AIRCRAFT COMPONENT CONSTRUCTION SCENES AND FAMILY SCENES IN WARTIME [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: AIRCRAFT COMPONENT CONSTRUCTION SCENES AND FAMILY SCENES IN WARTIME [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: MGH 6621
  • Other titles: AMATEUR FILM BY LEONARD WHATLEY [Alternative Title]
  • Summary: Amateur film shot by Leonard Whatley, an aeronautical engineer, showing the production of assorted aircraft components at Metalair Ltd and Embrook Ltd, Wokingham, Berkshire, and scenes of family life during the Second World War.
  • Description: Reel 1: The construction and assembly of gyrocompasses at Metalair Ltd and Embrook Ltd, Wokingham. Close up shots of production of components. Factory workers scrutinise components. Brief shot of assembly chart fixed to wall. Workers on production line assemble components. Production target board on wall indicates number of gyrocompasses produced and targets for the week. Reel 2: The manufacture and assembly of Miles Master cabins at Metalair Ltd using the progressive stage assembly process. Production of components. Workers assemble Master cabins. Close up shots of Master canopies. Production of Hurricane bulkheads. Views of production target board on wall. Reel 3: The production of static vents and jettison tanks for the de Havilland Mosquito at Metalair Ltd. Workers assemble static vents using the progressive stage assembly process. Sheets of metal for jettison tanks are pressed into shape. Production target board on wall shows targets and numbers produced each day, week and month. Reel 4: The construction and assembly of aircraft components at Metalair Ltd. Production of Hurricane bulkheads. Workers assemble Master cabins. Completed Master cabins are loaded onto back of truck. Fully laden, the truck departs. Reel 5: Family scenes. Avril and Malcolm 'Buddy' Whatley play in the garden of their home in Buckhurst Way, Earley, near Reading. Buddy enjoys a ride in a wheelbarrow. One of the family pets, Toto, a Scottish terrier, plays in front of the camera. Avril and Buddy's mother Irene "Jane" Whatley feeds the family's resident chicken with Buddy in attendance. Avril and Buddy play in the family car, an SS Jaguar. Avril plays in the garden, performing handstands to the camera. Leonard Whatley's mother, Eva Whatley walks down garden path. Buddy in the garden with his toy pedal car. Avril and Buddy play by the family's air raid shelter in the late sunshine. Leonard Whatley goes skating on Kingsmere Lake, Wokingham. Buddy plays in Palmer Park, Reading. Avril plays on swing in the garden by the air raid shelter. Avril riding her bicycle. The Whatley family visit Yorkshire. Views of Blackpool Pier. A family outing to Windsor Great Park, Berkshire. Avril and Buddy practice putting out a fire using Air Raid Precaution (ARP) stirrup pump. Avril and Buddy enjoy themselves in small-scale yellow aeroplane ride built by their father. Reel 6: The Whatley family visit Cornwall. Scenes at Menheniot Quarry, near Liskeard. Shots of various railways bridges in Cornwall, including Liskeard viaduct, and a derelict Cornish tin mine. Scenes in and around the Whatley family home in Finchampton Road, Wokingham. Avril playing in the garden with the family's pet rabbit and kitten. Buddy gives the kitten a ride in the tennis court net. Avril and Buddy play in the snow with family pet, Ajax, an Alsatian. The Whatley family go skating at Kingsmere lake. Springtime in Wokingham. Buddy riding donkey. Avril and Buddy watch a magnesium fire trail with a stirrup pump at the ready. Buddy enjoying a ride in the model yellow aeroplane. Shots of gliders being towed overhead on D-Day. Scenes at Groby Quarry, near Leicester. Local children including Avril perform a ballet sequence at village fete. Children on Topsy the pony, while Buddy rolls the driveway using a steam roller designed and built by his father. Reel 7: The Whatley family visit the offices of the Daily Mail newspaper in London. The family return to Cornwall via the New Forest. Views of the Lizard Peninsula and Penzance harbour. Scenes at Penlee Quarry, near Mousehole. Avril and Buddy learn to skate at Longmoor Lake near Wokingham. Gliders being towed overhead for the Rhine Crossing (Operation Varsity), March 1945. Reel 8: The Whatley family and friends Isobel and Clement Trenear holiday on the schuit Zeus, owned by the Whatley family, and moored on the Thames at Sonning. Leonard Whatley at the helm. Scenes at Sonning Lock, near Reading. The Whatley family head to London on VJ Day (August 15th 1945). The London skyline at night including St Paul's Cathedral. Swans at Sonning Weir. The Whatley family visit Avril at boarding school in Hastings, Sussex. Avril and Buddy play on the beach. Scenes on the Zeus. Views of Bexhill.
  • Alternative Title: AMATEUR FILM BY LEONARD WHATLEY [Alternative Title]
  • Colour: Colour
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: MGH 6621
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: IWM
  • Featured Period:
  • Production Date: 1940
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Whatley, Leonard Hosier (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords:
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: Colour Sound format: Silent Soundtrack language: English
  • Technical Details: Format: Std 8mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 8 Footage: 1768 ft; Running time: 133 mins
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    MGH 6621

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