war.
0:35:29 > 0:35:33He nearly lost his life in one of them, as his son Peter remembers.
0:35:33 > 0:35:36He'd been working inside the bomb hatch.
0:35:36 > 0:35:40The bomb hatch was closed up, and he was working inside it.
0:35:40 > 0:35:43And this plane was off down the runway with him in the bomb hatch.
0:35:43 > 0:35:47He went for a few circles round the aerodrome in the bomb hatch!
0:35:47 > 0:35:49Can you tell me what he said?
0:35:49 > 0:35:52Well, I couldn't remember the exact words, but...
0:35:52 > 0:35:56there were a lot of stars and asterisks involved!
0:35:56 > 0:35:59I don't know whether he thought he was going to die,
0:35:59 > 0:36:03but he was quite explicit with some of the things that he said.
0:36:03 > 0:36:07Ernest's grandson James now works in the same hangar
0:36:07 > 0:36:11in which his grandfather built Wellingtons all those years ago.
0:36:11 > 0:36:17James helps to build the wings of the giant, hi tech Airbus.
0:36:17 > 0:36:20I'm a manufacturing shop support engineer.
0:36:20 > 0:36:24It's providing support to the operators manufacturing the wings.
0:36:24 > 0:36:28If they have any problems, they come to us about issues they might have -
0:36:28 > 0:36:32if they've drilled holes in the wrong positions, oversized holes.
0:36:32 > 0:36:35When you're on your placements around the factory,
0:36:35 > 0:36:40you get to see the billet of aluminium that the wing starts from, from start to end.
0:36:40 > 0:36:45It's strange at Broughton, because you're just seeing a wing. You don't see the complete aircraft.
0:36:45 > 0:36:49It'd be nice to see something from start to finish.
0:36:49 > 0:36:56The Broughton factory is the British partner in the long-established European Airbus project.
0:36:56 > 0:37:01It also involves factories in Spain and Germany and France.
0:37:01 > 0:37:06Once the wings are built here at Broughton, they're transported by air and road
0:37:06 > 0:37:12to be assembled into the complete aircraft at Toulouse in France.
0:37:12 > 0:37:17Does it ever cross your mind that your grandfather used to build Wellington bombers in this place?
0:37:17 > 0:37:23It was funny, cos a few weeks back, it was mentioned about the 24-hour bomber that was made.
0:37:23 > 0:37:27But you can imagine now how different the factory is compared to what it was then.
0:37:27 > 0:37:30'At half past ten at night,
0:37:30 > 0:37:35'the landing wheels are installed - wheels 4.5ft high that weigh 300lb.
0:37:35 > 0:37:39'Meanwhile, further inspections are taking place
0:37:39 > 0:37:42'and checked off on the progress charts as each detail is OK'd.'
0:37:43 > 0:37:48Wilf Williams was 16 when he first enrolled at the Broughton factory.
0:37:48 > 0:37:53That weekend, he'd worked all day Saturday on Wellington LN514.
0:37:53 > 0:38:00I came in at the second stage, after the fabric had been put over the fuselage.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03I went home at 3 o'clock on Saturday afternoon.
0:38:03 > 0:38:05On the Sunday morning,
0:38:05 > 0:38:08I was very surprised to find it had left the production line
0:38:08 > 0:38:10and gone into the running shed.
0:38:10 > 0:38:15'As the clock at the end of the assembly line points to 3.20,
0:38:15 > 0:38:17'a tractor tows the bomber to the running shed.
0:38:17 > 0:38:21'This is a is huge area at the end of the production line
0:38:21 > 0:38:24'where final inspections and the first engine tests are made.'
0:38:24 > 0:38:29Curiously, in an affair that mainly concerned Britain's Fighter Command,
0:38:29 > 0:38:31the Wellington heavy bomber, unintentionally,
0:38:31 > 0:38:35was to play a vital role in the Battle of Britain.
0:38:37 > 0:38:41In the summer of 1940, when Britain and the Commonwealth stood alone and at bay
0:38:41 > 0:38:45against the apparently irresistible might of Nazi Germany,
0:38:45 > 0:38:49the Luftwaffe were weakening the RAF's Fighter Command
0:38:49 > 0:38:52by bombing its airfields and radar stations,
0:38:52 > 0:38:55and sometimes catching the fighters as they climbed to meet them.
