The Munitions Factory

When the 2nd world war started, I had been at school for less than a year and we lived at the end of the last road before open countryside began. Almost immediately they started to build a big factory in the next field and then painted it in camouflage colours. We heard that it was called the Lockheed and was going to make munitions. This alarmed my family greatly and it was decided to move house as quickly as possible because we knew that the Lockheed would be a prime target for the German bombers. We lived on the outskirts of Leicester, and on the road towards Coventry. During the war Coventry was bombed many times and the Lockheed was targeted but never hit although my school was missed by 100 yards when the bomb landed in a nearby field. Most schools had air raid shelters built in the grounds and we regularly had siren practice, when we would have to dash outside to the shelters. The sound of the sirens going off would terrify me and still sends a shiver through me to this day whenever I hear them, but the ‘all clear’ sound was wonderful.

Freda Allen
Bowthorpe Learning Station

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