The Media Archive for Central England is the public screen archive for the East and West Midlands. An independent charity and company based at the University of Lincoln, MACE acquires, catalogues, preserves and makes widely available moving image materials that inform our understanding of the diverse cultures and histories of communities between the Lincolnshire coast and the Welsh border.
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Lockheed Wartime Factory Films
Camouflaged against aerial attack, the Lockheed aircraft factories in Leamington Spa and Leicester work day and night for the war effort.
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Overview
This compilation of wartime films shows activities at the huge Lockheed factory at Leamington Spa (and at a sister factory at Leicester in the final section of the reel). A morale boosting visit by the Minister of Aircraft Production Sir Stafford Cripps encourages workers to waste less scrap and we also see the factory's own fire service and cadet forces in action. The aircraft spotters are a reminder that such a great industrial venture was a top target for Hitler's bombers.
The Leamington Spa factory of Lockheed was specially camouflaged by the Civilian Camouflage Directorate, a group of artists and theatrical set designers that was based in Royal Leamington Spa and given the challenge of creating methods of hiding large factories from the air. The Leamington Spa factory was operated by Automotive Products that had set up in business to license the American designed Lockheed braking system and Borg and Beck clutches before the war. The business was broken up and sold off in 2000.
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