Under later Home Defence schemes the bunker was designated a Sub-Regional Control (S-RC 91) in July 1963, Sub-Regional Headquarters (SRHQ 9.2) in the 1970s and finally a Regional Government Headquarters (RGHQ 9.2) in 1982. It was publicly exposed in a demonstration held there by the West Midlands Committee of 100 in the summer of 1963. This was designed to cater for a staff of 325, and contained dormitories, storage areas, workshops, electrical equipment, toilets, offices, a BBC studio, a GPO Telephones communications facility and other facilities. Around 1958 the part of the site in the area north of tunnel 4, formerly occupied by the RAF stores area, was developed by the Home Office as a Regional Seat of Government (RSG 9.2). Cold War įrom the mid-1950s Drakelow Depot, as it had become, was initially used by the Ministry of Supply for storage. Drakelow was retained for the storage of machine tools and work relating to development and manufacture of the Meteor tank engine until the mid-1950s. The Mercury and Pegasus manufacturing ended in July 1945.
There were also a number of surface buildings which included a boiler house, coal stores, electricity sub stations and a fire station. The tunnels had a floor area of 284,931 sq ft (26,471.0 m 2), of which 85,507 sq ft (7,943.9 m 2) was not required by Rover and was used as an RAF stores area. The total area occupied by the works was 53.34 acres (21.6 hectares). Smaller cross-tunnels provided the main workshop and storage space. These were mainly used for access and movement of materials. The main tunnels, numbered 1 to 4, were each 18 ft (5.5 m) wide and 16 ft (4.9 m) high. The underground factory consisted of a number of tunnels laid out in a grid system. The main output was parts for Mercury and Pegasus radial engines, respectively used in aircraft such as the Bristol Blenheim and Sunderland flying boat.
The first machine tools were installed in November 1942 and full production was achieved in May 1943. 1D factory (the D referring to 'Dispersal'). ĭrakelow, originally called "Drakelow Underground Dispersal Factory", was designated Rover No. The cost to complete was estimated at a further £184,000 Rover’s requirements included acid-resistant floors and specially painted walls in production areas. It was also intended to supply components to Rover's main shadow factories at Acocks Green and Solihull, to supply spare parts, and to act as a backup facility if either of the main shadow factories was damaged by enemy action. Rover were at the time manufacturing engines for the Bristol Aeroplane Company. Shortly before that date, the Rover car company was selected as the user of the factory.
īy early July 1942 work was well behind schedule and costs had risen to £983,000. Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners were contracted to supervise the construction, which began in June 1941 with a provisional completion date of 6 July 1942.
The cost of the facility was estimated at £285,000. NOM Prime devs NOM Fusion devs NOM Sakamoto Interview Iwata Asks: MP3:C Prime & Fusion Devs Yosuke Hayashi Sakamoto FAQ Nintendo Dream 9/04 Konjak (Joakim Sandberg) Yuki (Cosplay) Super Metroid Developers Dr.In mid-April 1941, the Ministry of Aircraft Production informed the Treasury of their intention to build an underground factory of 250,000 sq ft (23,000 m 2) in sandstone hills at Drakelow, Wolverley, near the village of Kinver and the town of Kidderminster, for use by "one of the engine or gun factories in the Coventry or Birmingham area". Was There a Heroine Before Samus? Staff Recommendations GDC 2010 Lecture Developer Profile Woman Behind the Visor Fortune Teller True 3D: Volume 1 True 3D: Volume 2 True 3D: Volume 3 True 3D: Volume 4 True 3D: Volume 5
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