Our works fire brigade was the first one to be affiliated to the national fire service' and its numbers increased from eighteen to 1100. Efficiency was maintained at a high level, and under Chief Officer J. Burke, G.C., the brigade won three out of four events in the Manchester and district competition for 1942.

A company of local defence volunteers, the original ''home guard', was raised by K. G. Maxwell on behalf of Trafford Park firms. After various changes in organization, this force became the 45th County of Lancaster Battalion Home Guard, over 4000 strong, of which C Company containing the two M-V works units was commanded successively by E. Strong and H. Lawson-Jones. By this time the company specialist officers were entirely M-V men, and the battalion headquarters staff mainly so.

AIR-RAID DAMAGE AND ITS REPAIR
Christmas 1940 will long be remembered at Trafford Park for the 'blitz' on the works. It began on the night of December 22 with an attack mainly by high explosive, including two large parachute bombs which caused considerable damage and another bomb that severed the main water supply. The following night came an attack by incendiaries. More than a thousand fell in the M-V area and caused many fires, devastating large parts of the main works. The box factory was burnt out, and nearly half of H aisle including the tool room, whose wreckage also involved C aisle beneath it. Most of the roof of B aisle was destroyed, and almost the whole of the main machine shop was laid waste by fire and water. In addition a 1000-lb bomb was dropped in the middle of the new aircraft factory, where it destroyed the first completed Manchester bomber and a dozen others.

The morning after the fire-blitz many workers were told "it's no use going to Metros—the factory's done for". This conclusion was not accepted for a moment. Under the direction of G. E. Bailey the tremendous job began of tidying up, restoring services and reorganizing production. The repair workers, many of whom had suffered severe personal losses, were reinforced by the staff of other departments and by 500 labourers from outside contractors. Scouts were sent out all over the country to obtain replacements of tools and instruments. In spite of the weather—the roofless shops were open to snow and rain—rapid progress was made: within a week the damaged sections were producing again, and in four weeks' time the output of the works was up to 80 per cent of normal. The raids had cost about £1,000,000 in repairs, to say nothing of the loss of production and damage to work in hand.

This clearing up and reconstruction was only one of the big tasks handled by the works engineer's department under W. L. Beeby. There was the construction of buildings, the adaptation of old ones, and the maintenance of a.r.p. equipment and services. For parallel work on the local emergency services organization, Beeby was awarded the O.B.E. in June 1944.