0:38:55 > 0:38:59The Luftwaffe brought Fighter Command in the southeast of England
0:38:59 > 0:39:06very, very close to the edge of defeat by its attacks on airfields and radar stations.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09By late August, things were very, very serious indeed.
0:39:09 > 0:39:15Then, by accident, some German bombs fell on the outskirts of London.
0:39:15 > 0:39:17Churchill was furious.
0:39:17 > 0:39:21Churchill insisted that the RAF MUST retaliate against Berlin.
0:39:21 > 0:39:24And on the night of 24th/25th August,
0:39:24 > 0:39:29the Wellingtons and some Hampdens and Whitleys set out for Berlin.
0:39:32 > 0:39:38Very few of them dropped bombs even anywhere near anything that mattered, but they enraged Hitler.
0:39:38 > 0:39:40INAUDIBLE
0:39:40 > 0:39:46And Hitler, from that moment, insisted that the Luftwaffe shift its aiming point to major British cities
0:39:46 > 0:39:49And it was one of the turning points of the Battle of Britain.
0:39:51 > 0:39:53London suffered terribly.
0:39:53 > 0:39:57The cost to Londoners was enormous, but London could take it.
0:39:59 > 0:40:03Churchill described it as like a great, enormous wounded animal,
0:40:03 > 0:40:08but it could go on receiving punishment, whereas, if the Luftwaffe had gone on attacking
0:40:08 > 0:40:14Fighter Command airfields and radar stations, strategically, this would have been far, far more serious.
0:40:14 > 0:40:17So that RAF raid against Berlin and others that followed
0:40:17 > 0:40:21did have a significant effect on the Battle of Britain.
0:40:22 > 0:40:28It is 18 hours and 20 minutes since work began on Wellington LN514.
0:40:28 > 0:40:30'There is a feeling of high expectancy in the air,
0:40:30 > 0:40:35'for there in front of us is what we think is the fastest job of bomber construction in the world.
0:40:35 > 0:40:37'Now, will it run?'
0:40:39 > 0:40:44They are only two complete Wellington bombers in existence today.
0:40:44 > 0:40:48This one, at the aeronautical museum at Brooklands,
0:40:48 > 0:40:52was rescued from Loch Ness, where she'd crash-landed on December 31st 1940.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59She ditched so gently that the crew were able to walk out onto the wings
0:40:59 > 0:41:04into their rescue dinghies and onto the Scottish shore.
0:41:04 > 0:41:09This aircraft was one of Bomber Command's main strike-force of Wellingtons
0:41:09 > 0:41:11in the early years of the war.
0:41:11 > 0:41:15Bomber Command continued to hit at Berlin and other cities.
0:41:15 > 0:41:18There was a wonderful moment later in the year,
0:41:18 > 0:41:21when the Germans were trying to convince the Russian Foreign Minister, Molotov,
0:41:21 > 0:41:24that the British were beaten, that it was all over,
0:41:24 > 0:41:28and in the middle of a dinner at the Russian embassy,
0:41:28 > 0:41:32suddenly the air-raid siren goes - in Berlin - and they all have to go down to the cellar.
0:41:32 > 0:41:36And Molotov ENRAGED the Germans by saying to them,
0:41:36 > 0:41:38"If the British are really beaten,
0:41:38 > 0:41:41"then why do we have this air-raid alarm? And who is dropping these bombs?"
0:41:41 > 0:41:44And it was probably a Wellington that did it.
0:41:44 > 0:41:49'Like seagulls following a liner, the workers tag after it to continue their jobs.
0:41:49 > 0:41:54'From Ivy Bennett in her chiffon blouse, to George Williams, who is almost blind,
0:41:54 > 0:41:58'every one of these British men and women has given of his best.'
0:41:58 > 0:42:03Have you any idea, Hilda, how many Wellingtons you actually worked on?
0:42:03 > 0:42:06Crikey! No.
0:42:06 > 0:42:11You were doing miles and miles of machine work,
0:42:11 > 0:42:14so you just took each day as it came.
0:42:14 > 0:42:17You just knew it was going towards making a bomber.
0:42:17 > 0:42:20Cos it did make you think, when you were doing them.
0:42:20 > 0:42:24You used to wonder what happened to the bombers. Were they lucky or not?
0:42:24 > 0:42:30Tiny Cooling piloted a Wellington bomber into action 67 times.
0:42:30 > 0:42:34My policy was, when I came up to the target,
0:42:34 > 0:42:37to have a good look around and to see what was going on
0:42:37 > 0:42:43and see which was the hottest place, and go and find one that was the quietest.
