BAE celebrates 70 years at Samlesbury (From Preston and Leyland Citizen)

BAE celebrates 70 years at Samlesbury

9:23am Friday 22nd May 2009

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AN aerospace company is celebrating 70 years of flying high at its factory in Samlesbury.

Back in early 1939, when the prospect of world war loomed large, the Government gave the go- ahead for an aerodrome to be built on the boundary of Balderstone and Samlesbury at a cost of £100,000 – £4.4million in today’s money.

On Wednesday, 70 years on from those early developments, BAE Systems chiefs officially opened the new site entrance which signals another milestone for the firm’s business in East Lancashire.

Built on former farm land and a large house known as Inglewood, the site initially employed around 1,000 people.

And in the early days, under the English Electric Company, the factory played a vital role in the war effort.

The first Hampden made its maiden flight on February 22, 1940 and, not long after, a second factory was built for production of the Halifax Bomber.

Samlesbury would go on to produce 700 Hampdens and 3,000 Halifax Bombers for the Royal Air Force. By the end of the Second World War, the site had five main hangars and three runways.

In the immediate post-war period, aircraft such as the Vampire and the Lightning were built on the site.

But Samlesbury was best known in the 1950s and 1960s for the production of the world-famous Canberra bomber. The site also produced parts for the Anglo-French Concorde.

When English Electric merged to become BAC, and later British Aerospace, workers helped produce Sepecat Jaguar and Panavia Tornado fighter aircraft.

Soon, due to an expansion, more than 5,000 people will be employed at the site as workers produce fighter projects such as Typhoon and the F-35 Lightning II.

Nigel Blenkinsop, Samlesbury site director, said: “Samlesbury has been involved in the production of some fantastic aircraft and has seen a tremendous amount of innovation over the last 70 years.

“Today, Samlesbury remains at the forefront of aerospace manufacturing and is playing a key role in a number of internationally-important programmes such as Typhoon and the F-35 Lightning II.”

HOW THINGS TOOK OFF

• 1939-1942: Five sheds were built to manufacture planes for the Royal Air Force
• 1945: First flight of the Vampire plane which reached speeds of 540mph
• 1950 and 1960s: Production of the Canberra bombers and Lightning jet fighters
• 1980s: Investment was made in the site to cope with extra workload created by Harrier, Hawk and Tornado
• 1990s: BAE Preston closed and saw 1,500 workers relocate to Samlesbury
• 2008: Work started on huge office blocks to house workers for F-35 Lightning II, the next generation of fighter jets.

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