Luton, Vauxhall Motors c.1955

Photo ref: L117035

More about this scene

The Second World War was a busy time at the Vauxhall car factory. Among other things, the plant was engaged in developing the Churchill tank. The government's appeasement policy before the war meant that there were only 100 tanks available to confront the Nazi danger. Bedford truck designs became the basis for a new breed of army vehicles; the QL made history as the company's first 4 x 4. The Luton factory's great wartime feat was to design and build a completely new tank, which was ready for production within a year of the conflict starting. Owen Hardisty joined Vauxhall as a 14-year-old schoolboy in 1940. He remembered: 'When I started Jack Hardy was a tool setter when they bombed X block, blowing the roof off. Seven were killed in there, along with another 37 elsewhere at the plant. I'd spoken to Dennis Orchard ten minutes before he died. They were working on the early jet engines in V block. The Churchill tank weighed 38 tons, but it was useless because it had a pea shooter for a turret gun, with a three inch Howitzer in the hull. It was improved when they built a 40 ton version.' Vauxhall became expert in the art of camouflage; the entire works were painted to blend in with neighbouring hills. It was a prime target, and it was lucky not to have faired much worse, especially during the closing stages of the war with the V2 rocket bombs.