0:42:45 > 0:42:50And if it was hot at 10,000ft, I'd drop down to 8,000, or something like that,
0:42:50 > 0:42:53and I used that throughout the war.
0:42:56 > 0:43:03If you were briefed for a particularly hot place, you had this trepidation, a sort of...
0:43:03 > 0:43:08Well, I suppose you might say a windy feeling in the pit of the stomach,
0:43:08 > 0:43:13much like when you were a schoolboy waiting to go and see the dentist.
0:43:13 > 0:43:16But as soon as you got in the aeroplane, it had gone.
0:43:16 > 0:43:20- Do you think that applied to everybody?- I've no idea.
0:43:20 > 0:43:22It's not a thing one talked about.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25- You never discussed fear?- No.
0:43:25 > 0:43:28Did others show fear?
0:43:28 > 0:43:31Not show it, no. Nobody ever showed it.
0:43:31 > 0:43:35'Then, at precisely 15 minutes past six on this Sunday morning,
0:43:35 > 0:43:40'exactly 21 hours and 15 minutes from the start of construction,
0:43:40 > 0:43:42'the bomber is a complete fighting unit
0:43:42 > 0:43:45'and sees the light of the first dawn of its lifetime.'
0:43:45 > 0:43:48Aircrew called the Wellington the Wimpy,
0:43:48 > 0:43:53because there was a legendary cartoon character of that period called J Wellington Wimpy.
0:43:53 > 0:43:55And the Wimpy was a term of terrific affection.
0:43:55 > 0:43:58They loved this aeroplane. They thought it was marvellous.
0:43:58 > 0:44:02'So, like a gallery at a sporting event, the workers stand and watch.
0:44:02 > 0:44:04'Then comes the big moment.
0:44:04 > 0:44:08'The engineer climbs into the cabin and the engines are started up for the first time.'
0:44:11 > 0:44:16I can't think of any occasion when the aircraft let me down.
0:44:16 > 0:44:21There might have been one or two occasions when one got into trouble
0:44:21 > 0:44:23through one's own fault.
0:44:23 > 0:44:30Believe you me, you just sort of let the aircraft take over and it would pull you out.
0:44:30 > 0:44:33Tiny Cooling flew his 67 missions in Wellingtons -
0:44:33 > 0:44:36more than two complete tours of duty -
0:44:36 > 0:44:42between 1939 and 1945 in Europe, Italy and the Middle East.
0:44:42 > 0:44:48In that time, more than 10,000 members of Bomber Command were killed in action.
0:44:48 > 0:44:50You didn't stop to think about that.
0:44:50 > 0:44:52- Why not? - Because it wouldn't happen to you.
0:44:52 > 0:44:57It might happen to the next chap on the next table, but it wouldn't happen to you.
0:44:57 > 0:45:02'We all know that time is racing, but a generator and an airscrew need some last-minute adjustments.
0:45:02 > 0:45:07'And there's a final bit of stitching to do. This holds us up almost two hours.'
0:45:07 > 0:45:11It was one of the toughest and most dangerous jobs in the war.
0:45:11 > 0:45:14To complete a tour of operations, you had to do 30 trips.
0:45:14 > 0:45:17And for a lot of the war,
0:45:17 > 0:45:20Bomber Command was losing about 1 in 20.
0:45:20 > 0:45:25That meant you had a better chance of dying than you did of surviving your 30 trips.
0:45:25 > 0:45:31'Everything has received its final test and OK and the bomber is ready for the takeoff.
0:45:31 > 0:45:35'It's full daylight, and ten minutes to nine in the morning.
0:45:35 > 0:45:38'Ten minutes short of an exact 24-hour day
0:45:38 > 0:45:42'that the finished bomber is rolled out onto the tarmac adjoining the factory.
0:45:42 > 0:45:45'The record is going to be really shattered, and no mistake.'
0:45:54 > 0:46:01In a way of course, in a Wellington bomber, each member of the crew fought a slightly different war,
0:46:01 > 0:46:05because if you think of the rear gunner, he's miles away from you.
0:46:05 > 0:46:09He is, yes. You gave him a shout once in a while to say, "Hi, Tex. You still awake?"
0:46:09 > 0:46:14The wireless operator is wrapped up in wires and earphones
0:46:14 > 0:46:17and God knows what, and never says anything to anybody.
