BAE Systems announce plans to shut Vickers site in Newcastle upon Tyne
Workers standlng in front of converted Sherman tanks which had been modified for a ground scheme in Africa in 1948
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2153031/Tank-builder-shuts-165-years-slump-orders.html
Yes the North East always feels the brunt of any cut backs first ship building now this .!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHi Stan your news brings back many memories. In 1943 I worked as an Office Boy, in todays jargon,Junior Executive, in Firth Vickers Stainless Steel Foundery in Sheffield. The foundry made cylinders for aircraft to be assembled by Rolls Royce in nearby Derby. In the photo's of the tanks in Vickers workshop, they look to have been assembled for civilion use. In 1948 the Govt started up a Pea Nut business in Africa and tried to employ returned soldiers to work there!. The scheme was a great flop. Don
ReplyDeleteIt's treason. That's what it is. I watched some mealy mouthed BaE executive on tv trying to justify it by saying there was no demand for tanks any more. Why? Have the Russians, Chinese, Argentines got rid of theirs too? I suspect that in the mid thirties there was 'no demand' for Spitfires and Hurricanes either, but the demand came bloody soon enough. Still, I suppose somebody has to pay for the new Parliamentary toilets.
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