Oldham Aircraft Factory

1910s

By 1917 continued air raids by German Zeppelins and Gotha heavy bombers prompted calls for a British equivalent capable of taking the war to German industry. The outcome was the huge twin-engine bi-plane the Handley Page 0/400 which could carry the heaviest bomb loads used in WW1.

The American Expeditionary Forces which had entered the war and were in France had no equivalent aircraft. Arrangements were made for 1500 Handley Page 0/400s to be made in America by the Standard Aircraft Corporation which would be crated and sent by sea to Liverpool for assembly in Britain.

Consideration was given to assembling them as near as possible to the port but Hooten Park was earmarked for training purposes.

(Photograph of Map showing) - OLDHAM AIRCRAFT FACTORY GENERAL SITE PLAN

(Monochrome Photograph of) - Handley Page 0/400

German U-boat campaigns had led to a shortage of raw cotton resulting in Lancashire mill workers being under-employed. In order to help resolve this Gorse Mill No.2 (now called Ace Mill) at Hollinwood was chosen to assemble the aircraft with additional facilities at Lilac Mill in Shaw.

In March 1918 work began modifying the mills and creating additional assembly facilities on land adjacent to Gorse Mill. German POWs were used to create a large airfield that spread from Gorse Mill across the Rochdale Canal with the public House 'the Boat and Horses' being used for offices. The factory was managed by a subsidiary of furniture makers Waring & Gillow, the Alliance Aeroplane Co. Ltd.

Former cotton workers were re-trained at Belle Vue aircraft component and training centre, but by the end of the war in November 1918 the facilities were still unfinished and only 130 incomplete airframes and fewer engines had been received from America.

Only 10 O/400 aircraft had been completed or were nearly complete and it's believed at least one flew from the airfield, however instructions were given to dismantle all aircraft repack and return all the components to America. This was completed in January 1919 and all the local workers were discharged to find employment elsewhere.