0:46:17 > 0:46:24The navigator's sort of in and out every few minutes with a chitty saying, "Change course to this"
0:46:24 > 0:46:27or, "ETA there," and that sort of business.
0:46:27 > 0:46:34And Bill, my bomb-aimer, was the man who stood beside me in the well whilst I flew
0:46:34 > 0:46:38and who, if I got stiff or needed to pee or something like that,
0:46:38 > 0:46:42I'd say to Bill, "Take over for five minutes, would you?"
0:46:42 > 0:46:46I'd get out of the seat and he'd climb in and he'd fly it for a while.
0:46:46 > 0:46:50And there was this total reliance, one upon the other,
0:46:50 > 0:46:54that you never even questioned their ability to do what you asked them,
0:46:54 > 0:46:57or whether they would give you to the utmost if required.
0:46:57 > 0:47:00Is that a definition of love?
0:47:00 > 0:47:02In a sense, yes.
0:47:02 > 0:47:06In the Shakespearean sense, yes.
0:47:11 > 0:47:14I never cease to be deeply moved
0:47:14 > 0:47:19by what those very young men did and the letters they left behind them.
0:47:19 > 0:47:24In the last year of the war, Tiny Cooling wrote a poem.
0:48:05 > 0:48:08..I dare not look for my own It should be there...
0:48:19 > 0:48:22..Was he 20 when he came into my room
0:48:22 > 0:48:25And cried like a child the night Bob Hewitt died
0:48:25 > 0:48:27Leaving a pregnant wife?
0:48:35 > 0:48:37Naylor was a young navigator.
0:48:37 > 0:48:40And I remember lying in bed one morning -
0:48:40 > 0:48:44I think we'd just come back from a place like Cologne or something -
0:48:44 > 0:48:46and there was a tap on the door,
0:48:46 > 0:48:51and young Naylor walked in and stood at the foot of my bed.
0:48:51 > 0:48:52He just fell to his knees,
0:48:52 > 0:48:58buried his face in the blankets of my bed and cried,
0:48:58 > 0:49:01and I said, "What's up?"
0:49:01 > 0:49:03He said, "Bob Hewitt's missing."
0:49:05 > 0:49:07Everybody liked young Naylor,
0:49:07 > 0:49:09but nobody took the blindest bit of notice of him
0:49:09 > 0:49:13because he didn't look as if he'd been out of his pram
0:49:13 > 0:49:14more than a few days.
0:49:14 > 0:49:17Was there anything you could say to comfort him?
0:49:17 > 0:49:19No, no, no, not really.
0:49:19 > 0:49:23It was just the luck of the game.
0:49:23 > 0:49:27It required a very special kind of courage to fly with Bomber Command.
0:49:27 > 0:49:30In the most literal sense, they died with their shoes clean
0:49:30 > 0:49:36because they had a very cosy, comfortable, cosseted life at their bases in England.
0:49:36 > 0:49:40They were nicely fed. They had bacon and eggs before they took off.
0:49:40 > 0:49:44Some of them were able to live in quarters with their wives.
0:49:44 > 0:49:47And then they would, every night, get in these planes
0:49:47 > 0:49:51and fly out from these calm, still Norfolk and Lincolnshire fields
0:49:51 > 0:49:56into the darkness over Germany, into the whitest teeth of war.
0:50:01 > 0:50:07These brightly coloured lights went shooting past, and there seemed to be lots of them straight ahead,
0:50:07 > 0:50:12and as we got up to them, they seemed to part and let us through.
0:50:12 > 0:50:14Then, all of a sudden, there was a smack.
0:50:14 > 0:50:17Flak guns, night-fighters and searchlights.
0:50:17 > 0:50:20They were seeing their mates being shot down every night.
0:50:20 > 0:50:23I remember calling out to Dougie, "We've been hit."
0:50:23 > 0:50:27And he said, "Where?" And I told him. He said, "Keep an eye on it."
0:50:28 > 0:50:33And they would go through this fantastically intense and terrifying experience for six, eight hours.
0:50:35 > 0:50:40A few minutes later, he said, "Anything to see?" And I said, "No, it's dead quiet."
0:50:40 > 0:50:43He said, "All right, fine. We'll be home in an hour.
0:50:43 > 0:50:45"Wait until we get down and we'll have a look."
0:50:49 > 0:50:51And then they would come back.
0:50:51 > 0:50:55This calm, quiet Lincolnshire or Norfolk airfield.
0:50:55 > 0:50:57I could smell petrol.
