EAW004226 ENGLAND (1947). The Simplex Electric Co Creda Works (Blythe Bridge), Stallington, from the east, 1947

WW2 like most other British car manufacturers, Rootes produced armaments including aircraft, aero-engines, armoured vehicles and commercial vehicles. In 1940, under the Government's shadow factory scheme, Rootes built its massive assembly plant in Ryton-on-Dunsmore, near Coventry, initially manufacturing aircraft, one of the first types being the Bristol Blenheim. Production included another of the RAF's heavy bombers, the Handley Page Halifax. Following the war, the plant was the main focus of the company's passenger car operations. Rootes also sponsored satellite manufacturing operations around the world, notably in Australasia and the Middle East. The best known example of the latter being the Iranian-built Paykan, based on the Hillman Hunter.

Rootes Securities No8 Factory

Sandon Road A520

Air Raid shelters for factory workers

1944 built Control Tower, built from packing cases that had been used to ship Harvard training aircraft over from the USA

The old Windmill

Meir Heath

Concrete Runway

Rootes Securities Ltd No10 Factory, built in 1942.

Flight Preparation shed

Trail Installations shed

Meir airfield