Description and History of Site:-
At the lead up to the second world war, it was apparent that with the threat from Germany being so great it would be necessary to build more aircraft and expand the RAF. Further manufacturing was needed, with the new factories to be built further away from existing facilities thereby making it more difficult to be identified by the enemy.
A.V. Roe and Co Ltd were tasked with searching for a new site to supplement their existing aircraft production in the Manchester area. Their General Manager Roy Dobson started a search for such a site, he visited Yeadon near to his former home at Horsforth and identified an ideal site. Following meetings with Air Ministry officials it was decided to build a new factory there, just north of the adjacent Leeds and Bradford Municipal Airport at the side of the A658 Bradford to Harrogate road.
Construction started in December 1939 by the Kelvin Construction Co Ltd of Glasgow and was completed in February 1941.
The building was 1740' long (530m) and 740' wide (225m) with a floor area of 1,514,190 sq ft (140,724 sq m), including the basement area. At the time of construction it was the largest factory under one roof in Europe.
The machine shop and tool room were located at the northern end of the building, then stores and sub-assembly areas and a spray shop (Dope House), then the main assembly floor.
A canteen with several separate dining rooms had seating for 7000 and was positioned on the western side. Above these were situated management rooms, design and administration offices.
At the Eastern side, in the basement were the wood stores.
On the outside of the building, but still under the span of the roof, was a perimeter roadway, the toilets and air-raid shelters for 8500 people.
The factory had its own hospital, dentist and doctor on site.
The heating was the very latest with water-spray purifier system, situated on the eastern side of the factory. Water heating was provided by Lancashire boilers who's smoke was channelled underground away from the factory to a chimney next to Coney House farm.
At the southern end of the main assembly area were large hangar doors which opened onto a 400 yard (364m) roadway leading across to the adjacent airport. Partially assembled aircraft were towed across to the flight-sheds for completion, which were in a pre-war hangar along with some newly constructed buildings, all situated where the current (2018) terminal building and car-park are thereby providing a further 210,000 sq ft (19,516 sq m) of floor space.
To hide all this from the prying eyes of the enemy, a team of local workers under the leadership of a film studio props department specialist, provided camouflage by using grass banking at 45 degrees along the sides of the building to the level of the flat roof, this to hide the shadows. Replica fields were laid out on the roof, to look as they were before construction started along with imitation farm buildings, stone walls, a duck pond and dummy animals which were moved around occasionally. Fabric and wire bushes were changed to represent the changes of the seasons.
Further protection was added with the positioning of an anti-aircraft battery at nearby East Carlton (see WYK00827).
The enemy never located the factory, despite being aware of its existence in 1942, and allied airmen also commented how difficult the factory was to locate from the air. During August 1940, despite the factory still being under construction, in the one part of the building that had been roofed, the Northern end, operations started in the machine shop.
Key workers were brought in by Avro from factories in Manchester, Newton Heath in particular, to help set up the production lines and organise the working procedures, they were also responsible for training new staff recruited from the local area.
Jigs were sent from Manchester for constructing the Anson in May 1941.
The majority of the staff were conscripted women with no previous experience of building aircraft, or engineering in general. A major part of the production process at the factory was the breaking down of a component manufacture into many smaller steps, allowing non-skilled workers to complete aircraft at an acceptable rate and quality. Engineering drawings were reproduced at a larger scale for every component of the aircraft to make them easier to interpret, even detailing the tools needed for the operation. The Stores departments assembled parts kits to be used on some jobs with every part required for that particular job, and no more, which speeded up parts issue dramatically.
Work started at 7.00am with 12 hour shifts, six, sometimes seven days per week, with six weeks on days then three weeks on nights.
There were 17,000 workers employed, many being billeted in the area, sometimes with residents who had no say in the matter! Additional housing was built in surrounding towns, Some workers travelled to and from work, some as much as 80 mile round trips.
A special bus service was provided involving over 150 vehicles, journeying to and from the factory in long lines. When not in use, the buses were parked on hard standings, across from the factory in the Novia Plantation hidden in the trees.
The first large contract was for the Avro Anson, a twin engine monoplane, an aircraft that was used at home and abroad for aircrew training, amongst other tasks. Yeadon produced 4000 of these in total plus enough spares to produce 900 more. Production on the Anson started at 7 per month in June 1941, increasing to 30 per month by December. The first Anson produced at Yeadon, a Mk1 was air-tested on 21 June 1941.
In June 1941 a contract to build 450 Lancaster bombers was issued and by December 1941 the first three were delivered. By the end of the war 700 had been built. By January 1945 production had reached 44 Lancasters and 32 Ansons per month.
After the war ended, 76 Ansons, 12 Lancasters, 27 Yorks and 2 Lincolns were produced,
Avro stopped production in December 1946. On New Years Day 1947, the site was handed over to the Ministry of Civilian Aviation.
The factory with its modern roof is still substantially intact even now (2018) , grassed banking and camouflage removed it is now the Leeds Bradford Airport Industrial Estate. Partitioned off inside to accommodate the various companies trading from there now.

Further Reading and References:-
Mother Worked at Avro, Gerald Myers, Compaid Graphics 1995 pp6,13,14,18-19,20,25,27-28,29,31,44,49,59
http://avroheritagemuseum.co.uk/avro-heritage/sites/yeadon/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeadon_West_Yorkshire
http://www.leedsengine.info/leeds/histplane.asp#avro
http://www.on-magazine.co.uk/yorkshire/history/avro-aircraft-factory-leeds/

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Key Words :- aircraft factory wartime production lancaster anson

Viewing the Site :- Airport approach road footpath

Address :- Yeadon, West Yorkshire, LS19 7XS
Grid Ref :- SE 22454 42127
Co-ordinates :- Lat 53.874863 , Long -1.659968
Local Authority :- Leeds Council
Pre 1974 County :- Yorkshire - West Riding
Site Status :- Site extant - Protected status unknown
Site Condition :- Site refurbished to industrial / commercial use
Site Dates :- 1940 -
Record Date :- 15 October 2018

Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa 4.0 © Andrew Garford