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Secret Histories - Avro Yeadon

As Michael Caine would say, "Not a lot of people know this" but in this instance its true.  During WWII Yeadon, just outside Leeds, had a big secret that many 'locals' still do not know about to this day.  I came across this during my research into the Lancaster Bomber following on from research into my Great Grandads association with 617 Sqdn, the 'Dambusters'.  Next door to Yeadon aerodrome, now known as Leeds & Bradford International Airport was a secret 'Avro Shadow factory' which built Lancaster  Bombers for the war effort. 

At the time Yeadon's population was only 10,000 but it employed 17,500 workers with many of them being bussed in from areas such as Guiseley and Menston, in fact a whole squadron of buses brought in workers from all over  West Yorkshire. The factory produced over 4,000 Avro Ansons and over 700 Lancasters as well as building and repairing fighter aircraft.

To protect it's identity the local Yeadon Tarn was drained of water and a copy was painted onto the roof of the factory to confuse the German Bombers.  paper mache cows were also built and moved around the roof daily to represent a field with a herd of cows! A heavy Anti Aircraft battery was constructed just outside of Otley which remains largely intact today.

Anyway, here's a few pictures from my research to help build the story of the 'Hidden Shadow Factory' at Yeadon..

Here is a rareWWII shot showing the factory with it's earthern banks enclosing it
and the wide doors from which the completed Ansons and Lancasters would emerge.
They would then be pushed down the road linking the factory to the aerodrome
whose buildings you can see in the foreground.

Here's a shot showing the position of the factory in relation to the aerodrome.
Again note the wide doors on the right of the factory.  The modern airport has
new terminals obviously and the layout of the runways has changed with the
right to left runway in this hot having been extended over the road on the left.

Here's those same doors today. 

The factory is still there today in it's present guise as a bonded warehouse and reclad.

Note here in this picture of one of the 'emergency exit' doors that part of the earthworks banking
still remains and on the left of the door where it has been removed.

Here's a very grainy shot (rare!) and the only one i can find showing
the inside of the factory during aircraft production.  You can just make out
what a huge open space it is.

Here's some details of some of the Lancasters built at Yeadon which would
allow a Lancaster Historian to research what happened to each plane.
I have the full list of production aircraft in my files.  Production of
Lancasters began in Nov 1942.

Altogether now..." Daa Daaa da da dad a da da da daaaaaaaaaaaa...."


edit* note to my parents.  Follow this link to a very interesting PDF book called "Leeds Women at work" and is packed with photos and stories from people who used to work in all the different factories in and around Leeds at the time of the war http://www.leeds.gov.uk/files/Internet2007/2008/37/leeds%20libraries%20wwii%20book.pdf   (just double click on the blue hyperlink)