The Factory in World War II
In the period before the outbreak of war extra staff were recruited so that it was possible to go to three shift working and at its peak the staff roll reached 4500. Nevertheless, this was not envisaged to be sufficient and in the late 1930s a second factory, twice the size of RNCF, was constructed in South Wales. This was also seen as being less vulnerable to air attack than Holton Heath.
Despite its position on the south coast the factory was never seriously attacked, although one decoy site was used to good effect one night (click HERE). However the defence of the site meant that workers were expected to do more than just their formal job. Home Guard, fire watching and membership of fire teams was almost universal.