0:50:57 > 0:51:02It was dripping from the self-sealing tank on the starboard side.
0:51:02 > 0:51:07And Dougie saying to me, "Oh, we're back in time before the bars close.
0:51:07 > 0:51:11"Come on, I'll buy you a beer to mark your first trip."
0:51:12 > 0:51:15They'd go to the mess, they'd have the bacon and eggs,
0:51:15 > 0:51:18then two nights later, they'd be asked to do the same thing again...
0:51:18 > 0:51:23but usually with two or three less of the crews than had gone out the previous night.
0:51:28 > 0:51:30'Here comes the test pilot,
0:51:30 > 0:51:32'a really amazed man.
0:51:32 > 0:51:35'He was planning to fly the bomber this afternoon.
0:51:35 > 0:51:38'But so fast has this aircraft been completed
0:51:38 > 0:51:42'that they got him out of bed to put the bomber through its paces.'
0:51:42 > 0:51:45I was told that they'd gone to fetch the pilot
0:51:45 > 0:51:48and, obviously, he didn't expect it to be so quick.
0:51:48 > 0:51:52And I think his words were, "I hope to God they haven't missed anything."
0:51:54 > 0:51:57Everything went like clockwork.
0:51:57 > 0:52:01I was really overwhelmed, but I was fascinated as well,
0:52:01 > 0:52:06to think that you could start a plane and then it could go down the line and actually fly.
0:52:06 > 0:52:10We all went out onto the tarmac to watch the scene.
0:52:12 > 0:52:14Everybody was pleased that they'd done it.
0:52:14 > 0:52:18I mean, there were no parties that I can remember, or anything like that, like.
0:52:18 > 0:52:21The whole factory saw it take off. They were all outside to watch it.
0:52:21 > 0:52:25- That must have been quite a moment? - Oh, it was, really.
0:52:25 > 0:52:30'Here it comes. And the bomber is airborne. The record?
0:52:30 > 0:52:31'Yes, they broke it, those workers.'
0:52:31 > 0:52:34What was that moment, when it took off?
0:52:34 > 0:52:37There was a great, big round of applause and shouting.
0:52:37 > 0:52:40He did a few circuits.
0:52:40 > 0:52:42So we were very pleased with that.
0:52:42 > 0:52:44It was a job well done.
0:52:51 > 0:52:54APPLAUSE
0:52:54 > 0:52:58Airbus marked this unique occasion with an official photograph.
0:52:58 > 0:53:01So, on the count of three, let's go for it.
0:53:01 > 0:53:02One, two, three!
0:53:02 > 0:53:05Everybody wave. Now, here's the hard one.
0:53:05 > 0:53:07Wave and smile! OK?
0:53:07 > 0:53:11Wave and smile! Let's go for it. Wave and smile!
0:53:11 > 0:53:18For these people, this was simply a 24-hour snapshot of their lives during World War II.
0:53:18 > 0:53:22But the war was to last six years. Their men came home eventually.
0:53:22 > 0:53:29And for the women who had built Wellington LN514, life changed yet again.
0:53:29 > 0:53:32- Did you continue to work at Broughton?- No.
0:53:34 > 0:53:35I had the sack!
0:53:35 > 0:53:38I was made redundant.
0:53:38 > 0:53:42A few weeks later, they turned over to prefabricated houses.
0:53:42 > 0:53:44The girls that were single, they were kept on.
0:53:44 > 0:53:48- But I was married and I had to finish.- How did you feel about that?
0:53:48 > 0:53:51A bit annoyed, actually.
0:53:51 > 0:53:53I signed on the dole.
0:53:53 > 0:53:58I had dole for three weeks and that's the only thing I've ever had off the government.
0:53:58 > 0:54:02And because I wouldn't go to Bolton to work in the cotton factory, they stopped me dole.
0:54:02 > 0:54:05So what did you do?
0:54:05 > 0:54:08Lived on my Army allowance until Harry came home.
0:54:08 > 0:54:11What was that day like, when he did come home from the war?
0:54:11 > 0:54:13There was no telephones in those days.
0:54:13 > 0:54:17I was outside the local church, watching a wedding.
0:54:17 > 0:54:21And my mother was there, and she went home for something and she said,
0:54:21 > 0:54:25"I think you'd better go home. Harry's at home waiting for you."
0:54:29 > 0:54:33And I got a little cottage ready for when he come home.
