Secret Aircraft Repairs at Wolverton Works

The repairs of planes at Wolverton was initially to do with Whitley bombers. 2000 parts might be needed for the repair of a bomber and about 1000 of these could often be salvaged from damaged aircraft.

Whitley bombers

The repair of the Whitley bombers was allocated to Wolverton Carriage and Wagon Works in January, 1941. They had the capacity for dealing with eight machines at a time and they also had facilities for fabric covering, doping and spraying booths. The design of the storage facilities needed to take account of 10,000 items in the repair of a Whitey aircraft. All the schemes were evolved for repair and reconstruction and the associated provision of the necessary components. The organisation for planning and progressing operations therefore had to be focused towards chasing any difficulties and delays in production. The first aircraft came into the works on April 2nd, 1941, when the shop was still incomplete and only eight men were trained to begin the work. The layout still had to be completed but gradually the staff was built up and the first aircraft was finished by July 31st, 1941.

The man hours required to repair a Whitley Bomber was down to 18,000 per aircraft. Mainplanes had been repaired up to the end of March, 1944.

Designed in 1934 the first Whitleys were delivered to the R.A.F in 1937. They were used in the early years of the war but their lack of performance soon relegated them to leaflet dropping duties. They were also employed to drop agents into occupied territory.