[Big Joe]

Norahs lad here’s a bit of info for you. My dad joined the RAF initially as an aircraft electrician but volunteered for aircrew as they got paid more. He trained as an air gunner and flew missions on the Wellington as the tail gunner. The aircraft geodetic framework was designed by Barnes Wallis. It was said because of the framework many Wellingtons got back badly shot up from raids that would have downed other aircraft. My dad once described coming back from a raid in an aircraft made up of holes held together by some fuselage. My uncle Bill was in a reserved occupation and worked at Howard Bulloughs which used to make textile machinery but during the war years did indeed make precision machined parts for a number of military vehicles/ guns/aircraft and as such the place and people who worked there were vital to the war effort.