0:54:33 > 0:54:39The people he worked for before the war, they got a little estate, and there was two little cottages on it,
0:54:39 > 0:54:42and I had one. It was furnished, ready, when he came home.
0:54:42 > 0:54:44Me dad came home Christmas morning.
0:54:44 > 0:54:47Did either of them ever talk about what they did in the war?
0:54:47 > 0:54:49No.
0:54:49 > 0:54:51Did it affect Harry?
0:54:52 > 0:54:54Never the same again.
0:54:55 > 0:54:59Hilda Dodd's Percy came home in 1944.
0:54:59 > 0:55:02Oh, well, I was over the moon.
0:55:02 > 0:55:04Couldn't believe it, you know?
0:55:04 > 0:55:05It was wonderful.
0:55:05 > 0:55:09It's a very funny feeling after three-and-a-half years
0:55:09 > 0:55:12and then I thought, "I wonder if he's gone off me.
0:55:12 > 0:55:15"Or whether he still likes me!"
0:55:16 > 0:55:19He hadn't altered much, to me.
0:55:19 > 0:55:24He had fair hair, but he was fairer and he was a well-built lad.
0:55:24 > 0:55:30And he came in and he was hungry and he cooked himself egg and bacon,
0:55:30 > 0:55:32and of course when his mum got up -
0:55:32 > 0:55:36"Oh," she said, "I see you've had some breakfast."
0:55:36 > 0:55:38He'd only eaten the whole rations for the week!
0:55:40 > 0:55:42He didn't know!
0:55:42 > 0:55:46Throughout the war, Percy carried with him this photograph of Hilda.
0:55:46 > 0:55:49He brought it back with him at the end of the war?
0:55:49 > 0:55:51Yes. I have the photograph,
0:55:51 > 0:55:55and when he showed it me, I said, "Ooh, it's coloured."
0:55:55 > 0:55:58Because I sent it just ordinary.
0:55:58 > 0:56:01He said, "Yes. Don't ever lose this," he said.
0:56:01 > 0:56:03"I treasure this." I said, "Why?"
0:56:03 > 0:56:07He said, "Well, one of my mates had his hands blown off.
0:56:09 > 0:56:13"He held a brush in his mouth and tinted it up."
0:56:15 > 0:56:18I was very upset about it at the time,
0:56:18 > 0:56:20but I've never parted with it.
0:56:20 > 0:56:22It doesn't seem to lose any of its colour.
0:56:24 > 0:56:30Eileen Lindfield found it hard to adjust to the reappearance in her life of her husband Stan.
0:56:30 > 0:56:36We were so independent, and the women did a man's job and they behaved like men...
0:56:36 > 0:56:41and I think it took us a little while to sort of get going.
0:56:41 > 0:56:44I'm glad I experienced the war,
0:56:44 > 0:56:46but I wouldn't like to think it happening again.
0:56:46 > 0:56:48Nobody wins a war,
0:56:48 > 0:56:50so better without.
0:56:52 > 0:56:56Over a single weekend, from first bolt to last,
0:56:56 > 0:57:01these workers built this Wellington bomber in 10 minutes less than 24 hours.
0:57:01 > 0:57:05They smashed the existing world record by a whole day.
0:57:05 > 0:57:12Wellington LN514 took off 24 hours and 48 minutes into the workers' weekend.
0:57:16 > 0:57:20Tiny Cooling flew HIS Wellington into action over Germany and France,
0:57:20 > 0:57:24Belgium and Egypt, Sicily and Italy, 67 times.
0:57:25 > 0:57:31It was always nice when the word came up from under your feet, saying, "Bomb's gone!"
0:57:33 > 0:57:39The navigator would be up almost before the words were out of Bill's mouth.
0:57:39 > 0:57:41Saying, "Course to steer."
0:57:41 > 0:57:47He'd set us on the compass and you'd weave your way home.
0:57:47 > 0:57:51And you'd see the flare paths flickering ahead,
0:57:51 > 0:57:54and you'd come in on a final approach,
0:57:54 > 0:58:00and that lovely softness as you closed your engines down on finals,
0:58:00 > 0:58:02and felt for the ground.
0:58:02 > 0:58:07And the good old Wimpy just let you down, like a babe on a cushion.
0:58:10 > 0:58:13And that was another one over.
0:58:14 > 0:58:17In all, during World War II,
0:58:17 > 0:58:23British factories turned out 11,461 Wellington bombers.
0:58:47 > 0:58:51Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:51 > 0:58:56E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk